Jari Litmanen
Born February 20, 1971, Lahti, Finland
Brought up in a very sporting family, it was always likely that Jari Olavi Litmanen would have a love for football. Not only was his father, Olavi Litmanen, a Finnish international and a regular for Reipas, but his mother played for the club’s women’s team as well. Indeed, it was at the club of his parents where Jari’s own career began, making his first appearance at the tender age of 16. His talents didn’t go unnoticed and Finland’s premier club, HJK Helsinki, secured his services in 1991. But the youngster would last just a season there before heading to MyPa, where he would again spend just a year, but win the Finnish Cup in the process. By this time Litmanen’s game had reached a level whereby some of the biggest clubs in Europe were chasing his signature.
Eventually, after much speculation, he moved to Ajax of Amsterdam, a club steeped in history. Expectations were high, but Jari struggled to depose Dennis Bergkamp for a regular place in the side. However, when the mercurial Dutchman left for Inter at the end of that season, Litmanen was given the famous number 10 shirt and never looked back.
Alongside a number of talented Dutch youngsters, Edwin van der Sar, Edgar Davids and Patrick Kluivert to name a few, Ajax would go on to achieve great things, and Jari would play an integral role. In 1993/94 Litmanen led the scoring charts in Holland with 26 goals, helping Ajax win the title. Then, in the following two seasons, they reached the Champions League Final twice, firstly winning against AC Milan and then losing on penalties to Juventus in 1996.
By now Jari was a central figure in the Finnish national side. He had made his debut in 1989 against Trinidad and Tobago, and achieved his 100th cap against South Korea in January 2006. Like Ryan Giggs, it is a great shame that the world has never been fortunate enough to see him play at a major international tournament. To date he has racked up an impressive 111 caps, scoring 29 goals. He is the most capped Finnish player of all time and tops the goalscoring charts for his country.
Litmanen’s time at Ajax saw him cement a place as one of the club’s all-time greats, but when the manager that took him to the club, Louis van Gaal, moved to Barcelona, he was quick to add Jari to his list of signings, many of whom he’d played alongside at Ajax. Sadly, his two seasons at Camp Nou were hampered somewhat by injury and when van Gaal was replaced, Litmanen knew that a new challenge was needed.
Having already played for two of the biggest clubs in world football, he made it a hat-trick when he moved to Liverpool in 2001. During his time with the Merseyside club, he helped them enjoy one of their most successful periods since their dominance in the 1980s when, alongside fellow current Fulham player, Danny Murphy, he helped them win the League Cup, FA Cup and Uefa Cup in one season. Once again injuries limited his time on the pitch, but he scored some vital goals.
On leaving the Reds Jari spent two seasons back with his beloved Ajax before moving back to Finland. Signing for FC Lahti, it was hailed as ‘the return of the king,’ but his time there was short lived. He soon moved on to struggling German Bundesliga side Hansa Rostock and enjoyed some of his most prolonged bouts of playing time. However, despite some great displays, Hansa were relegated and he joined Malmö FF in the summer of 2005.
His time in Sweden was characterised by his battles against injury. There was no doubting Jari’s class when he was fit and his importance within the team, but unfortunately he didn’t play as often as he would have liked. In January 2008, Litmanen was given a 10-day trial at Fulham and in that time he did enough to be handed the number 10 shirt once again.
