Tuomas Rannankari (born 21 May 1991) 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 last played for

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

Ilves Tampereen Ilves, commonly known as Ilves, (; Finnish language, Finnish for "Eurasian lynx, Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Nokia Arena (Tampere), Nokia Arena. The colors of Ilves, ...

Club career

Rannankari came through the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

KuPS 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 ...

. He made his first team debut in the 2009 season, during which he played 13 league games. He also played six games and scored his first goal in 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 the same season. On 22 June 2009, he was signed by

FC Twente Football Club Twente (), sometimes known internationally as FC Twente Enschede, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from the city of Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub E ...

along with KuPS teammate

Petteri Pennanen Petteri Henri Juhana Pennanen (born 19 September 1990) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Veikkausliiga club KuPS. Club career A product of local Kuopion Palloseura (KuPS), Pennanen made his senior début ...

. A three-year contract was agreed. For the 2010–11 season, he was given squad number 42 but did not feature in any first team games. In December 2011, he went on trial with Greenock Morton. In July 2012 he signed a contract for

SpVgg Greuther Fürth Spielvereinigung Greuther Fürth (), commonly known as Greuther Fürth (), is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Fürth, Bavaria. They play in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of the German football league system, following r ...

U23 team which plays in

Regionalliga A (, plural ) is a regional league in numerous Sports governing body, sports governing bodies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, usually located in the upper or middle tiers of the sports leagues. The term is often associated with the Germa ...

(Fourth level). Rannankari played 31 matches and scored one goal but did not earn a place in Fürth's first team. In July 2013, Rannankari went on trial with Plymouth Argyle. After five seasons with KuPS in the Veikkausliiga, Rannankari signed a two-year contract with Ilves in November, 2017. He left the club at the end of 2018.

International career

Rannankari has gained international recognition at under-17, under-19 and under-21 levels. He played his first game for the Finland under-21s in a 2–3 defeat against the Slovakia under-21s in a March 2011

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

. Rannankari made his senior national team debut on 26 May 2012 in 3−2 victory 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 ...

Career statistics

Tuomas Rannankari stats
Finnish FA

References

External links

*
Official FC Twente youth team website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rannankari, Tuomas 1991 births Living people Kuopion Palloseura players FC Twente players Ilves (football) players SpVgg Greuther Fürth players Veikkausliiga players Finnish men's footballers 21st-century Finnish sportsmen Finland men's international footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Finnish expatriate men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Footballers from Kuopio Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Finnish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Regionalliga players SpVgg Greuther Fürth II players