Pyry Mentu (born 1 November 2006) is a Finnish 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 ...

, playing as a

central 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 ...

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 ...

Career

HJK Helsinki

Mentu started football in a youth team of

Lauttasaari Lauttasaari (; ) is an island in Helsinki, Finland, about west of the city centre. Together with some surrounding unpopulated small islands, Lauttasaari is also a district of Helsinki. With 23,226 residents as of 2017, the island is Finland's se ...

neighbourhood when he was five years old. He debuted with the HJK first team in the

Finnish League Cup The Finnish League Cup (in Finnish: ''Liigacup''), is a knock-out football competition contested annually during the pre-season in winter by teams from Veikkausliiga. The competition is notably the only football competition in Europe which is most ...

in 2024. During the 2024 season, he mainly played for the club's reserve team

Klubi 04 Klubi 04 is a Finnish football club based in Helsinki. It is the reserve team of HJK Helsinki for whom a number of the players are also registered. History Klubi 04 was founded in 2004 when HJK bought FC Jokerit. Initially Klubi 04 played in K ...

in third-tier

Ykkönen ''Ykkönen'' (Finnish language, Finnish for 'Number One'; , previously I divisioona) is the third highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga and Ykkösliiga), managed by the Football Association of Finland. Until ...

, and also made one appearance for the first team in a

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 ...

match against

Ekenäs IF Ekenäs Idrottsförening (abbreviated EIF or Ekenäs IF) is a sports club from Ekenäs, Raseborg in Finland. EIF was formed in 1905 and they are one of the oldest clubs in the south-west of Finland. The men's football first team currently play ...

. On July 2024, he signed a three-and-a-half-year deal with HJK.Pyry Mentu ja HJK pitkään jatkosopimukseen
hjk.fi, 11 July 2024 On 22 November 2024, Mentu made his first start for HJK, in a friendly match against

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...

at the

Tallaght Stadium Tallaght Stadium () is an List of association football stadiums in the Republic of Ireland, association football stadium in Ireland based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club Shamrock Rovers F.C., Shamrock Rovers originally announced details of ...

, helping his side to a 2–0 win. Four days later, he was included in the match day line-up for a

UEFA Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual football competition organised since 2021 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It is the thir ...

match against

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos (, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club based in the City of Athens. Panathinaikos is one of the mos ...

on 28 November. He was substituted in on the 75th minute, replacing Liam Möller, in a 1–0 away defeat at the

Athens Olympic Stadium The Olympic Stadium of Athens "Spyridon Louis, Spyros Louis" (, ''Olympiakó Stádio Athinón "Spýros Loúis"'') is a sports stadium in Marousi, in the north section of Athens, Greece. With a total capacity of 75,000, it is the largest sports v ...

. After debuting in

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 ...

with HJK on 5 April 2025, three weeks later Mentu scored his first league goal, a winning goal in a 3–1 home win over VPS.HJK-lupaus avasi maalitilinsä Veikkausliigassa näyttävällä kudilla – ”Tuollainen maali oli tavoitteena”
suomifutis.com, 26 April 2025

Career statistics

Honours

Klubi 04 *

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

HJK *

runner-up: 2025

References

External links

*
Pyry Mentu
stats at Finnish FA {{DEFAULTSORT:Mentu, Pyry Living people 2006 births Finnish men's footballers 21st-century Finnish sportsmen Men's association football midfielders Ykkönen players Veikkausliiga players Klubi 04 players Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players Finland men's youth international footballers