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Aki Riihilahti
Personal information
Full name	Aki Pasinpoika Riihilahti
Date of birth	September 9, 1976 (1976-09-09) (age 33)
Place of birth	Helsinki, Finland
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	HJK
Number	19
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1995–1999 1996 1999–2001 2001–2006 2006–2007 2007–2009 2009-	HJK FC Honka → (loan) Vålerenga Crystal Palace FC Kaiserslautern Djurgårdens IF HJK	062 0(11) 3 (0) 047 00(5) 157 0(13) 010 00(1) 012 00(0) 09 00(3)
National team2
1998–	Finland	069 0(11)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 8 October 2009. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 08:46, 28 July 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Aki Pasinpoika Riihilahti (born September 9, 1976 in Helsinki) is a Finnish footballer who currently plays for HJK in the Finnish Veikkausliiga. He is known as a hard working, defensive midfielder.

Career

Riihilahti started his career at HJK where he made his Veikkausliiga debut in 1995. He won the Finnish championship once and the Finnish Cup twice with HJK, and also gained UEFA Champions League experience in the 1998-99 season. Riihilahti then moved to Norway's Vålerenga I.F. for the 1999 season. After two seasons in Norway he joined England's Crystal Palace in 2001, and eventually became a fans' favourite at the club. In Palace's 2004-05 Premiership season he showed he has what it takes to play in one of Europe's top leagues. Aki was so loved by the Crystal Palace faithful that a Finnish flag with the legend 'AKI 15' across the centre was hung behind one of the Selhurst Park goals for the entire Premiership season. However, his next season, back in the Championship, following Palace's relegation, was not so successful because injuries limited his chances, despite not playing for most of his last season Aki has the Palace record for winning the most caps for his country whilst at Palace. After his contract with Palace expired in the summer of 2006, he was picked up by Kaiserslautern on a one-year deal. In June 2007, Riihilathi signed a two and a half year deal with Stockholm club Djurgårdens IF and on 31 July 2009 turned back to Finland to sign with HJK.

Career

Riihilahti made his debut for the Finnish national team on February 5, 1998 against Cyprus. He has been a regular for Finland for the most of 2000s and is set to continue to do so in the near future.

Personal

Riihilahti has also become something of a cult figure because of columns he writes for newspapers, such as The Times and the Finnish Iltalehti.

Honours

HJK Helsinki

• Finnish Championship: 1997, 2009
• Finnish Cup: 1996, 1998
• Finnish League Cup: 1996, 1997, 1998

Crystal Palace

• English First Division play-offs: 2004

External links

• Profile at HJK.fi (Finnish)
• Stats at Veikkausliiga.com (Finnish)
• Aki Riihilahti - The Official Homepage
• Profile at ESPNsoccernet.com
• National Football Teams

From Wikiquote

Aki Riihilahti is a Finnish soccerplayer, a former player of Crystal Palace. He is famous for his website and his column in The Times magazine. Sports heroes often write for newspapers. Many of those columns are ghostwritten or heavily rewritten by editors. Riihilahti's column, started in 2002, is all Riihilahti — with a little spell checking. And Riihilahti is funny, quirky and unafraid to say what he thinks.

Quotes by Aki:

On the opponents who have beaten him:

"I remember all their names, faces and situations, those bastards."

On Premiership friends:

"They call you out of the blue, tell how nice you are and ... more importantly, that they are free when you are playing against Arsenal."

On professional footballing perks:

"Don't you know who I am? -won't get you into nightclubs."

After dropping from the Premiership he wrote about his grandmother death and his grandfather:

"Sure I cry and feel pain about football results," Riihilahti wrote. "However, the view of an old man grieving next to his wife's coffin is real pain."

"For me, there has never been a footballer even half a man of my grandfather. ... I apologize even writing about him next to a football game."

Aki Riihilahti shows why footballers will never be the new cricketers after he plays his first match:

"I thought it was a bit rude when the umpire gestured me with a finger so I showed my middle one back."

"There may be a career for me in cricket after football, though it would help if I knew the rules!"

About journalists and politicians:

You are just the bloody vegetarian dish in a kebab shop"

About nationalities:

"Typical Englishman John Smith is more concerned about David Beckham's fitness than his own wife's. Typical Chinese man Som Young Guy is not trying to grow the population of his country for over one month. Typical German Jurgen wants to check from the map that where about in Europe the cheating Uruguay is located."

On his definition of pain

"Someone non-stop kicking your genitals combined with century’s hangover while Sepultura is playing in the background. Sometimes it could be better to be unconscious."

"Injuries are like ketchup: first there is long quiet period but then suddenly there comes out a big wave of shit."

Quotes on Aki:

Simon Jordan:

"Aki Riihilahti, a ridiculous person in the best possible way - committed, brilliant work ethic, bit bonkers and totally engaging."