Matti Lähitie

Matti Lähitie (born 13 February 1985 in Pori) is a Finnish footballer, currently playing for Jyväskylän Jalkapalloklubi (JJK) in the Finnish Ykkönen. He plays as a defender or defensive midfielder.

Playing career

Matti Lähitie started his football career at Finnish club FC Jazz, where he made his league debut at the age of just seventeen years old. In total he made forty appearances at FC Jazz between 2002 and 2004, scoring twice.

In 2005, he transferred to another Finnish club, FC Lahti who were playing in Veikkausliiga at the time. Lähitie saw this as a step-up in his career, with Finnish internationals such as Jari Litmanen, Pekka Lagerblom and Mika Väyrynen also playing for Lahti at some point and all benefiting.

In 2006 Lähitie transferred to his third Finnish club, Jyväskylän Jalkapalloklubi playing in the Finnish Ykkönen.

Lähitie is a very versatile midfielder, who is just as comfortable on the left side of midfield as he is on the right or in the centre, although his right foot is his strongest.

Trivia

• Lähitie can speak three languages - native Finnish, English and Swedish