Markus Halsti (born 19 March 1984) is a Finnish former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

defender and

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 ...

Club career

In Finland

Starting his career in FC Viikingit before moving to HJK in the Finnish

top league Japan Rugby League One (), formerly known as the Top League (), is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by ...

in 2003, he debuted in 2003. His 2005 season ended badly with a serious injury in the middle of the season. Same injury came later in the beginning of 2007 when he again missed half of the season due to this fracture in his right leg. This was also his last year in HJK as he signed to a Swedish club

GAIS Gais () is a village and a municipality in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland. The area of Gais is . In 1977, the village Gais received the Wakker Prize for the development and preservation of its architectural heritage. The ...

after a tip off from former Finland national team coach

Roy Hodgson Roy Hodgson (born 9 August 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has managed 22 different teams in eight countries, beginning in Sweden with Halmstad in the 1976 season. He later guided the Switzerland national team to t ...

as a bosman. However, before he ever had a chance to make a debut for GAIS he moved to the

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

rivals

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening (), commonly known simply as Malmö FF or MFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö, Scania. They compete in the Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football, and play home matches at the Eleda S ...

. Before signing with GAIS, he was on trial with Italian

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

and

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

. The Norwegian clubs

Start Start can refer to multiple topics: * Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports * Track and field#Starts use in race, Starts use in sport race * S ...

and

Molde Molde () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town and the seat of Molde Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Pen ...

, as well as a few unknown Danish clubs were also interested to sign him, but found him too expensive.

Malmö FF

Following a disappointing couple of years with Malmö FF with a knee injury, Halsti reinvigorated his club career by heading in the 3–2 goal against

Kalmar FF Kalmar Fotbollförening, more commonly known as Kalmar FF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Kalmar, Sweden. The club is affiliated to Smålands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Guldfågeln Arena. Formed on 15 June 1 ...

away from home in April

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, which ultimately won Malmö the match. In the same game he also got injured, and due to this injury he missed most of the 2010 season. In 2010 Malmö FF won the league just ahead of their rivals

Helsingborgs IF Helsingborgs Idrottsförening, commonly referred to as Helsingborgs IF, Helsingborg or (especially locally) HIF (), is a Swedish professional football club located in Helsingborg. They play in the Swedish second tier, Superettan, following releg ...

. Halsti played as a central defender and right defender positions during the

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

season. He scored his second goal for the club in the away derby match against Helsingborgs IF, which eventually ended in a 2–2 draw. In 2011 Malmö FF was close of qualification to the Champions League, first winning Rangers FC away 1–0 where Halsti played as a right back, and then getting 1–1 draw at home in a game where Halsti was injured once again. In the end GNK Dinamo Zagreb went to the Group Stage of the tournament by only one goal marginal, as they first won home 4–1 but then lost 2–0 in Malmö. Halsti played in both games, making a goal pass to 1–1 goal in Zagreb. Malmö still qualified to the Europa League in the same group as

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known internationally as AZ Alkmaar, or simply and most commonly as AZ () in the Netherlands, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan#The Zaan district, Zaan district. ...

FC Metalist Kharkiv Football Club Metalist Kharkiv, also known as Football Club Metalist Kharkov or FC Metalist Kharkov ( ), is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Kharkiv that plays in the Ukrainian First League during the 2023– ...

and

FK Austria Wien Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (), known in English as Austria Vienna, and Austria Wien in German language in Europe, German-speaking countries, is an Football in Austria, Austrian professional association football club from the capital city of Vi ...

. In the group Malmö didn't have much chance as they got only 1 point in 6 games. AZ Alkmaar and FC Metalist Kharkiv qualified to the quarter- finals of the tournament but were both beaten there. Halsti played totally three games in the competition. For the 2012 season, Halsti found himself in tough competition for a starting spot, and only received limited time on the pitch for the first part of the season. After the summer break, manager

Rikard Norling Rikard Olof Norling (; born 4 June 1971) is a Swedish football manager. Forced to retire early from his professional playing career due to an injury, Rikard Norling started a coaching career at the age of 22. In his early managerial career, Nor ...

decided that he wanted to play Halsti as a central midfielder, a position where the team needed reinforcement. In total Halsti played 13 matches for Malmö FF during the 2012 season, the majority as a midfielder. After the end of the season Halsti was offered a new contract lasting until the end of the 2014 season. Halsti extended his contract on 3 December 2012. During the

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

season, Halsti became an integral part of the Malmö side that secured the championship in late October 2013. Halsti continued to play as a central midfielder during the season and played 28 matches and scored two goals in his most successful season yet at the club. Halsti scored the only goal of the game in the last minutes of the first half in the home fixture against title contender AIK on 11 August 2013. He later scored the club's last goal of the season in the 3–1 win against

Syrianska FC Syrianska Football Club, also known as Syrianska FC or simply Syrianska, is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Södertälje in Stockholm County. The club was founded by Aramean people, Syriac-Aramean immigrants ...

at home on 3 November 2013. For the 2014 season Halsti sporadically captained Malmö FF and was officially selected to the Allsvenskan Team of the Year. Halsti made 26 league appearances during his last season at the club as well as participating in all 12 matches of the club's

2014–15 UEFA Champions League The 2014–15 UEFA Champions League was the 60th season of Europe's premier club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 23rd season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions Lea ...

campaign.

D.C. United

On 12 January 2015, it was announced that Halsti had signed with

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanctioned by the United ...

club D.C. United on a free transfer. Halsti missed the first several months of the

2015 MLS season The 2015 Major League Soccer season featured 20 total clubs (17 based in the United States, 3 based in Canada). The regular season was held from March 6 through to October 25, whereas the MLS Cup Playoffs began on October 28 and ended with M ...

due to a knee injury, before making his debut in an away loss to the Philadelphia Union on 17 May 2015. Over the course of the season, Halsti made sporadic starts in central midfield for United, eventually garnering an extended run in the starting eleven during the final months of the season. Halsti also started all three of United's matches in the 2015 MLS Playoffs and made three appearances in the club's successful advancement from the group stage of the 2015–16 CONCACAF Champions League. Halsti and D.C. United mutually parted ways on 25 May 2016.

Midtjylland

In June 2016, Halsti joined

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

side

FC Midtjylland Football Club Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Superliga, which they ...

International career

Halsti made his debut for the Finland national team on 6 February 2008 in a friendly match against

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. During 2013, he became a regular squad player, and was played in several defensive positions.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Club

HJK *

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 ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Finnish Cup The Finnish Cup (; ) is Finland's main national cup competition in football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Europa Conference League ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

Malmö FF *

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Svenska Supercupen Svenska Supercupen, ''Swedish Super Cup'', was a one-off fixture in Swedish football played between the Allsvenskan champions and the winners of Svenska Cupen. The fixture was played in November, after the Allsvenskan season. In the event of a ...

DC United * ATX Pro Challenge: 2015 Midtjylland *

: 2017–18

Footnotes

External links

* *
Malmö FF profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halsti, Markus 1984 births Living people Finnish men's footballers 21st-century Finnish sportsmen Finland men's international footballers Finnish expatriate men's footballers Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Footballers from Helsinki Veikkausliiga players Allsvenskan players Major League Soccer players Danish Superliga players Men's association football central defenders Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players Malmö FF players D.C. United players GAIS players FC Midtjylland players Esbjerg fB players Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Finland men's under-21 international footballers Ykkönen players Kakkonen players Kolmonen players Klubi 04 players Finnish football coaches SexyPöxyt players Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Finnish expatriate sportspeople in the United States