Toni-Pekka Lehtinen (born 5 May 1984) is a Finnish football manager and former player. He is currently an assistant coach of

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). Lehtinen was previously the manager of

JJK Jyväskylä Jyväskylän Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly referred to as JJK Jyväskylä or simply JJK, is a Finnish football club, based in Jyväskylä. JJK plays its home matches at Harjun Stadion. History Early years 1923–1992 Jyväskylän Palloilija ...

Playing career

Early career

Lehtinen has previously played for TP-Seinäjoki and was a youth player at English club

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Peterborough United formed in ...

. He returned to TP-Seinäjoki in 2002.

FC Haka

Toni signed for

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. ...

in 2003. He won 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 ...

in 2004 and finished runners up in 2007. He finished as the second highest scorer in the Veikkausliiga in 2004, 2007 and 2008 with 11 league goals in each of those seasons. He won the Veikkausliiga Rookie of the Year award in 2004. He won 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 ...

in 2005.

Levadiakos FC, FC Aarau

He joined the Greek club

Levadiakos FC Levadiakos Football Club (officially romanized: ''Levadeiakos'' ) is a Greek professional football club that plays in the Super League Greece. Based in Livadeia, Greece, the club was promoted to the Alpha Ethniki, forerunner of the Super League, ...

in the

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

in January 2009, and joined

FC Aarau FC Aarau is a Swiss professional football club based in Aarau. Founded in 1902, the club competes in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football after being relegated from the Swiss Super League. History FC Aarau was form ...

in the

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

later that year after the Greek season had ended.

Return to Finland

He returned to FC Haka after the 09/10 season with FC Aarau had finished. Signed for IFK Mariehamn in January 2011. After only one season with IFK, he left the Mariehamn-based club and signed a five-year contract with SJK in

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 ...

International career

Toni made his debut for the Finnish national team against

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

in December 2004. He has made 3 appearances for his country.

Coaching career

The last years of his playing career, Lehtinen was in SJK Akatemia squad on a player-coach contract. He worked as an assistant coach and youth coach in SJK organisation, before he was named the head coach of

in August 2021. On 12 January 2024, Lehtinen returned to

Seinäjoki Seinäjoki (; "Wall River"; , formerly ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of South Ostrobothnia. Seinäjoki is located in the western interior of the country and along the Seinäjoki (river), River Seinäjoki. The population of Sein ...

after he was named the manager of SJK first team.

Career statistics

Toni Lehtinen
Finnish FA

International

Honours

As a player
Haka *

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

: 2005 SJK *Veikkausliiga:

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 ...

*Finnish Cup:

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 ...

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 ...

: 2014 Individual *Veikkausliiga Manager of the Month: April 2024

References

External links

* at {{DEFAULTSORT:Lehtinen, Toni 1984 births Living people Footballers from Seinäjoki Finnish men's footballers 21st-century Finnish sportsmen Finnish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Finland men's international footballers Veikkausliiga players Super League Greece players Swiss Super League players Peterborough United F.C. players FC Haka players FC Aarau players Levadiakos F.C. players IFK Mariehamn players Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho players Men's association football forwards Finnish football managers Veikkausliiga managers Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho managers Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Kakkonen players Ykkönen players 2. Liga Interregional players Finnish football coaches Kolmonen players Finnish expatriate sportspeople in England Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho non-playing staff Expatriate men's footballers in England