Jari Litmanen

Jari Litmanen

Litmanen playing for Finland in 2009
Personal information
Full name	Jari Olavi Litmanen
Date of birth	(1971-02-20) 20 February 1971 (age 46)
Place of birth	Lahti, Finland
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position	Attacking midfielder Second striker
Youth career
1977–1987	Reipas
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1987–1990	Reipas	86	(28)
1991	HJK	27	(16)
1992	MyPa	18	(7)
1992–1999	Ajax	159	(91)
1999–2001	Barcelona	21	(3)
2001–2002	Liverpool	26	(5)
2002–2004	Ajax	20	(5)
2004	Lahti	11	(3)
2005		13	(1)
2005–2007	Malmö FF	10	(3)
2008	Fulham	0	(0)
2008–2010	Lahti	40	(10)
2011	HJK	18	(1)
Total		449	(173)
National team
1989–2010	Finland	137	(32)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Jari Olavi Litmanen ( pronunciation ; born 20 February 1971) is a Finnish former footballer. He was the first-choice captain of the Finland national team between 1996 and 2008 in an international career that ran from 1989 to 2010.

Litmanen is widely considered to be Finland's greatest football player of all time. He was chosen as the best Finnish player of the last 50 years by the Football Association of Finland in the UEFA Jubilee Awards in November 2003. He also finished 42nd in the 100 Greatest Finns voting in 2004. The Association of Football Statisticians' (The AFS) compendium of 'Greatest Ever Footballers' listed Litmanen as the 53rd best footballer ever.

In Finland, he is often called "Litti" (after Pierre Littbarski and his own surname), which dates from his early years, and is also known as "Kuningas" ("The King").

During his club career, Litmanen represented Reipas, HJK, MyPa and Lahti in Finland, and Ajax, Barcelona, Liverpool, and Malmö FF abroad. Once considered one of the best attacking midfielders in the world, he became the first Finnish footballing superstar while playing for Ajax in the mid-1990s, winning the Champions League in 1995, the peak year of his career.