Timo Furuholm (born 11 October 1987) is a Finnish politician and a former professional

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 ...

forward. He is currently a member of the

Parliament of Finland The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral and Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that ...

, for the Left Alliance. Furuholm was born in

Pori Pori (; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Satakunta. It is located on the west coast of the country, on the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Pori is approximately , while the Pori sub-region, sub-region has a population of a ...

, Finland where he started his senior career in local

FC Jazz Football Club Jazz, commonly known as just Jazz, is a Finnish Association football, football club based in Pori, which plays in the Finnish third tier, Ykkönen. The club was founded in 1934 as Porin Pallo-Toverit. PPT changed its name to FC Jazz ...

. He made his

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 ...

debut at age 15 in 2003. Furuholm made his international debut for Finland in January 2010, at the age of 22.

Club career

Early career

In 2003, Furuholm made his Veikkausliiga debut for

, playing against

FF Jaro Fotbollsföreningen Jaro (''Jakobstads Rostfria''), commonly known simply as Jaro, is a Finnish professional football club based in the bilingual town of Jakobstad. The club currently plays in Veikkausliiga, the top tier in Finland. History Ja ...

at the age of 16. At the time, he was the youngest player ever to make an appearance in the Finnish top flight. In 2004, he played for another

based team,

Musan Salama Musan Salama (), commonly abbreviated MuSa, is a Association football, football club based in Pori, Finland, playing in the Finnish fifth tier Kolmonen as of the 2024 season. It was founded in 1960 in the Musa (Pori), Musa suburb of Pori as a foo ...

in the Finnish II division, making 21 appearances and scoring 17 goals.

FC Inter Turku

In 2005, he signed with

FC Inter Turku Football Club International Turku, commonly referred to as Inter Turku () and colloquially known as Inter, is a Finnish professional association football, football club based in Turku that competes in the Veikkausliiga, the top flight of Finni ...

. He has since suffered from multiple injuries. During the 2007 season he made 14 appearances and two goals for Inter. In the next season he missed three months because of a knee injury, and was only able to make nine appearances and four goals. The following season he was finally able to play the whole season without injuries, making in total of 23 appearances and scoring impressive 11 league goals. He however missed almost the whole 2010 season as he injured himself in the early days of the season (only four appearances, no goals). The

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

season was finally his breakthrough, as he went on scoring 22 league goals and only losing by one goal to Kimmo Tarkkio and

Valeri Popovitch Valeri Aleksandrovich Popovitch (; born 18 May 1970) is a Russian former football forward. Popovitch is the all-time scoring leader of FC Haka. After his contract ended with HJK in 2010, he joined Ilves Tampere playing in Kakkonen, as a playe ...

as the record goalscorer in Veikkausliiga. After the 2011 season, his contract with Inter expired and he became a free agent.

Fortuna Düsseldorf

On 10 January 2012, it was announced that 2. Bundesliga side

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fo ...

had signed Furuholm, with a contract running until June 2014. A year later, he signed for

Hallescher FC Hallescher FC, formerly known as Hallescher FC Chemie, is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Halle an der Saale, Saxony-Anhalt. The club currently plays in the Regionalliga, the fourth highest l ...

on loan, joining his compatriot, Kristian Kojola. He scored two minutes into his debut for the club, a 1–1 draw with

Stuttgarter Kickers Stuttgarter Kickers is a German association football club that plays in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, founded on 21 September 1899 as FC Stuttgarter Cickers. The club currently plays in the Regionalliga Südwest, the fourth tier of German footb ...

, and ended the season with eight goals, making him Halle's top scorer for the season.

Hallescher

On 26 August 2013, Hallescher FC made the move permanent and announced they had signed Furuholm on a two-year deal. During season 2013–14 he scored 12 goals and was the best scorer of his team and eight best in the league.

Return to FC Inter Turku

On 7 December 2016 it was announced that Furuholm would return to Inter Turku.

International career

Furuholm made his international debut for the Finnish national team in January 2010, as he came from the bench to replace Hermanni Vuorinen in a friendly match against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

, Spain. He scored his first national goal on 10 August 2011 in a friendly against

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 ...

and second goal on 20 February 2012 in match against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. He was chosen for the starting line up for the first time on 25 May 2012 in a match against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Personal life

Timo Furuholm is the son of former Finnish footballer and

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia, owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its WBD Sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

commentator Tapio Furuholm. He is divorced and has a daughter who was born in February 2014.

Outside football

In 2020, Furuholm started

social science Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...

studies at the

University of Turku The University of Turku (, shortened ''UTU'') is a multidisciplinary public university with eight faculties located in the city of Turku in southwestern Finland. The university also has campuses in Rauma and Pori and research stations in Kevo ...

. In

2021 Finnish municipal elections Municipal elections were held in Finland on 13 June 2021 after being rescheduled from 18 April due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Context The last municipal elections were held in 2017 and were won by the National Coalition Party with a 20.7 percen ...

, Furuholm became a member of the Turku city council for the Left Alliance, receiving 865 votes in his first election. He became a member of the Parliament of Finland in

2023 Finnish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 2 April 2023 to elect members of the Parliament of Finland. Following the 2019 Finnish parliamentary election, 2019 election, the Social Democratic Party of Finland, Social Democratic Party (SDP) ...

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

Honours and achievements

Inter Turku Football Club International Turku, commonly referred to as Inter Turku () and colloquially known as Inter, is a Finnish professional football club based in Turku that competes in the Veikkausliiga, the top flight of Finnish Football. Founded i ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

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 ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

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 ...

Saxony-Anhalt Cup The Saxony-Anhalt Cup (German: Landespokal Sachsen-Anhalt) is an annual football cup competition in Saxony-Anhalt. The Football Association of Saxony-Anhalt (German: Fußballverband Sachsen-Anhalts, short: FSA) is its governing body. All non-prof ...

: 2015, 2016 Individual *

Player of the Month: May 2011, *Veikkausliiga Top Scorer:

*Veikkausliiga Striker of the Year:

*Veikkausliiga Team of the Year:

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 ...

References

External links

* * * * * *
Guardian Football
{{DEFAULTSORT:Furuholm, Timo 1987 births Living people Finnish men's footballers 21st-century Finnish sportsmen Finland men's international footballers Finland men's youth international footballers Finland men's under-21 international footballers Finnish expatriate men's footballers Men's association football forwards FC Jazz players FC Inter Turku players Veikkausliiga players Ykkönen players Kakkonen players Fortuna Düsseldorf players Hallescher FC players 2. Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Regionalliga players Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Musan Salama players Sportspeople from Pori Footballers from Satakunta Members of the Parliament of Finland (2023–2027) Finnish sportsperson-politicians Left Alliance (Finland) politicians Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Germany