Joel Pohjanpalo

Joel Pohjanpalo
Personal information
Full name Joel Pohjanpalo
Date of birth (1994-09-13) 13 September 1994
Place of birth Helsinki, Finland
Height 1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current team
 Bayer Leverkusen
Number 17
Youth career
1999–2005 PK-35
2006–2010 HJK Helsinki
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2010–2011 Klubi-04 24 (33)
2011–2013 HJK Helsinki 50 (16)
2013– Bayer Leverkusen 4 (4)
2013–2014 → VfR Aalen (loan) 22 (5)
2014–2016 → Fortuna Düsseldorf (loan) 56 (13)
National team‡
2011 Finland U17 3 (0)
2012 Finland U19 3 (0)
2012–2013 Finland U21 10 (2)
2012– Finland 22 (4)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15 September 2016 (UTC).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 9 October 2016

Joel Pohjanpalo (born 13 September 1994), is a Finnish professional football striker who plays for German Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen and represents the Finland national team.[1] Pohjanpalo was born in Helsinki, Finland where he played for HJK before he was loaned to Bayer 04 Leverkusen at age 19 in 2013.

Pohjanpalo made his international debut for Finland in November 2012, at the age of 18.

Club career

HJK Helsinki

A product of his hometown club HJK Helsinki, Pohjanpalo emerged through the youth ranks, first appearing with the reserve team (Klubi-04) in 2011 at the age of 16. He made his Veikkausliiga debut on 26 October 2011, starting against RoPS. During his first season in the Finnish 3rd division with Klubi-04, he made 21 appearances and scored a record-breaking 33 league goals.[2] Following his excellent performances with the reserves, Pohjanpalo signed a new contract with HJK on 7 December 2011, keeping him in the Finnish capital until 2015.

Pohjanpalo started HJK Helsinki's first league match of the 2012 Veikkausliiga season on 15 April 2012, scoring a hat-trick within the space of three minutes (162 seconds) against IFK Mariehamn.[3] After a 3-day trial with Liverpool in August 2012, Pohjanpalo was offered a 3-year contract but rejected the deal due to a lack of guaranteed playing time for Liverpool F.C. Reserves.[4] He finished the 2012 season at HJK with 19 goals in 42 games in all competitions.

Bayer Leverkusen

On 1 September 2013 he was loaned to German Bundesliga team Bayer Leverkusen, who then loaned him to 2. Bundesliga team VfR Aalen.[5] At Aalen Pohjanpalo started 13 matches and appeared in a further 9, scoring 5 goals.

In April 2014 Pohjanpalo renewed his contract with HJK Helsinki, extending it to 2018. At the same time HJK extended his loan contract with Bayer Leverkusen a further two years, which Pohjanpalo spent on loan at Fortuna Düsseldorf.[6] He was voted for the 2. Bundesliga Player of the month in October 2014, following his hat-trick against Darmstadt 98.

On 21 March 2016, Leverkusen announced that they had exercised their option to permanently sign Pohjanpalo.[7] On August 27, 2016 he finally made his debut for the club in their opening game of the 2016-17 Bundesliga against Borussia Mönchengladbach. He scored just a minute after being substituted on, but it was not enough to prevent Leverkusen from losing 2-1. Pohjanpalo came off the bench in Leverkusen's 2nd game of the season and scored a hat-trick, helping Leverkusen achieve a 3-1 win over Hamburger SV. After these two appearances Pohjanpalo had scored 4 goals in just 30 minutes during the first two matches of the season.

International career

Pohjanpalo made his senior national team debut on 14 November 2012 in a 3−0 victory against Cyprus when he replaced Teemu Pukki as a substitute on the 70th minute.[8] He was close to scoring in a friendly against Slovenia when his shot hit the post and was then finished by Hämäläinen. In the next friendly game against Hungary he finished his first international goal entering the field as a substitute and equalising the game.

International goals

As of 8 October 2015
Scores and results list Finland's goal tally first.
# Date Location Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 5 March 2014 ETO Park, Győr, Hungary  Hungary 1–1 2–1 Friendly
2. 4 September 2015 Karaiskaki Stadium, Athens, Greece  Greece 1–0 1–0 UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
3. 7 September 2015 Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland  Faroe Islands 1–0 1–0 UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
4. 8 October 2015 Arena Națională, Bucharest, Romania  Romania 1–0 1–1 UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying

Honours

Club

Klubi-04
HJK Helsinki

Statistics

Club

As of 21 October 2016
Club performance League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Finland League Finnish Cup Europe Total
2011HJK HelsinkiVeikkausliiga10000010
20122811105434219
20132155043308
2013/14VfR Aalen2. Bundesliga2250020245
2014/15Fortuna Düsseldorf291120003111
2015/162622000282
2016/17Bayer LeverkusenBundesliga44001054
Career Total 1313819511616149

1Finnish Cup statistics include app & goals in Finnish League Cup.

International

As of 10 September 2016[9]
Finland national team
YearAppsGoals
201210
201310
201491
201573
201630
Total214

References

  1. ↑ "Joel Pohjanpalo" (in Finnish). Suomen Palloliitto. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  2. ↑ Pohjanpalo awarded as "Player of the Year" (Finnish)
  3. ↑ "HJK vs. Mariehamn". Soccerway. 2012-04-15. Retrieved 2012-04-15.
  4. ↑ Pohjanpalo signs until 2015 (Finnish)
  5. ↑ http://www.palloliitto.fi/uutiset/maajoukkueet/joel-pohjanpalo-siirtyy-saksaan
  6. ↑ http://www.iltasanomat.fi/jalkapallo/art-1288682468088.html
  7. ↑ Bayer04fussball (21 Mar 2016). "Bayer 04 Leverkusen sign Pohjanpalo" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  8. ↑ "Huuhkajat selkeään voittoon" (in Finnish). Palloliitto. 14 November 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  9. ↑ "Joel Pohjanpalo" (in Finnish). palloliitto.fi. Retrieved 2 April 2015.

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