Jari's Biography:

Name: Jari Olavi Litmanen.

Birth date: 20 february 1971.

Birth place: Lahti ()

Position: midfield

Length: 181 cm

Weight: 82 kg

Backnumber: 20

Story of Life:

Jari Litmanen was born on 20 february 1971 at Lathi (Fin). He played football and icehockey. A few years later he stopped with icehockey and played only football. He started in 1987 at Reipas Lahti, coming out in the Finnish Football competition. In 86 games he makes 49 goals. In the time by Reipas Lathi they won three prices: best young player from Finland (1988), Finnish A Championship (1989) and best Finnish player (1990). A year later he goes to HJK Helsinki, Finlands biggest club. In 27 games he scored 17 goals. They where Finnish champion in the season 1990/1991 and he was again Finnish Best player. But he leaved HJK Helsinki after one year and was going toe the Finnish MyPa 47. There he played 18 games and scored seven times. In that year he won 2 prices: The Finnish Cup (1992) and Finnish player of the year. But Jari would go to Europe because he would like playing for a professional club. He could choose between FC Barcelona, RC Genk, GBA, Leeds United, PSV and Ajax Amsterdam, he choosed for Ajax. He makes his debute on August 23th, in a game against Go Ahead Eagles (3-0 for Ajax). Jari won a lot of national and international prices. National he won: 4x Dutch Championship ('94-'95-'96-'98), 3x de Dutch Cup ('93-'98-'99), 4x he won the Supercup ('93-'94-'95-98), 1x he was Dutch Topscorer ('94 with 26 goals) and 1x he was player of the year ('94). International he won the Champions League ('95), 1x the Worldcup for clubteams('95), 1x he won the European Supercup ('96) and 1x he was topscorer in the Champions League ('96). Totally Jari played 182 games where he scored 98 goals. That's a average of 0,59 goal in a game. Jari leaved Ajax in the end of the season 1998/1999 and goes playing at FC Barcelona. Jari played not much time, because he was injured for a long time. In the Finnish National team he played 73 times and scored hij 25 keer (untill 3 Januari 2002).




Statics:


Season:------------Club:----------------------Games:------------------Goals:


1987--------------Reipas Lahti (Fin)----------9---------------------------0.
1988--------------Reipas Lahti (Fin)----------26--------------------------8.
1989--------------Reipas Lahti (Fin)----------25--------------------------6.
1990--------------Reipas Lahti (Fin)----------26-------------------------14.
1991--------------HJK Helsinki (Fin)----------27-------------------------16.
1992--------------My Pa ' 47 (Fin)------------18---------------------------7.
1992/1993-------Ajax Amsterdam -----------12--------------------------1.
1993/1994-------Ajax Amsterdam -----------30-------------------------26.
1994/1995-------Ajax Amsterdam -----------27-------------------------17.
1995/1996-------Ajax Amsterdam -----------26-------------------------14.
1996/1997-------Ajax Amsterdam -----------16--------------------------6.
1997/1998-------Ajax Amsterdam -----------25-------------------------16.
1998/1999-------Ajax Amsterdam -----------23--------------------------11.
1999/2000-------FC Barcelona (Spa) -------21---------------------------3.
2000/2001-------FC Barcelona (Spa) --------0---------------------------0.
2001--------------Liverpool FC (Eng) ---------5--------------------------1.
2001/2002------- Liverpool FC (Eng) --------21--------------------------4.
2002/2003-------Ajax Amsterdam -----------14---------------------------5.