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Aapo Halme

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Aapo Halme
Halme with HJK with 2017
Personal information
Full name Aapo Ilmari Halme[1]
Date of birth (1998-05-22) 22 May 1998 (age 28)
Place of birth Helsinki, Finland
Height 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)[2]
Position Centre-back
Youth career
2009–2015 Honka
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014[3] Honka 1 (0)
2015 Klubi 04 15 (1)
2015–2018 HJK 29 (0)
2018–2019 Leeds United 4 (0)
2019–2022 Barnsley 55 (4)
2022–2024 HJK 27 (3)
International career‡
2013–2014 Finland U16 5 (0)
2014 Finland U17 10 (1)
2015–2016 Finland U18 9 (0)
2015–2017 Finland U19 7 (0)
2017–2020 Finland U21 18 (0)
Medal record
HJK Helsinki
Third placeVeikkausliiga2015
Second placeFinnish Cup2016
Second placeVeikkausliiga2016
First placeFinnish Cup2017
First placeVeikkausliiga2017
Leeds
Third placeEFL Championship2019
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 19 October 2024
‡ National team caps and goals as of 23:00, 17 November 2020

Aapo Ilmari Halme (born 22 May 1998) is a Finnish professional footballer who most recently played as a centre-back for Veikkausliiga club HJK. He has also represented the Finland national under-21 football team from 2017 to 2020.[4] Halme was born in Helsinki, Finland. He began his senior club career playing for Honka, before signing with HJK Helsinki at age 17 in 2015.[5] He would go on to win the 2017 Veikkausliiga and 2016–17 Finnish Cup.

Formerly an international at under-16, under-17, under-18, under-19, under-20 and under-21 level. Halme was nominated to Finland's preliminary UEFA Euro 2020 team[6] but he did not make it to the final squad.

Club career

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Early career

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Halme started his youth career at FC Honka, making 1 senior appearance before joining Klubi-04, where he made 15 appearances and scored once.[citation needed]

HJK Helsinki

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The winners of the 2015 Finnish League Cup HJK Helsinki brought in Halme from Klubi-04 on a three-year deal expiring at the end of the 2018 season as stated in his contractual obligation.[7][8][9] He made 29 league appearances over three seasons with the club, scoring once.[citation needed]

Leeds United

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On 3 January 2018, Halme signed for Leeds United on a four-year contract for an unknown fee,[10] reported to be around £500,000. He became the fourth Finnish player to sign for Leeds after Sebastian Sorsa, Mika Väyrynen and Mikael Forssell.[11]

However, Halme picked up a serious foot injury during one of his first training sessions at Leeds in January, which was to rule him out for the remainder of the season.[12] After nearly nine months out injured, on 27 August 2018, Halme made his first appearance for the club representing Leeds Under 23's against Queens Park Rangers' Development squad.[13] On 23 November 2018, Leeds' first-team head coach Marcelo Bielsa gave Halme special praise after returning from his long injury layoff.[14] He made his debut the next day in the EFL Championship against Bristol City in a 2–0 win, after being named in the starting lineup after an injury to Pontus Jansson and long-term injuries to Luke Ayling and Gaetano Berardi.[15]

He scored his first goal for Leeds on 6 January 2019 during a 2–1 defeat to Queens Park Rangers in the third round of the FA Cup.[16]

Halme was regularly named as an unused substitute on the bench for the first team squad in the Championship, but still featured regularly for Carlos Corberán's under-23 side[17] that won the 2018-19 Professional Development League Northern Section. They then became the national Professional Development League champions by beating Birmingham City in the final.[18]

Barnsley

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On 3 July 2019, Halme joined Championship club Barnsley for an undisclosed six-figure fee.[19] He made his debut for Barnsley on 13 August in a EFL Cup match against Carlisle United.[20] He scored his first goal for Barnsley in a 2–2 draw with Derby County on 2 October 2019.[21]

Return to HJK

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On 25 July 2022 it was announced that Halme had signed a contract with HJK until the end of 2024.[22] He left the club after his contract expired at the end of November 2024.[23]

International career

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Finland youth teams

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Halme has represented Finland at U16, U17, U18 and U19 levels. He made his debut for Finland U21s on 8 June 2017 against Ukraine U21s. On 23 March 2019, Halme captained Finland U21 to an 8–3 victory against Norway U21.[24]

Finland first team

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Halme was called up for the UEFA Euro 2020 pre-tournament friendly match against Sweden on 29 May 2021 but he remained as an unused substitute.[25]

Career statistics

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As of match played 25 October 2024
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup[a] League cup[b] Continental Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Honka 2014[26] Veikkausliiga 1000000010
Klubi 04 2015[26] Kakkonen 15100——151
HJK 2015[26] Veikkausliiga 2000000020
2016[26] Veikkausliiga 14010201[c]0180
2017[26] Veikkausliiga 13010—1[c]0150
Total 290202020350
Leeds United 2018–19[27] Championship 401100—51
Barnsley 2019–20[28] Championship 3241010—344
2020–21[29] Championship 1800020—200
2021–22[30] Championship 501010—70
Total 554204000614
HJK 2022[26] Veikkausliiga 2100003[c]051
2023[26] Veikkausliiga 7000107[d]0150
2024 Veikkausliiga 18200005[e]0232
Total 2730010150433
Career total 131851701701619
  1. ↑ Includes Suomen Cup and FA Cup
  2. ↑ Includes Finnish League Cup and EFL League Cup
  3. 1 2 3 Appearance(s) in UEFA Europa League
  4. ↑ Appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League
  5. ↑ Appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League and UEFA Conference League

Honours

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Club

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HJK

References

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  1. ↑ "Club list of registered players: As at 19th May 2018: Leeds United" (PDF). English Football League. p. 21. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  2. ↑ "Aapo Halme career stats, height and weight, age".
  3. ↑ "Aapo Halme - Nieuws, foto's en statistieken".
  4. ↑ "Aapo Halme" (in Finnish). Suomen Palloliitto. Archived from the original on 21 December 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  5. ↑ "Leeds news: Aapo Halme to complete Elland Road transfer in 'next few days'". Daily Express. 2 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  6. ↑ "Huuhkajien leiriryhmään uusi pelaaja" [A new player at the Eagle Owl´s training camp] (in Finnish). Iltalehti. 25 May 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  7. ↑ "Aapo Halme ja HJK pitkään jatkosopimukseen". Sportti.com. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  8. ↑ "Aapo Halme jatkaa Klubissa pitkällä sopimuksella" [Aapo Halme and HJK enter into a long-term extension agreement] (in Finnish). HJK. 26 January 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  9. ↑ "Aapo Halme jatkaa Klubissa pitkällä sopimuksella" [Aapo Halme will stay at the Club with a long contract]. urheiluuutiset.com (in Finnish). 2 January 2016. Archived from the original on 21 March 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  10. ↑ "Aapo Halme signs for Leeds United". Leeds United F.C. 3 January 2018. Archived from the original on 3 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  11. ↑ Lee Sobot (3 January 2018). "Leeds United: Whites sign up Finland Under-19s centre-back". Yorkshire Evening Post. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  12. ↑ "Leeds defender Aapo Halme reveals foot injury is reason for absence". Yorkshire Evening Post. 20 March 2018. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  13. ↑ "U23 report: Leeds United 1-1 Queens Park Rangers". Leeds United. 27 August 2018. Archived from the original on 28 August 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  14. ↑ "Marcelo Bielsa drops Aapo Halme hint with defender 'ready' to make long-awaited Leeds United debut". Yorkshire Evening Post. 27 August 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  15. ↑ "Leeds United vs Bristol City". Leeds United. 24 November 2018. Archived from the original on 24 November 2018. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  16. ↑ "QPR 2–1 Leeds United". BBC Sport. 6 January 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  17. ↑ "'True leader' – Leeds under-23 captain Hugo Diaz impresses the fans once again". The Boot Room. 12 March 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  18. ↑ "Carlos Corberan on what the future can hold for Leeds United's PDL champions". Yorkshire Evening Post. 7 May 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  19. ↑ "Aapo Halme makes Barnsley move". Leeds United F.C. 3 July 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  20. ↑ "'Send him back to Leeds' Barnsley fans fuming after Aapo Halme's nightmare debut in cup upset". LeedsLive. 14 August 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  21. ↑ "Barnsley 2-2 Derby County". BBC Sport. 2 October 2019. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  22. ↑ "Aapo Halme pitkällä sopimuksella Klubiin" [Aapo Halme has signed a long contract with Klubi] (in Finnish). HJK Helsinki. 25 July 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  23. ↑ Aapo Halmeen ja HJK:n sopimus päättyi - toppari ei ole mukana ainakaan joulukuun otteluissa, veikkausliiga.com, 2 December 2024
  24. ↑ "Leeds United defender captains international side in huge victory". The72. 23 March 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  25. ↑ "Aapo Halme Huuhkajien mukaan" [Aapo Halme joins the Eagle Owls] (in Finnish). Football Association of Finland. 25 May 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  26. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "A. Halme". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  27. ↑ "Games played by Aapo Halme in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  28. ↑ "Games played by Aapo Halme in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  29. ↑ "Games played by Aapo Halme in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  30. ↑ "Games played by Aapo Halme in 2021/2022". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
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