Ville Viljanen

Ville Viljanen (born 2 February 1971) is a Finnish former international footballer. A striker, he scored 47 goals in 200 league games in a nine-year career, and won one cap for Finland in 1999.

Ville Viljanen
Personal information
Full name Ville Viljanen[1]
Date of birth (1971-02-02) 2 February 1971
Place of birth Helsinki, Finland
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[2]
Playing position(s) Striker
Youth career
1994 Sandarna BK
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1995–1998 BK Häcken 71 (15)
1999 Västra Frölunda IF 20 (2)
2000–2001 Port Vale 34 (6)
2001–2004 GAIS 75 (24)
Total 200 (47)
National team
1999 Finland 1 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He played in Sweden with Sandarna BK, BK Häcken, and Västra Frölunda IF between 1994 and 1999, helping Häcken to promotion out of Division 1 as play-off winners in 1997. He joined English club Port Vale in February 2000, and was an unused substitute in the 2001 Football League Trophy Final. He then returned to Sweden with GAIS, helping the club to two promotions from Division 2 to Allsvenskan, before he retired in 2005.

Playing career

Viljanen began his career in Sweden with Sandarna BK, before he moved to Division 1 side BK Häcken in 1995. They finished fourth in 1996 and second in 1997, beating Västerås SK Fotboll 5–3 in the play-offs to win promotion into the Allsvenskan. They were relegated automatically in 1998, finishing one point behind Örgryte IS in the play-offs. He scored 15 goals in 71 league games for the club. He then moved on to Västra Frölunda IF, and made 20 appearances for the club in 1999, as they posted a 7th-place finish in the top-flight. In February 2000 he moved to England to sign for Brian Horton's Port Vale. He scored his first goal for the club on 7 March, in a 2–1 defeat to Crewe Alexandra at Gresty Road, and finished the 1999–2000 campaign with four goals in 15 games. He was one of five players placed on the transfer list in December 2000 following a humiliating defeat to non-league Canvey Island in the FA Cup.[3] He finished the 2000–01 campaign with two goals in 23 appearances, and was an unused substitute in the 2001 Football League Trophy Final. He then returned to Sweden to play for GAIS. They were relegated out of the Superettan in 2001, finishing behind Assyriska on goal difference. GAIS finished second in Division 2 in 2002, before winning promotion as Västra Götaland champions in 2003, finishing above Ljungskile SK on goal difference. The Gamla Ullevi club finished sixth in the Superettan in 2004.

Statistics

Source:[4]

Club Season Division League FA Cup Other Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
BK Häcken[5]1996Division 1267
1997Division 1195
1998Allsvenskan263
Total 7115
Västra Frölunda IF[5]1999Allsvenskan202
Port Vale[6]1999–2000First Division1540000154
2000–01Second Division1921030232
Total 3461030386
GAIS[5]2001Superettan111
2002Division 2217
2003Division 22213
2004Superettan213
Total 7524

Honours
BK Häcken
  • Swedish Football Division 1 play-off winner: 1997
Port Vale
GAIS
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References
  1. "Ville Viljanen". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  2. "FootballSquads - Port Vale - 2000/01". www.footballsquads.co.uk. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  3. "Five up for sale at Vale". BBC Sport. 4 December 2000. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  4. Ville Viljanen at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
  5. "Ville Viljanen". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman.
  6. Ville Viljanen at Soccerbase
  7. "Vale vault Brentford to lift Vans trophy". BBC Sport. 22 April 2001. Retrieved 19 January 2016.

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