Saku Pesonen (born 10 November 1985) was a Finnish

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 ...

coach and a former

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. He was the former manager of Kultsu.

Club career

Pesonen started his footballing career at his local club FC Pantterit in 2002 while they played at the

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

and fourth level of Finnish football system. He was signed by

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 ...

side

FC Lahti FC Lahti is a Finnish professional football club based in the city of Lahti. It currently plays in the Finnish second tier Ykkösliiga, after relegating from Veikkausliiga after the 2024 season. The homeground of Lahti is Toolpoint Arena. La ...

in 2006 where he provided a backup for then first-choice goalkeeper Michał Sławuta. He made his top flight debut on 22 October 2010 against

Tampere United Tampere United is a Finnish football club from the city of Tampere. In the 2025 season, the club plays in Ykkönen, the third highest level of football in Finland. The club had a team in Veikkausliiga, the premier football league in Finland, ...

. Despite winning 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 2007 season, Pesonen was only able to make in total of four appearances during those two season with Lahti. Pesonen left FC Lahti 2008 and dropped down a level to sign with

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 ...

where he was an instant first choice. After a successful period with Hämeenlinna, Pesonen was snapped up by

FC Haka FC Haka, originally ''Valkeakosken Haka'', commonly known as Haka, is a Finnish professional football club based in the industrial town of Valkeakoski. The club was founded in 1934 and competes in Finland's premier division, the Veikkausliiga. ...

for the 2009 season to cover as backup for Janne Korhonen. In January 2010 Pesonen signed a two-year contract extension with FC Haka, and he was promoted to first choice in the middle of the 2010 season after Korhonen's departure to JJK.

Coaching career

He was appointed head coach of Kultsu for the 2021 season upon his retirement as a player. The contract was extended for the 2022 season in November 2021. He retired from coaching at the end of the 2022 season and was replaced by Marko Kohonen.

References

1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Lappeenranta Footballers from South Karelia Finnish men's footballers 21st-century Finnish sportsmen Men's association football goalkeepers FC Lahti players FC Hämeenlinna players FC Haka players Kultsu FC players Ykkönen players Veikkausliiga players Kakkonen players Finnish football managers {{Finland-footy-goalkeeper-stub