Mikael Soisalo (born 24 April 1998) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a right-winger for Hungarian club Puskás Akadémia. He has also represented the

Finland national under-21 football team The Finland national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Finland. The team qualified for the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, UEFA Euro U21 Championship final tournament for the first time in 2009 UEFA E ...

. Soisalo was born in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, Finland. He began his senior club

career A career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work (human activity), work and other aspects of personal life, life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways. Definitions The ...

on league level playing for

Ilves Tampereen Ilves, commonly known as Ilves, (; Finnish language, Finnish for "Eurasian lynx, Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Nokia Arena (Tampere), Nokia Arena. The colors of Ilves, ...

, before signing with Zulte Waregem at age 20 in 2018.

Club career

Klubi 04

He started his career playing for in the lower leagues of Finnish football in HJKs reserve team. He has also played for the junior teams of

Finland national football team The Finland national football team (, ) represents Finland in men's international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Association of Finland, the governing body for football in Finland, which was founded in 1907. The team ...

Ilves

On 14 December 2015 it was announced he had joined

a team from

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

on a 3-year contract. He stated that his goal for the 2016

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 ...

(Finnish 1 tier) season would be to get a start in the starting line-up. He played an active role in the team's success, they finished fourth in the league and at times they even fought for the championship.

Middlesbrough

On 5 January 2017, Soisalo joined

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee, reported to be around €200,000, and was registered to their U21 academy squad. On 13 March 2017, he scored a hat-trick for the Middlesbrough reserves against Blackburn reserves. The manager praised him for his performance and how he had integrated into the team.

Zulte Waregem

On 18 June 2018,

announced that Soisalo was to join Belgian side Zulte Waregem after just one full season with Middlesbrough's U-23 side. The transfer fee was not disclosed. Varzim (loan)
Soisalo was loaned out to Portuguese club

Varzim S.C. Varzim Sport Club () is a Portuguese football club based in Póvoa de Varzim. The club was founded on 25 December 1915, and has played at the Estádio do Varzim Sport Club since its foundation. The club plays in Liga 3, following relegation in ...

on 29 January 2020 for the rest of the season with a purchase option. However, he only played two games for the club and returned to Zulte in the summer 2020.

Riga FC

For 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 ...

, Soisalo moved to

Riga FC Riga Football Club, commonly referred to as Riga FC, is a Latvian Association football, football club, founded in 2014. The club is based at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Since 2016 Latvian Higher League, 2016, the club has been playing in the Latv ...

on a 2-year contract. He made his debut on 13 March, playing the first 65 minutes of a 0–2 win at

Ventspils Ventspils () is a state city in northwestern Latvia in the historical Courland region of Latvia, and is the sixth largest city in the country. At the beginning of 2020, Ventspils had a population of 33,906. It is situated on the Venta River and ...

. He had an impressive start and had scored seven goals in 15 games in July 2021.

Puskás Akadémia

On 27 August 2023, Soisalo was bought by Hungarian top-flight club Puskás Akadémia for an undisclosed fee. He scored in his debut, in a 3–1 away victory against

Mezőkövesd Mezőkövesd is a town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Northern Hungary. It lies from Miskolc and from Eger. Mezőkövesd is a town in northeastern Hungary, located in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County, near the Bükk Mountains. It is known as the ...

on 3 September 2023.

International career

He has been an integral part of the various youth national teams starting from the U-15. During 2016, he took part in Finland's qualifying campaign for the UEFA under 19 Championship. He played well against Kazakhstan, scoring once and assisting three goals. He scored his first goal for Finland U21 on 9 October 2020 in a UEFA European U21 Championship qualification match in

Ballymena Showgrounds The Ballymena Showgrounds is a football stadium in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is home to Ballymena United F.C. and Ballymena United Women F.C. It is owned by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council. In addition to men's footba ...

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 31,205 people at the 2021 United Kingdom census, making it the List of localities in Northern Ireland by population, seven ...

against Northern Ireland U21. In March 2022, Soisalo received a first call up for the Finland senior squad for the first time, coming into the squad after the withdrawal of

Lassi Lappalainen Lassi Roni Kasperi Lappalainen (born 24 August 1998) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer franchise Columbus Crew. Club career Early career Born in Espoo in 1998, Lappalainen started his football c ...

and

Onni Valakari Onni Johannes Simonpoika Valakari (born 18 August 1999) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Major League Soccer club San Diego, on loan from Pafos, and the Finland national team. Club career Valakari st ...

for matches against

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

and

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Klubi 04 * Kakkonen Eastern Group:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Riga FC *

Latvian Higher League Latvian Higher League or Virslīga, also known as TonyBet Virslīga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Latvia and the highest level of the Latvian football league system. Organised by the Latvian Footbal ...

runner-up:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Individual *

Breakthrough of the Year:

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Team of the Year:

References

External links

SV Zulte Waregem official profile

Mikael Soisalo
– SPL competition record * {{DEFAULTSORT:Soisalo, Mikael 1998 births Living people Men's association football forwards Finnish men's footballers 21st-century Finnish sportsmen Finnish expatriate men's footballers Finland men's under-21 international footballers Finland men's youth international footballers Kakkonen players Veikkausliiga players Belgian Pro League players Liga Portugal 2 players Latvian Higher League players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Ilves (football) players Middlesbrough F.C. players SV Zulte Waregem players Varzim S.C. players Riga FC players Puskás Akadémia FC players Footballers from Helsinki Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Latvia Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Finnish expatriate sportspeople in England Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Latvia Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Hungary