Markus Paatelainen (born 23 January 1983) is a retired Finnish football

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, who last played alongside his brother

Mikko Mikko is a Finnish masculine given name and equivalent of the English name Michael, having been borrowed into the Finnish language. The given name Mikko is shared by the following notable people: * Mikko Alatalo, Finnish musician and politician * ...

for

IFK Mariehamn IFK Mariehamn is an Ålandic football club based in Mariehamn, the capital of the Åland Islands. It plays in the Finnish Premier Division (''Veikkausliiga''). The club is managed by Daniel Norrmén, and it plays its home matches at Wikl� ...

. He has represented

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

at under-21 level.

Career

Paatelainen joined

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), ...

in January 2005, but was released at the end of the season without breaking into the first team. He joined

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 18 ...

, managed by his elder brother, Mixu, in September 2005 and quickly settled in as a first team regular. In February 2006 he suffered a serious injury away to

Elgin City Elgin City Football Club (also known as City or The Black and Whites) is a professional senior football club based in Elgin, Moray. Elgin was founded in 1893 and originally played their football in the Highland Football League. The club was g ...

which almost resulted in him losing his right leg after a delay in getting him to hospital. However, after two months out he returned to the side in a 2–2 draw with Queens Park and the helped Cowdenbeath to promotion as champions of the

Scottish Third Division The Scottish Football League Third Division was the fourth tier of the Scottish football league system between 1994 and 2013. History The Scottish football league system had operated with three divisions in the Scottish Football League (SFL) f ...

after a 2–1 win over

. Markus secured the Scottish 3rd Division Player of the Year award as well as a host of club awards. He joined Inverness Caledonian Thistle in January 2007, and saw his first action as a substitute in Inverness' 3–0 victory over Hibernian on 21 January 2007. He scored his first goal for Inverness in a 3–2 defeat to Kilmarnock. He scored his second goal the following week in a 3–1 defeat to

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish Association football, football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Champ ...

. Inverness Caledonian Thistle terminated his contract on 8 October 2008. On 12 November 2008 Paatelainen signed a two-year-contract with

FC Honka FC Honka is a Finnish football club based in Espoo. It was founded in 1957 as Tapion Honka, and changed its name to FC Honka in 1975. The club currently play in the Finnish premier division (''Veikkausliiga''), having been promoted for the f ...

of the Finnish Premier Division. Another elder brother,

is also a footballer and played alongside Markus at Cowdenbeath for part of the successful 2005/06 season. His father is

Matti Paatelainen Matti Paatelainen (born 17 June 1944) is a Finnish former international footballer who played as a striker. Career Paatelainen earned 47 caps for Finland, scoring eleven goals, between 1970 and 1977. He played club football at Urho, HPS, HIF ...

References

Guardian Football

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Paatelainen, Markus 1983 births Aberdeen F.C. players Men's association football midfielders Cowdenbeath F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland FC Honka players Finnish expatriate men's footballers Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Finnish men's footballers IFK Mariehamn players Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. players Living people Sportspeople from Valkeakoski Scottish Football League players Scottish Premier League players Veikkausliiga players Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat players