Lassi Lappalainen

Lassi Roni Kasperi Lappalainen (born 24 August 1998) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club CF Montréal.[2]

Lassi Lappalainen
Personal information
Full name Lassi Roni Kasperi Lappalainen
Date of birth (1998-08-24) 24 August 1998
Place of birth Espoo, Finland
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Position(s) Winger
Team information
Current team
 CF Montréal
Number 21
Youth career
0000–2010 EPS
2011–2015 HJK
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015–2016 Klubi 04 21 (10)
2015–2019 HJK 30 (3)
2017–2018 → RoPS (loan) 39 (12)
2019–2021 Bologna 0 (0)
2019–2021 → CF Montréal[lower-alpha 1] (loan) 39 (10)
2022– CF Montréal 51 (5)
International career‡
2013–2014 Finland U16 5 (1)
2014 Finland U17 7 (0)
2016 Finland U18 2 (0)
2016–2017 Finland U19 6 (5)
2017– Finland U21 7 (3)
2019– Finland 9 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 21 April 2024
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 22:25, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

Club career

Early career

Born in Espoo in 1998,[3] Lappalainen started his football career with Espoon palloseura (EPS)[4] and later moved to HJK youth team. Lappalainen played in Klubi 04, the reserve team of HJK.

HJK

In 2016, Lappalainen was called up for HJK's first team. On 2 April 2016, he made his Veikkausliiga debut against IFK Mariehamn at Sonera Stadium, being substituted on by coach Mika Lehkosuo in place of Nnamdi Oduamadi in the 90th minute.[5] Lappalainen also represented HJK youth in UEFA Youth League twice, in 2015–16 and 2016–17.[3]

RoPS (loan)

On 21 July 2017, Lappalainen was loaned to RoPS for remainder of the Veikkausliiga season.[6] Two days later, he scored his first league goal for RoPS just five minutes into his debut after coming on as a substitute.[7]

Bologna

On 19 July 2019, Lappalainen signed to Italian Serie A club Bologna. HJK Helsinki stated it received "significant compensation" and that economically, the transfer was in the "top 7 of HJK's club history".[8][9] The transfer fee was later reported to be €700.000.[10]

Montreal

On 25 July 2019, it was announced that Lappalainen was loaned to Major League Soccer (MLS) club Montreal Impact, later renamed as CF Montréal, for the remainder of the 2019 season using Targeted Allocation Money. The Impact have options to extend the loan until 30 June 2020, as well as until 31 December 2020.[11] On 27 July 2019, he contributed two goals to Montreal Impact's 4–0 victory over the first-place Philadelphia Union on his MLS debut.[12]

On 3 December 2021, Lappalainen's move to Montréal was made permanent, on a deal until the end of 2024, with an option to extend it.[13]

International career

Lappalainen made his debut for the Finland national team on 8 January 2019 in a friendly against Sweden, as a starter.[14]

Lappalainen was called up for the UEFA Euro 2020 pre-tournament friendly match against Sweden on 29 May 2021.[15]

Career statistics

Club
As of 21 April 2024[2]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[lower-alpha 2] League cup Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Klubi 04 2015 Kakkonen 14700–––147
2016 Kakkonen 5100–––51
2017 Kakkonen 2200–––22
Total 2110000000002110
HJK 2015 Veikkausliiga 00001[lower-alpha 3]000–10
2016 Veikkausliiga 140104[lower-alpha 3]000–190
2017 Veikkausliiga 0051–1[lower-alpha 4]0–61
2019 Veikkausliiga 16351–2[lower-alpha 5]2–236
Total 303112503200497
RoPS (loan)2017 Veikkausliiga 13400–––134
2018 Veikkausliiga 26853–––3111
Total 3912530000004415
Bologna 2019–20 Serie A 0000––0000
CF Montréal[lower-alpha 1] (loan)2019 MLS 11540––00155
2020 MLS 13400––1[lower-alpha 6]0144
2021 MLS 15130––00181
Total 3910700000104710
CF Montréal 2022 MLS 28300–4[lower-alpha 7]02[lower-alpha 8]0343
2023 MLS 212202[lower-alpha 9]0–00252
2024 MLS 200000–0020
Total 51520204020615
Career total 1353623550321016743
  1. "Montreal Impact" before name change to CF Montréal in 2021
  2. Includes Suomen Cup, Finnish League Cup and Canadian Championship
  3. Appearance(s) in Finnish League Cup
  4. Appearance(s) in the UEFA Europa League
  5. Appearance(s) in the UEFA Champions League
  6. Appearance(s) in the MLS is Back Tournament
  7. Appearance(s) in the CONCACAF Champions League
  8. Appearance(s) in the MLS Cup Playoffs
  9. Appearance(s) in Leagues Cup

International
As of match played on 16 June 2021.[16]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Finland 201970
202000
202120
Total90

    Honours

    Montreal Impact

    References
    1. "Lassi Lappalainen". CF Montréal. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
    2. Lassi Lappalainen at Soccerway. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
    3. Lassi Lappalainen at WorldFootball.net
    4. "Lapista tulleella Lappalaisella kovat tavoitteet Stadissa – "Toivon ykköslaiturin roolia"" [Lappalainen from Lapland sets hard goals at Stadio - "I hope to be number one"]. vantaansanomat.fi (in Finnish). Vantaan Sanomat. 19 March 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
    5. "HJK vs. Mariehamn - 2 April 2016 - Soccerway". us.soccerway.com. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
    6. "RoPS lainasi Lappalaisen Helsingin Jalkapalloklubista". rops.fi. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
    7. "RoPS - SJK 23 July 2017". Soccerway. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
    8. "UFFICIALE: Bologna, tesserato il finlandese Lappalainen" (in Italian). Retrieved 20 July 2019.
    9. "Arrivederci, Lassi Lappalainen!". HJK Helsinki (in Finnish). 17 July 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
    10. Maailmalle kasvamaan, Helsingin Sanomat, Juho Niemistö, 19 August 2023
    11. "Lappalainen on loan". Retrieved 25 July 2019.
    12. "Lappalainen scores twice in MLS debut, Impact hammer Union". 27 July 2019. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
    13. Lassi Lappalainen transferred from Bologna to CF Montréal, signs long-term deal MLS Sport. 3 December 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2022
    14. "Sweden v Finland game report". Eurosport. 8 January 2019.
    15. "Näillä pelaajilla Huuhkajat lähtevät kohti EM-kisoja – kaksi nimeä kiinnostivat yli muiden" (in Finnish). Helsingin Sanomat. 19 May 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
    16. "Lassi Lappalainen". National Football Teams. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
    17. "Montréal takes 2019 Canadian Championship title". Retrieved 28 September 2019.
    18. "Montreal beats Toronto FC 1-0 to win Canadian Championship Voyageurs Cup". Retrieved 21 November 2021.
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