Toni Kolehmainen (born 20 July 1988) is a Finnish former 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 lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He had previously played for AZ in

Alkmaar Alkmaar () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland. Alkmaar is well known fo ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Kolehmainen also played in

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

' youth academy during 2004–05.

Early career

After ending his stay with

' youth academy Toni returned to Finland to play for OLS Oulu. In 2006, he joined town rival

AC Oulu AC Oulu is a Finnish professional football club based in Oulu, currently playing in Finland's premier division, ''Veikkausliiga''. Formed in 2002, the club have played six seasons in Finland's highest football league Veikkausliiga and 16 seasons ...

and helped the club gain promotion to 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 ...

. His play with

led to interest from Dutch Eredivisie club

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known internationally as AZ Alkmaar, or simply and most commonly as AZ () in the Netherlands, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan#The Zaan district, Zaan district. ...

who signed Kolehmainen in 2007.

Club career

During his time with AZ he was primarily a member of the reserve squad. In 2008, he was promoted to the first team squad by

Louis van Gaal Aloysius Paulus Maria "Louis" van Gaal (; born 8 August 1951) is a Dutch former association football, football player and former manager who currently serves as an advisor for AFC Ajax, Ajax. At club level, he served as manager of AFC Ajax, Aj ...

and made his debut in a 3-0

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

victory over Achilles '29.AZ debut
/ref> Once the 2009 season concluded Kolehmainen did not exercise the option on his contract with AZ and returned to

for a brief stay, which led to a promotion after the season. Kolehmainen however left Oulu and went on signing a two-year contract with TPS in February 2010. After some promising performances, Kolehmainen was spotted by Hønefoss BK, where he would reunite with a TPS teammate Riku Riski. A long-term contract was signed on 31 August 2012. Kolehmainen retired in 2017, finishing his career at Polish side Wisła Puławy. Kolehmainen is currently based in Malta where he works as a director within the gaming industry at Rootz Ltd, often providing insights at events and conferences.

International career

On 22 January 2012 Kolehmainen scored 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, ...

in his senior level debut, in a friendly match against

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

Career statistics

Club

International goals

Honours

TPS Turku *

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

HJK *

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 ...

Individual *

Player of the Month: September 2010Veikkausliigan syyskuun joukkue nimetty

References

External links

Kolehmainen at AZ fan page

Kolehmainen player card at AC Oulu

A wonderkid from escadinavian soccer
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kolehmainen, Toni 1988 births Living people Footballers from Oulu Men's association football midfielders Finnish men's footballers 21st-century Finnish sportsmen Finland men's under-21 international footballers Finland men's international footballers Oulun Luistinseura players AC Oulu players AZ Alkmaar players Turun Palloseura footballers Hønefoss BK players Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players Wisła Puławy players Eredivisie players Veikkausliiga players Norwegian First Division players Eliteserien players I liga players Finnish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Finnish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Finnish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Poland Norwegian Third Division players Ykkönen players