Petri Oravainen (born 26 January 1983) is a Finnish former

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 ...

er, who represented

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 ...

and

KuPS Kuopion Palloseura, commonly referred to as KuPS, is a Finnish professional football club based in Kuopio. KuPS competes in Veikkausliiga, the top flight of Finnish football. The team plays its home matches at Kuopio Football Stadium. KuPS ha ...

in the

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 ...

and

FC Zwolle Prins Hendrik Ende Desespereert Nimmer Combinatie Zwolle, commonly known as PEC Zwolle, is a Dutch professional football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football. They have played in the Ered ...

in the Netherlands. Oravainen, who is 177 cm tall, played as a winger on both left and right side. He made his debut at the senior level in 2001 at the age of 18.

Club career

Oravainen joined HJK as a thirteen-year-old. Before moving to Finnish top club's youth team, he had played in smaller junior clubs in the

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

area. In 2001, he debuted in the first team and was said to be one of the most talented youth players in the league. In 2004, he was called up to the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

for the first time. However, a run of injuries disturbed his development and he could not really live up to the high expectations. He became one of the fans' favourites and especially his pace was a danger for many opponents. He decided to take a look at playing abroad and signed a contract with

in the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

in 2006. He had a good start, but after another injury to his ankle he was out for several months and lost his place in the first team. After 16 matches and 4 goals, he moved back to Finland and joined his former club

. In the 2008 season he played a total of 20 league games for 'Klubi' in which he scored four times. 'Pexi' had a big share in the victory over FC Honka in the Finnish Cup 2008 final. In own

Finnair Stadium Finnair Plc (, ) is the flag carrier A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by that govern ...

the home team beat the visitors from

Espoo Espoo (, ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the west of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. Espoo is part of the Helsi ...

with 2–1 after extra time. Oravainen scored the winning goal after 114 minutes with a magnificent strike from just outside the penalty box. That goal delivered HJK the 10th Finnish Cup victory in its history and the third one for Oravainen himself.

Career statistics

Honours

HJK *

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

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 ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

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 ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Club career

Career statistics

Honours

References

External links