Simo Johannes Valakari (born 28 April 1973) is a Finnish

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and a former international football player. He is currently the manager of

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association footb ...

side

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland. The team competes in the , the second division of Scottish football. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun (or Saint Johnstoun)—an old name o ...

Playing career

Club

Valakari played in the youth sector of

Käpylän Pallo Käpylän Pallo, commonly referred to as KäPa for short, is a football (soccer) club from the Käpylä district of Helsinki. The club currently plays in the Ykkösliiga, the new second tier of the Finnish league system. Their home arena is Max ...

(KäPa) in

Käpylä Käpylä (; ) is a neighbourhood of Helsinki with 7,600 inhabitants. Administratively speaking, Käpylä is a part of the Vanhakaupunki district. It is located between Kumpula, Oulunkylä and Koskela. Käpylä has a terminus for route-1 of ...

, Helsinki, and began his senior career with KäPa first team in 1990 in the fourth-tier

Kolmonen Kolmonen or III divisioona is the fifth level in the Finnish football league system, league system of Finnish football and comprises 108 Finland, Finnish football (soccer), football teams. The III divisioona was introduced in 1973 and in the mi ...

. He played also for Kontula-based club KontU in the Finnish second-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 third-tier

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 ...

, before first moving to

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 ...

club

FinnPa Finnairin Palloilijat, or FinnPa as the club is more commonly known as, was a Finnish association football club established in 1965. The club was based in Helsinki and it operated from 1965 to 1998. FinnPa was founded by staff of the Finnish natio ...

in 1995 and then to

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

club

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

in 1996. After four seasons in Scotland, he was off to

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

. Valakari failed to become a first team regular at

Pride Park Stadium Pride Park Stadium is an all-seater football stadium in Derby, England, which is the home ground of English Football League club Derby County. With a capacity of 33,597, it is the 16th-largest football ground in England. Pride Park is a bus ...

and decided to join

Dallas Burn Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

for the 2004

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanctioned by the United ...

season and finished the year with a goal and four assists. Following the 2006 season, his contract was not renewed with the team, known by that time as

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The franchise be ...

. Valakari decided to return to Finland for the 2007

season, where he signed for

TPS TPS or Tps may refer to: In arts and entertainment *Télévision Par Satellite, a French satellite television company *Third-person shooter, a game genre * Torsonic Polarity Syndrome, in ''South Park'' animation * Trailer Park Sex, a band from ...

, managed by

Mixu Paatelainen Mika-Matti Petteri "Mixu" Paatelainen (born 3 February 1967) is a Finnish former professional football player and manager who is currently serving as the sporting director of Scottish club The Spartans. He scored 18 goals in 70 appearances for ...

. He retired from playing in 2009 after several injuries.

International

Valakari was a regular with the Finnish national team during his stay in Europe. He made a total of 32 caps for his country.

Managerial career

Valakari was named manager of

Åbo IFK Åbo Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, IFK (or ÅIFK for short) is a sports club from Turku, Finland. The club was founded in 1908, and originally represented the Swedish-speaking population of Finland, Swedish-speaking minority of Turku/Åbo. Bac ...

(ÅIFK) in January 2010 and subsequently ended his playing career. He, however returned "home" as he announced his return to

as a youth coach after the 2010 season.

SJK

In 2012, Valakari joined

Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho, commonly referred to as SJK, also internationally SJK Seinäjoki, is a Finland, Finnish professional association football, football club from the city of Seinäjoki. The club plays in the Veikkausliiga, the highest ...

(SJK) as the head coach. In 2013, he managed the team to gain promotion to the

and they went on to win the Finnish championship in 2015. The team also won 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 2014 and the

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 ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. In the early 2016, he had been linked with

, but eventually signed an upgraded contract extension with SJK on 10 February 2016. Valakari was dismissed on 17 February 2017, due to disagreement with the club's chairman Raimo Sarajärvi.

Tromsø

After working as assistant manager for the Finnish national team after being fired from the SJK job, he was appointed head coach of Norwegian

Eliteserien Eliteserien () is a professional association football league in Norway and the highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Norwegian First Division ...

side

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

in June 2017. In 2018, his contract was extended until 2022, but he was fired due to disagreements in April 2020, after the club had suffered a relegation at the end of the

2019 season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

KuPS

In November 2020, Valakari was appointed as the head coach of

Kuopion Palloseura 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 ...

(KuPS). Under Valakari, KuPS won two consecutive

titles in

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 ...

and

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, and finished as the

runner-up twice, falling just a one point short to HJK on both occasions. Valakari also led KuPS to the

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

qualifiers on two occasions. In 2021–22, the club reached to the (fourth) play-off round, but was knocked out by

Union Berlin 1. Fußballclub Union Berlin e. V., commonly known as Union Berlin (), is a professional Football in Germany, German football club based in Berlin. The club's origins can be traced to 1906, when its predecessor FC Olympia Oberschöneweide was fo ...

Next year "Next Year" is a song released as the last single from the third Foo Fighters' album '' There Is Nothing Left to Lose''. History A shorter version (running at just 3:21 compared to the original's 4:36) was released as a single in 2000 and wa ...

they reached to the 3rd round, where they eventually fell short to Young Boys. In the summer 2022, Valakari was rumoured for a head coach position of

, but eventually was not chosen. His contract with KuPS was terminated by mutual consent on 13 January 2023, after Valakari had announced his lack of "passion and ability" to continue to coach KuPS.

Auda

Shortly after his contract termination with KuPS, it was announced that Valakari was named the head coach of

Auda .au Domain Administration (auDA) is the policy authority and industry self-regulatory body for the .au, .au domain, which is the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Australia. It was formed in 1999 to manage the .au ccTLD with the endorse ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

for the 2023 season. Valakari was named The Virslīga Coach of the Month in September 2023.Septembra labākie – R.Ramiress un S.Valakari
18 October 2023,

Virslīga Latvian Higher League or Virslīga, also known as TonyBet Virslīga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Latvia and the highest level of the Latvian football league system. Organised by the Latvian Football F ...

At the end of the season, Auda finished third in the league and won their first medal in the premier division, and also qualified for the

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 ...

qualifiers again.

Riga FC

On 13 December 2023, it was reported in Finnish media that Valakari is about to be named the new head coach of a fellow Latvian side

Riga FC Riga Football Club, commonly referred to as Riga FC, is a Latvian Association football, football club, founded in 2014. The club is based at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Since 2016 Latvian Higher League, 2016, the club has been playing in the Latv ...

. On the next day, the club confirmed that they had appointed Valakari as the new head coach. On 2 March 2024, Valakari and Riga FC won the

2024 Latvian Supercup The 2024 Latvian Supercup is scheduled to be the third edition of the Latvian Supercup, an annual football match organised by Latvian Football Federation and contested by the reigning champions of the two main Latvian club competitions, the Latvi ...

, beating RFS in the final on penalties. On 14 September, in a press conference after the match against Auda, Valakari hinted that he was not the one who had selected the starting line-up for the match. He left the club on 30 September, after Riga and St Johnstone had agreed on a fee for his contract. Prior to his departure, Riga FC were comfortably sitting in second place in the league table.

St Johnstone

On 1 October 2024, Valakari returned to Scotland when he was named the new manager of the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

club

on a three-year deal, becoming the first foreign manager in the club's 140-year-history. Due to work visa issues, the first two matches he couldn't officially access the bench, but on 26 October, he managed St Johnstone as they beat

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

2–1 away at

Dens Park Dens Park is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland, which is the home of club Dundee F.C. and has a capacity of . Tannadice Park, the home of rivals Dundee United, is just 200 yards (183 metres) away. History Dundee moved to "Dens" from the ...

. In April 2025, Valakari led the team to reach the semi-finals of the

2024–25 Scottish Cup The 2024–25 Scottish Cup (known as the Scottish Gas Men's Scottish Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 140th season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. Celtic were the defending champions after defeating Rangers in t ...

. St Johnstone were relegated from the Scottish Premiership at the end of the 2024-25 season.

Personal life

Valakari's three sons are also footballers. His oldest son Paavo is a former player and current coach, Onni is playing professionally for

San Diego FC San Diego Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in San Diego. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. The team plays its home matches at Snapdragon Stadium. The club's ownersh ...

, and the youngest one Toivo plays for

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, Finland. Valakari meditates in his everyday life.

Career statistics

Club

International

Managerial

Honours

As a manager

SJK *

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 ...

: 2014 KuPS *Finnish Cup:

Riga FC *

Latvian Supercup The Latvian Supercup () is a one-match annual football competition. The two participating clubs are holders of the Latvian Higher League champions title and the Latvian Football Cup. The fixture is played before the start of the season. The fir ...

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 ...

Individual * Finnish Football Manager of the Year: 2015 *

Manager of the Month: June 2014, October 2015 *Veikkausliiga Manager of the Year:

Manager of the Month: September 2023

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Valakari, Simo 1973 births Living people Footballers from Helsinki Men's association football midfielders Finnish men's footballers Finland men's international footballers Käpylän Pallo players FC Kontu players FinnPa players Motherwell F.C. players Derby County F.C. players FC Dallas players Turun Palloseura footballers Veikkausliiga players Scottish Football League players Premier League players English Football League players Scottish Premier League players Major League Soccer players Major League Soccer All-Stars Finnish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in England Finnish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Finnish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Finnish football managers Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho managers Tromsø IL managers Kuopion Palloseura managers FK Auda managers Eliteserien managers Finnish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Norway Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate football managers in Latvia Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Latvia Veikkausliiga managers Latvian Higher League managers Riga FC managers St Johnstone F.C. managers Scottish Professional Football League managers Expatriate football managers in Scotland Finnish football coaches