Tomi Antero Maanoja (born 12 September 1986) is a Finnish football coach and a former professional

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 ...

, currently serving as assistant coach of

HIFK HIFK, the Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, Helsingfors (IFK, Helsingfors) rf (officially abbreviated IFK Helsingfors, colloquially often Helsingfors IFK or Helsingin IFK) is a multi-sport association based in Helsinki, Finland. Formed in 1897 on ...

. Maanoja has been capped twice for

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

Career

Maanoja made his first appearance in the

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 ...

with

AC Allianssi AC Vantaan Allianssi (or AC Allianssi) was a Finnish football club, based in the town of Vantaa. History Allianssi were a club in decline, following an 8–0 defeat at fellow Finnish club FC Haka. The match was believed to have been fixed by a B ...

from

Vantaa Vantaa (; , ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the north of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population of Vantaa is approximately . It is the most populous municipality in Finland. Vantaa is part of the Helsinki Metropoli ...

in 2005. He completed a move to the neighbouring city's (

Espoo Espoo (, ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the west of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. Espoo is part of the Helsi ...

) most notable football club,

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 ...

, the following season. Maanoja was regarded as one of the best Finnish young goalkeepers and attracted interest from several foreign clubs before his move to AIK on 29 July 2008. He signed a three-and-a-half-year deal with the club for a fee of €450,000. On 28 February 2009, Maanoja became seriously injured in a pre-season game against

Assyriska Föreningen Assyriska Fotbollsföreningen, also known simply as Assyriska FF, is a Swedish football club based in Södertälje, Stockholm County. The club, formed in 1974 by Assyrian immigrants, has advanced through the league system and is currently play ...

. He broke his leg in two places, rushing out to stop an Assyriska attack. The injury made him miss the

2009 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship The 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship began on 15 June 2009, and was the 17th UEFA European Under-21 Championship. This was the first tournament after the competition reverted to a two-year format, following the single-year 2006–07 comp ...

, hosted in Sweden, in the summer. He also missed the whole

2009 Allsvenskan Allsvenskan 2009, part of the 2009 Swedish football season, was the 85th Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish foot ...

season, when AIK won the double. He moved back to Honka in 2011, and on 21 February 2012 he signed a contract with the

Norwegian First Division The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon () and OBOS-ligaen (due to sponsoring ties with :no:OBOS, OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon ...

club

Sandefjord Fotball Sandefjord Fotball, often referred to simply as Sandefjord, is a Norwegian professional football club founded on September 10, 1998. The team currently competes in Eliteserien, the top division of the Norwegian football league system, and plays ...

as a free agent. Sandefjord's head coach

Arne Sandstø Arne Sandstø (born 21 October 1966) is a Norwegian football manager and former player who is head coach at Värnamo. Sandstø made seven appearances in Germany's 2. Bundesliga for Tennis Borussia Berlin during his playing career. Managerial ...

let Maanoja play the match against Alta in May 2012 instead of Iven Austbø, but Maanoja spent the rest of the season as the reserve goalkeeper. After one season in Norway, he moved back to Finland and signed for

RoPS Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS) is a football club founded in 1950 and based in Rovaniemi, Finland. RoPS played in the Finnish Premier Division, (''Veikkausliiga'') for 32 years, from 1981 to 2021. In 2021, RoPS withdrew from professional football ...

. During the season spent with

Rovaniemen Palloseura Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS) is a football club founded in 1950 and based in Rovaniemi, Finland. RoPS played in the Finnish Premier Division, (''Veikkausliiga'') for 32 years, from 1981 to 2021. In 2021, RoPS withdrew from professional football ...

(RoPS), he was selected the Veikkausliiga Player of the Month in July 2013 after showing impressive form and going through the whole month without conceding a goal. In 2014, He moved to

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), signing a two-year contract. During the 2014 season Maanoja made a new club record by keeping 13 clean sheets in the league while featuring in all of the competitive matches playing every minute during that season. In 2020, he joined

IF Gnistan IF Gnistan (''Kipinä'' in Finnish; ''The Spark'' in English), commonly known as Gnistan, is a Finnish football club from the city of Helsinki, founded in 1924. The club is currently playing in the Veikkausliiga, the first tier of the Finnish le ...

Coaching career

Maanoja has worked as a goalkeeping coach of PK-35 and

. Since February 2024, he was the assistant coach of KäPa in

Ykkösliiga ''Ykkösliiga'' (English language, English: ''"League One"''; ) is the second highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga), managed by the Football Association of Finland. The teams in Ykkösliiga also play a pre-s ...

until the end of July. In January 2025, he was named an assistant coach of

, focusing on the set-pieces.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

AC Allianssi *

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 ...

: 2004, 2005 AIK *

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

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 ...

Svenska Cupen Svenska cupen (, ), also known as the Swedish Cup in English, is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. ''Svenska cupen'' usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also ...

* Supercupen:

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 ...

Honka *

: 2011 RoPS *

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 ...

: 2013 Individual *

Player of the Month: July 2013Tomi Maanoja Veikkausliigan heinäkuun pelaaja

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maanoja, Tomi 1986 births Living people Footballers from Espoo Finnish men's footballers 21st-century Finnish sportsmen Finland men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers FC Honka players AIK Fotboll players Sandefjord Fotball players Rovaniemen Palloseura players FC Lahti players HIFK Fotboll players IF Gnistan players PK-35 (men) players Veikkausliiga players Allsvenskan players Ykkönen players Norwegian First Division players Finnish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Norway