Lasse Ikonen (born 19 January 2003) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Ykkösliiga ''Ykkösliiga'' (English language, English: ''"League One"''; ) is the second highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga), managed by the Football Association of Finland. The teams in Ykkösliiga also play a pre-s ...

club

TPS TPS or Tps may refer to: In arts and entertainment *Télévision Par Satellite, a French satellite television company *Third-person shooter, a game genre * Torsonic Polarity Syndrome, in ''South Park'' animation * Trailer Park Sex, a band from ...

Early life

Ikonen was born in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, Texas, to Finnish parents, and spent most of his childhood in

Oulu Oulu ( , ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Ostrobothnia. It is located on the northwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Oulujoki, River Oulu. The population of Oulu is approximately , while the Oulu sub-regio ...

, Finland. He has a dual citizenship of Finland and the United States.

Club career

Ikonen played in the youth sector of

Oulun Luistinseura Oulun Luistinseura (or OLS) is a Finnish multi-sports club, based in Oulu. The club has football, bandy, bowling and floorball sections. Football OLS football team was founded in 1941 by clubs bandy players. Throughout the years the club has p ...

(OLS). On 9 October 2019, Ikonen signed his first professional contract with his hometown club

AC Oulu AC Oulu is a Finnish professional football club based in Oulu, currently playing in Finland's premier division, ''Veikkausliiga''. Formed in 2002, the club have played six seasons in Finland's highest football league Veikkausliiga and 16 seasons ...

on a three-year deal. He made his

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga () is a professional association football league in Finland and the highest level of the Finnish football league system. The league comprises the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agenc ...

debut with the club in the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

. On 25 January 2022, his contract was extended, and he was loaned out to second-tier

Ykkönen ''Ykkönen'' (Finnish language, Finnish for 'Number One'; , previously I divisioona) is the third highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga and Ykkösliiga), managed by the Football Association of Finland. Until ...

club

Gnistan IF Gnistan (''Kipinä'' in Finnish; ''The Spark'' in English), commonly known as Gnistan, is a Finnish football club from the city of Helsinki, founded in 1924. The club is currently playing in the Veikkausliiga, the first tier of the Finnish le ...

. On 5 January 2024, after his contract expired with AC Oulu, Ikonen signed a multi-year deal with

Turun Palloseura Turun Palloseura, commonly known as TPS, is a professional association football, football club based in Turku, Finland. Since 2024, the men's team competes in Ykkösliiga, the second highest tier. Nicknamed "''Tepsi''", the club was founded i ...

(TPS) in

.NUORI LASSE IKONEN MONIVUOTISELLA SOPIMUKSELLA TPS:N KESKIKENTÄLLE
fc.tps.fi, 5 January 2024

International career

Ikonen has represented Finland at under-16, under-17 and under-19 youth international levels.

Career statistics

Lasse Ikonen stats

Football Association of Finland The Football Association of Finland (, SPL; ) is the governing body of football (soccer), football and futsal in Finland. It was founded in Helsinki on 19 May 1907. The SPL organises the Finland national football team, men's and Finland women's ...

Honours

AC Oulu *

Finnish League Cup The Finnish League Cup (in Finnish: ''Liigacup''), is a knock-out football competition contested annually during the pre-season in winter by teams from Veikkausliiga. The competition is notably the only football competition in Europe which is most ...

runner-up: 2023 OLS *

Kakkonen Kakkonen or II divisioona is the fourth level in the league system of Finnish football and comprises 36 Finnish football teams. Until the end of 2023, ''Kakkonen'' was the third-highest level in Finland, but after the creation of new second-t ...

, Group C:

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ikonen, Lasse Living people 2003 births Finnish men's footballers 21st-century Finnish sportsmen Men's association football midfielders Kakkonen players Ykkönen players Veikkausliiga players Oulun Luistinseura players IF Gnistan players AC Oulu players Turun Palloseura footballers Ykkösliiga players Finland men's youth international footballers American people of Finnish descent