Kaan Kairinen

Kasper Kaan Kairinen (born 22 December 1998) is a Finnish professional footballer, who plays as a central midfielder for Czech First League club Sparta Prague and the Finland national team.

Kaan Kairinen
Kairinen with Inter Turku in 2015
Personal information
Full name Kasper Kaan Kairinen
Date of birth (1998-12-22) 22 December 1998
Place of birth Turku, Finland
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) Central midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Sparta Prague
Number 6
Youth career
TuNL
0000–2015 Inter Turku[1]
2016–2018 Midtjylland
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2016 Inter Turku 27 (0)
2016–2020 Midtjylland 5 (0)
2017 → Skive IK (loan) 6 (0)
2018 → Inter Turku (loan) 6 (0)
2019 → HJK (loan) 24 (2)
2020 → Lillestrøm (loan) 28 (4)
2021–2022 Lillestrøm 42 (2)
2023– Sparta Prague 42 (3)
International career‡
2014–2015 Finland U17 10 (0)
2015–2016 Finland U19 7 (0)
2017–2020 Finland U21 19 (4)
2019– Finland 17 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 5 May 2024
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 26 March 2024

Early life

Kairinen was born to a Turkish father and a Finnish mother in Turku, and was raised in Runosmäki.[2]

Club career

Inter Turku

Kairinen is a youth exponent from FC Inter Turku. He made his Veikkausliiga debut at 25 October 2014 against FF Jaro, coming on as a substitute for Kalle Kauppi after 70 minutes in a 1–0 home defeat.[3] Kairinen became the second-youngest player in Inter Turku's history to play for the club, since he made his debut at the age of 15.[4]

Midtjylland and loans

On 1 February 2016, it was confirmed by FC Midtjylland, that they had signed with Kairinen for an undisclosed fee.[5]

On 14 November 2018, Midtjylland announced that Kairinen would spend 2019 at HJK Helsinki on a loan deal.[6]

Lillestrøm

Kairinen had a successful loan spell with Lillestrøm SK in Norway in the 2020 season, after which the club gained a promotion to Eliteserien. After the season, Kairinen transferred to Lillestrøm on a permanent contract, signing a four-year deal, for a transfer fee of €300,000.[7][8] In late 2021, he suffered from a long-lasted foot injury, which was eventually operated in January 2022 by surgeon Lasse Lempainen in Turku, Finland.[9]

Sparta Prague

On 20 December 2022, it was confirmed by Sparta Prague, that they had signed with Kairinen on a deal until 30 June 2026, [10] for a reported fee of €1.5 million.[11] Kairinen scored a goal and provided an assist in his debut in Czech First League on 5 February 2023, in a 4–1 home win against Mladá Boleslav.[12] During his first season in Prague, he helped the club to win their first Czech championship title since 2014.[13] On 16 March 2024, Kairinen extended his contract with Sparta until 30 June 2028.[14][15]

Kairinen recorded 12 appearances and provided four assists in Sparta's 2023–24 UEFA Europa League campaign, helping his side to advance to the round of 16, where they were eventually defeated by Liverpool.

International career

Kairinen made his debut for the Finland national team on 8 January 2019 in a friendly against Sweden, as a 54th-minute substitute for Rasmus Schüller.[16]

Personal life

Kairinen has two siblings; an older brother and a younger sister. At the age of five, Kairinen suffered a tragic loss when his father passed away.[17] He has openly told about the eating disorder and depression he suffered during his time with Midtjylland, which almost ended his career prematurely.[18][19][20]

Career statistics

Club
As of 5 May 2024[21]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[lower-alpha 1] Other Europe Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Inter Turku 2014 Veikkausliiga 100000—10
2015 Veikkausliiga 250304[lower-alpha 2]0—320
2016 Veikkausliiga 00001[lower-alpha 2]0—10
Total 260305000340
Midtjylland 2016–17 Danish Superliga 2000—0020
2017–18 Danish Superliga 3000—0030
Total 5000000050
Skive IK (loan) 2017 Danish 1st Division 6000——60
Inter Turku (loan) 2018 Veikkausliiga 6000——60
HJK (loan) 2019 Veikkausliiga 24251—6[lower-alpha 3]0353
Lillestrøm (loan) 2020 OBOS-ligaen 28400——284
Lillestrøm 2021 Eliteserien 20110——211
2022 Eliteserien 22120—4[lower-alpha 4]0281
Total 422300040492
Sparta Prague 2022–23 Czech First League 15130——181
2023–24 Czech First League 27220—14[lower-alpha 3]0432
Total 4235000140613
Career total 179111615024022612
  1. Includes Finnish Cup, Norwegian Cup and Czech Cup
  2. Includes Finnish League Cup
  3. Includes UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League
  4. Includes four appearances in UEFA Conference League

International
As of match played on 26 March 2024.
National teamYearCompetitive Friendly Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Finland 201900 2 0 2 0
202000 0 0 0 0
20212[lower-alpha 1]0 1 0 3 0
20222[lower-alpha 2]0 0 0 2 0
20238[lower-alpha 3]0 0 0 8 0
20241[lower-alpha 4]0 1 0 2 0
Total 13 0 4 0 17 0
  1. Appearances in the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification.
  2. Appearances in the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League.
  3. Appearances in the UEFA Euro 2024 qualification.
  4. Appearances in the UEFA Euro 2024 qualification.

Honours

Midtjylland

Sparta Prague

Individual

References
  1. Tulospalvelu Palloliitto
  2. Interin Kairiselta odotetaan ihmeitä (in Finnish) Turun Sanomat
  3. "Inter Turku vs. Jaro - 25 October 2014 - Soccerway". soccerway.com. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  4. "Next Generation 2015: 50 of the best young talents in world football". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 14 June 2023.
  5. FCM sikrer sig finsk midtbanetalent, fcm.dk, 1 February 2016
  6. Kaan Kairinen udlejes til den finske mesterklub, fcm.dk, 14 November 2018
  7. Kaan Kairinen teki sopimuksen Norjan liigaan nousseen Lilleströmin kanssa, Yle, 15 December 2020
  8. Norjan pääsarjaan nouseva suomalaispelintekijä avoimena – ”Kovempi vaatimustaso kuin HJK:ssa”, mtvuutiset.fi|MTV Oy, Timo Innanen, 12 December 2020
  9. IL: Huuhkajien keskikenttämies joutui jalkaleikkaukseen – missaako kauden alun?, suomifutis.com, 19 January 2022
  10. "Na Spartu přichází Kaan Kairinen". Sparta Prague (in Czech). 20 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  11. "Miljoonasiirto talvella ja nyt Tšekin mestariksi: Kaan Kairisella huippukevät". Yle (in Finnish). 24 May 2023. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  12. "Sparta Prague vs. Mladá Boleslav 4 - 1". soccerway. 5 February 2023.
  13. "Sparta v euforii! Remíza na Slovácku odstartovala mistrovské oslavy". Sport.cz (in Czech). Czech News Agency. 23 May 2023. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  14. Ikola, Eetu (16 March 2024). "Huuhkajien huippupelaaja teki kovan sopimuksen!". mtvuutiset.fi (in Finnish). MTV Oy. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
  15. "Kairinen prodloužil smlouvu". Sparta Prague (in Czech). 16 March 2024. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
  16. "Sweden v Finland game report". Eurosport. 8 January 2019.
  17. Pimeydestä valoon, X-lehti, 16 March 2024
  18. Jalkapalloilija Kaan Kairisen syömishäiriö alkoi 17-vuotiaana joukkueen punnituksista: ”Vertailimme tuloksiamme – kilpailu meni liian pitkälle”, seura.fi, 2 June 2022
  19. Superlupauksen pitkä polku, Helsingin Sanomat, Ari Virtanen, 4 September 2021
  20. Andrea Pirloon verrattu suomalaislupaus sairastui syömishäiriöön ja ajautui syvälle – Kaan Kairinen sai vaikeuksien jälkeen miljoonasiirron, Yle, 6 January 2023
  21. "Kaan Kairinen". soccerway.
  22. Kai (30 October 2015). "Tässä ovat Captain's Ball -futisgaalan kaikki palkitut tahot". SuomiFutis (in Finnish). Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  23. Is, Stt- (3 November 2017). "Filip Valencic on Veikkausliigan kauden paras pelaaja". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 2 January 2023.
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