Roni Porokara (born 12 December 1983) is a Finnish entrepreneur and a former international

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 is currently working in a real estate business.

Club career

FC Hämeenlinna

On 15 May 2003, at age 19, Roni Porokara made his league debut in a match between

FC Hämeenlinna FC Hämeenlinna is a Finnish football club, based in Hämeenlinna. The club's manager is Tomi Uusitorppa, and it plays its home matches at Kauriala. The team was formed in 1991. Club's history Initial years FC Hämeenlinna was founded in a ...

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 ...

. During his two-year spell with

Hämeenlinna Hämeenlinna (; ; ; or ''Croneburgum'') is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Kanta-Häme. It is located in the southern interior of the country and on the shores of Vanajavesi, Lake Vanajavesi. The population of Hämeenlinna is appr ...

, he made 46 league appearances and scored 6 goals.

FC Honka

He joined

FC Honka FC Honka is a Finland, Finnish Association football, football club based in Espoo. It was founded in 1957 as Tapion Honka, and changed its name to FC Honka in 1975. The club will play in Kakkonen in the 2024 season, after Esport Honka filed for ...

in 2005, and played there until the end of 2007, making 76 league appearances and scoring 24 goals.

Örebro SK

In 2008, Porokara moved to the Swedish Premier Division side

Örebro SK Örebro Sportklubb, more commonly known as Örebro SK, Örebro or (especially locally) ÖSK, is a Swedish professional football club based in Örebro. The club are affiliated to Örebro Läns Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Behrn ...

staying there until the end of 2010, making 84 league appearances and scoring 11 goals. At the end of the 2009 Allsvenskan season, after playing for a year in

, Porokara entered into negotiations with

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i clubs,

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa () is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Football, Basketball, Weightl ...

and

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such as football, basketball, j ...

. Porokara attracted interest from

due to his eligibility to receive

Israeli citizenship Israel has two primary pieces of legislation governing the requirements for citizenship, the 1950 Law of Return and 1952 Citizenship Law. Every Jew has the unrestricted right to immigrate to Israel and become an Israeli citizen. Individuals ...

under the

law of return The Law of Return (, ''ḥok ha-shvūt'') is an Israeli law, passed on 5 July 1950, which gives Jews, people with one or more Jewish grandparent, and their spouses the right to Aliyah, relocate to Israel and acquire Israeli nationality law, Isra ...

. He was set to transfer to Maccabi Haifa in January 2010, for $700,000, but the deal fell through. In August 2010, Porokara attracted interest from number of clubs in Europe.

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

from the Premier League was the big name out of this clubs along with

Cesena Cesena (; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy; and - with Forlì - is the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. Served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine M ...

from

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

, and a few clubs from Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland. After Örebro finished third in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, Porokara announced that he would not renew his contract with the Swedes.

Beerschot AC

On 3 December 2010 he signed with

Beerschot Koninklijke Beerschot Voetbalclub Antwerpen (), or simply Beerschot, is a Belgian professional football club located in Antwerp, that competes in the top tier Pro League after promotion from second tier in 2023–24 season. In 2013, KFCO Wil ...

,Porokara signs with Beerschot
where he stayed until the summer of 2012, before moving to Ironi Kiryat Shmona in Israel.

Back to FC Honka

Porokara returned to

in 2015 after the team was relegated to

Kakkonen Kakkonen or II divisioona is the fourth level in the league system of Finnish football and comprises 36 Finnish football teams. Until the end of 2023, ''Kakkonen'' was the third-highest level in Finland, but after the creation of new second-t ...

due to financial problems. After appearing five times and scoring once, Porokara was forced to retire from active football because of a hip problem.

International career

On 13 April 2005, Porokara made his only appearance for the Finnish under-21 side in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against their

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

counterparts. His full national team debut came a year later on 25 May 2006 in a friendly against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. Porokara was a late substitute and only got a minute on the pitch. On 8 November 2010, Porokara scored the winning goal against Belgium in friendly game.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

''Updated 12 December 2009''

Honours

FC Honka'' *

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 ...

: 2005 HJK *

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 ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Individual * BV Cup Player of the Tournament: 2006 *

All-Star Team: 2006

References

External links

Profile on Finnish national team website

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Porokara, Roni 1983 births Living people Footballers from Helsinki Finnish men's footballers 21st-century Finnish sportsmen Finnish expatriate men's footballers Finland men's international footballers Finland men's under-21 international footballers 21st-century Finnish Jews Jewish footballers Veikkausliiga players Allsvenskan players Belgian Pro League players Israeli Premier League players FinnPa players FC Jokerit players AC Allianssi players FC Hämeenlinna players FC Honka players Örebro SK players Beerschot A.C. players Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona F.C. players Klubi 04 players Men's association football wingers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Israel Jewish Finnish sportspeople 20th-century Finnish Jews