Roope Riski (born 16 August 1991) 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 ...

who plays as a forward for

HJK Helsinki Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki, or simply as HJK, is a professional football club based in Helsinki, Finland. The club competes in the Finnish Veikkausliiga. Founded in 1907, the club has spent most of its history ...

. He is known as a clinical, well-positioned forward who can get into the right place at the right time. In the middle of the 2010 season, Riski was selected to the opening squad for the first time of his career. Since then he has enjoyed a phenomenal season, starting 12 games and scoring 11 goals. He has the best game/goal ratio in the

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga (; sv, Tipsligan) is the premier division of Finnish football, the highest tier of the Finnish football league structure, comprising the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agency Veikka ...

Club career

On 22 September 2010, Riski scored a hat-trick against

AC Oulu AC Oulu (ACO) is a Finnish football club based in Oulu. Formed in 2002, the club have played two seasons in Finland's highest football league Veikkausliiga and seven seasons in the second highest league Ykkönen. The club are currently playing i ...

. By doing this, he became the first ever player in Finland to score a hat-trick in all the highest three levels of Finnish football system during one season. From 27 January 2011 he is an official

Cesena Cesena (; rgn, Cisêna) is a city and '' comune'' in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, served by Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine Mountains, about from the Adriatic Sea. The total population is 97,137. History Cesena was ...

player. He made his Serie A debut on 19 March 2011 against

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

Stadio Olimpico The Stadio Olimpico (English: ''Olympic Stadium'') is the largest sports facility in Rome, Italy, seating over 70,000 spectators. It is located within the Foro Italico sports complex, north of the city. The structure is owned by the Italian N ...

(1−0 away loss) as a 69th-minute substitute for Fabio Caserta, he has had loan spell in Finland for TPS Turku in 2012 and

Hønefoss BK Hønefoss Ballklubb is a Norwegian football club from Hønefoss, founded in 1895. The club was a part of the multi-sports club L/F Hønefoss, which folded in 2008. After 11 years in 1. divisjon, the second tier of Norwegian football, Hønefo ...

in Norway. In August 2012, Riski joined English side

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

on trial ahead of their pre-season against Chesterfield, where he started in a 3–1 loss, he scored in a reserve friendly against

Matlock Town Matlock Town Football Club is a football club based in Matlock, Derbyshire, England. Nicknamed 'the Gladiators', they are currently members of the and play at Causeway Lane. History The club was established in 1878 as Matlock Football Club. ...

. On 8 February 2016, SJK announced the signing of Riski on a two-year contract. On 10 January 2017, he was loaned to

SC Paderborn Sport-Club Paderborn 07 e.V., commonly known as simply SC Paderborn 07 () or SC Paderborn, is a German association football club based in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has enjoyed its greatest successes since the turn of the mille ...

. On 21 November 2019,

confirmed the signing of Riski on a contract until the end of 2021 with an option for one further year.

International career

On 19 January 2015, Riski made his senior debut for the

Finland national team Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

in a 1–0 friendly against Sweden, where he scored the only goal of the match. He was called up for the

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Euro ...

pre-tournament friendly match against Sweden on 29 May 2021.

Personal life

He is the younger brother of

Riku Riski Riku Olavi Riski (born 16 August 1989) is a Finnish footballer who plays for the Finnish club HJK Helsinki. He has previously played for TPS Turku in Finland, Widzew Łódź in Poland, Hønefoss BK, Rosenborg BK and Odds BK in Norway, and has ...

, who plays for

and the

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

SJK *

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

HJK * Veikkausliiga:

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

Finnish Cup The Finnish Cup ( fi, Suomen cup; sv, Finlands 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 ...

Individual

Player of the Year:

Striker of the Year:

Team of the Year: 2016,

References

;Sources
Roope Riski palaa pitkällä sopimuksella SJK-paitaan
veikkausliiga.com, 8 February 2016

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Riski, Roope 1991 births Living people Finnish footballers Association football forwards Finland international footballers Finland under-21 international footballers Veikkausliiga players Ykkönen players Serie A players Eliteserien players Norwegian First Division players 3. Liga players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Football League (Greece) players Turun Palloseura footballers A.C. Cesena players Hønefoss BK players FC Viikingit players Åbo IFK players SC Paderborn 07 players FK Haugesund players Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho players SKN St. Pölten players AO Chania F.C. players Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players Finnish expatriate footballers Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate footballers in Austria Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate footballers in Greece Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate footballers in Norway