Rauno Sappinen (born 23 January 1996) is an Estonian 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 forward for

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 ...

and the Estonia national team.

Club career

Flora

Sappinen came through the youth system at

and made his debut in the

Meistriliiga Meistriliiga (), officially known as A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons, and commonly known as the Premium Liiga, is the highest division of the Estonian Football Association annual football championship. The league was founded i ...

on 2 March 2013, in a 4–1 home win over Tallinna Kalev. He won his first Meistriliiga title in the 2015 season. Sappinen's performances in 2015 also saw him voted Estonian Young Footballer of the Year. He was Flora's top goalscorer in the league for three consecutive seasons from 2015 to

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, and joint top scorer in the Meistriliiga in 2017, alongside Albert Prosa. Sappinen won his second Meistriliiga title in the 2017 season, and was named Meistriliiga Player of the Year.

Loan to Beerschot Wilrijk

On 31 January 2018, Sappinen joined Belgian club Beerschot Wilrijk on loan until the end of the season. He made his debut for the club on 9 February 2018, in a 0–0 home draw against

Westerlo Westerlo () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises seven towns: * Westerlo centrum * * Tongerlo * Heultje * Voortkapel * Oosterwijk * In 2021, Westerlo had a total population of 25,288. Th ...

Loan to Den Bosch

On 13 August 2018, Sappinen joined Dutch club

Den Bosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 160,783. It is the capital of ...

on loan until the end of the season. He made his debut in the

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 ...

on 17 August 2018, and scored the winning goal in a 2–1 away victory over

Volendam Volendam () is a tourist town in the Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of Edam-Volendam, Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands, known for its streets, old fishing boats and the traditional clothing wor ...

Loan to Domžale

On 14 August 2019, Sappinen penned a three-year loan deal with Slovenian club Domžale.

Return to Flora

On 6 July 2021, Sappinen scored both goals in Flora's win over Hibernians in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League first qualifying round match. He would score again in the second leg a week later as Flora won 5–0 on aggregate and progressed to the second qualifying round for just the third time in club history.

Poland

On 22 December 2021, Sappinen signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Polish

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

club Piast Gliwice, effective from 1 February 2022. On 24 January 2023, Sappinen joined

Stal Mielec FKS Stal Mielec, commonly known as Stal Mielec (), is a Polish professional football club based in Mielec. The team competes in the I liga, the second level of the Polish football league system. The club was established on 10 April 1939. Histori ...

on loan until the end of the season with an option to buy.

Hapoel Jerusalem

In July 2023, Sappinen signed a one-year contract with Hapoel Jerusalem with an option for a two-year extension. Already on 19 August in a derby game against Beitar in the League Cup, Sappinen got a serious injury that meant his season was over. On 8 September 2023, his contract was terminated by mutual consent.

International career

Sappinen began his international career for Estonia in 2011 with the under-16 national team, and has

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

ed the under-19 and under-21 national sides. Sappinen made his senior international debut for

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

on 11 November 2015, in a 3–0 home victory over

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

in a friendly. He scored his first international goal on 19 November 2016, in a 1–1 away draw against

Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis, officially the Federation of Saint Christopher (St Kitts) and Nevis, is an island country consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain of the Less ...

in a friendly.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Estonia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sappinen goal.''

Honours

Flora *

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 ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

* Estonian Cup: 2012–13, 2015–16 * Estonian Supercup: 2014, 2016,

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Individual *Estonian Footballer of the Year: 2020 *Estonian Young Footballer of the Year: 2015, 2018 *

Player of the Year:

*Meistriliiga Fans Player of the Year:

*Meistriliiga Team of the Season:

*Meistriliiga Top scorer:

*Meistriliiga Player of the Month: October 2015, June 2017

References

External links

* *
Rauno Sappinen
–

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

competition record * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sappinen, Rauno 1996 births Living people Estonian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Footballers from Tallinn Esiliiga players Meistriliiga players FC Flora players Challenger Pro League players K Beerschot VA players Eerste Divisie players FC Den Bosch players Slovenian PrvaLiga players NK Domžale players Ekstraklasa players Piast Gliwice players Stal Mielec players Hapoel Jerusalem F.C. players Estonian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Slovenia Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Estonian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Estonia men's youth international footballers Estonia men's under-21 international footballers Estonia men's international footballers Estonian people of Finnish descent 21st-century Estonian sportsmen