Pasi Pentti Rautiainen (born 18 July 1961) is a Finnish

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 ...

manager and former player. He made 29 appearances for

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 ...

, scoring one goal. Rautiainen was named in the

Finnish Football Hall of Fame Finnish Football Hall of Fame is an honorary gallery which was established in 1993, and is located in the (eng: ''Football Museum of Finland'' ) in Valkeakoski. Players, coaches, referees or other persons that are merited in developing the Finnish ...

in 2021.

Playing career

Rautiainen was very talented as a young player, and he joined

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

at the age of just 18 in 1980. He only made one appearance for the club, but was still named German champion with Bayern in the 1980–81 season. Rautiainen later made 115 appearances in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

for

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen, Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

(1981–82) and

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia is most well known as ...

(1982–1985), scoring 14 goals. He also played in the 2. Bundesliga for Bielefeld and

SG Wattenscheid 09 SG Wattenscheid 09 is a Football in Germany, German association football club located in Wattenscheid, Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club claimed an official founding date of 18 September 1909 as Ballspiel-Verein Wattenscheid out of the me ...

. In Finland Rautiainen played for

HJK Helsinki Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki (), or simply as HJK (), is a Finnish football club based in Helsinki. The club competes in Veikkausliiga, the top division of the Finnish football league system. Founded in 1907, the ...

, winning the Finnish championship in 1978 and 1990. He also earned 25 caps for the

, scoring once. 1982 the sports journalists of his home country elected him Finnish Footballer of the Year.

Managerial career

Rautiainen started coaching the first team of his former youth club PK-35 in 1994. He helped the club to win back-to-back promotions to

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 ...

for the 1998 season. He has also coached

Jokerit Helsingin Jokerit (, English: Joker (playing card), Jokers or Jesters of Helsinki) is a professional ice hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland, which competes in Mestis. Jokerit plays its home games at the Helsinki Ice Hall and Helsinki Halli in ...

and KooTeePee in Finland, and Levadia and

Flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

in Estonia. His last club was

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).

Later career

Rautiainen is also a popular football pundit in Finland. He's known for his energetic and enthusiastic behavior when talking about anything concerning football. He commented

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

games for the TV channel Nelonen. In the 2003–04 season, he promised he'd walk from

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 ...

Porvoo Porvoo (; ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located on the south coast of the country, on the Gulf of Finland. Porvoo lies in the eastern part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Porvoo is approximately , while the Porvoo sub-region, sub-re ...

(some 50 kilometres) if Deportivo were able to knock

A.C. Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

out in the quarter finals which indeed happened. He never wore socks even when live on TV. He was also featured on the broadcasts of Estonian channel

ETV ETV may stand for: Television * Educational television, the use of television in education * Enhanced TV, an interactive television application specification Africa * e.tv, South Africa * ETV (Ethiopia), Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation * ETV G ...

during the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams represe ...

. Now he works as a studio commentator in Finland's national team matches. He also continues to work as studio commentator for Champions League and English Premier League broadcasts for

Viaplay Viaplay is a Swedish video streaming service owned by Viaplay Group. History Originally owned by Modern Times Group, it was launched in May 2007 as Viasat On Demand. It was rebranded as Viaplay in 2011. Viaplay released its first origina ...

Personal life

His father and sister Jutta are former footballers and managers.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

:''As of match played 26 October 1979. Finland score listed first, score column indicates score after each Rautiainen goal.''

Honours

Individual *

Coach of the Month: July 2009 TPS:n Lehtovaarasta Kuukauden pelaaja heinäkuussa

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rautiainen, Pasi 1961 births Living people Footballers from Helsinki Finnish men's footballers Finnish expatriate men's footballers Finland men's international footballers Finnish football managers Men's association football midfielders Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players FC Bayern Munich footballers SV Werder Bremen players Arminia Bielefeld players SG Wattenscheid 09 players Expatriate men's footballers in West Germany Finnish expatriate sportspeople in West Germany FC Flora managers FCI Levadia Tallinn managers Turun Palloseura managers Veikkausliiga managers Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Expatriate football managers in Estonia 21st-century Finnish people Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Estonia PK-35 (men) managers Finnish association football commentators Finnish expatriate football managers Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland 20th-century Finnish sportsmen Finnish Football Hall of Fame inductees