I am not a big football fan but back then as a kid I used to watch all of the Ajax games they showed on Finnish TV. Icon factor in Finland 11/10 guy has his own statue and his nickname is "kuningas" (king). That hockey clip was propably somekind of exhibition match with celebrities against team Finland.

It is even hard to explain just how popular and loved Litmanen was and still is in Finland, but his nickname the King should give some indication. He was especially diligent and magnificient player to watch in the Finnish national team, basically he always got into form just in time play for the national team, and then get immediately injured when returning to club teams 😂 He was so good, he almost lifted Finland to the World cup at one point, only to drop out at last seconds of overtime when a ball bounced off several players and into Finland's net, causing Finland to lose their spot that was so close 😢 The amount of football players that started their career in Finland because of Jari's star power alone can't be underestimated

There are many presidents in Finland, but only one King.

I remember this very well. There are lots of Jaris living in Holland today.

Legend. He was very impressive in many ways. This video talks too little about his playmaking capabilities. He was always aware of everything happening around him and made great choices with one touch. He was not just a goal scorer. Actually I think him more of a playmaker with scoring capabilities!

I played against Litmanen and his Reipas Lahti a couple of times when we were juniors. I clearly remember his performance in a junior league game when we were 15-16 years old and Jari was one year younger than anybody else on the pitch. Still the whole game was a one man show and we ended up losing against Jari by 4-0. If I remember it correctly, he made his debut in the finnish league some 1,5 years later.

One thing that got unmentioned was that Jari was one of the best penalty shooters who i know. He allways seemed to know witch direction goalkeeper would go and he just calmly passed the Ball in another corner.

That ice hockey clip has to be from some exhibition charity match from the time when he was already an adult and probably after his footballing career was already over too. This man got injured if someone thought of tackling him, and that was on the football pitch, so I think there's no way he would have risked playing ice hockey even for charity before his footballing career was over. However the legend is that he was so incredibly talented in both ice hockey and football that there was a borderline "war" between his ice hockey coaches and football coaches over which one he would choose to focus on. As a football fan, I am eternally grateful that he chose football. Finnish football in early 1990s was not even a joke. It was a straight out horror story. We sucked and we sucked horribly on the international level. Then almost out of nowhere came this man, this King, this savior that shone not like a star, but like the sun itself, and inspired entire generations of Finnish kids to focus on football. You won't find a Finnish footballer below the age of 40 who wouldn't name Jari Litmanen as their idol and inspiration. There are others as well of course, but there is no doubt in my heart that if he had chosen ice hockey instead, we would still be dragging ourselves through the mud on the international level. His influence was that stellar.

A very forgotten football-player. He was up there with Marco Van Basten.

Absolutely brilliant player. Same fate as Haaland will face. The national team isn't good enough to qualify to the major tournaments. If Litmanen was an English or Italian player he'd be much more widely recognized. And think about it... which players wore the number 10 at Barcelona? Messi, Maradona and Litmanen. :)

Thanks for the video. Litmanen should have won the ballon dor, it is the general opinion in the europe. Ice hockey videos next? What kind of hockey videos you want to see?

It used to be very common in Finland that kids played both sports, hockey and football. They would then choose at the age of 15 or so, which one they like more. There are lot of football and hockey players who have played both. They are very complementary sports. Both reguire agile and fast feet. Litmanen said he used his hockey experience to score goals in different way than many other footballers. When running right you shoot to the left corner where the goalkeeper is coming from. That way his out of balance.

Litmanen sure is the finnish legend. I remember at early 90s that football was very popular and in my home city we had 4 different football teams at the time (only one hocky team). Marco Van Basten, Diego Maradona, Ruut Gullit, Gary Lineker and many others were idols for young boys that dreamed to begun world class super stars. I´ve been fan of Argentina, Brasil, Italy and Netherlands as we talk about football. Finland haven´t ever had big succes in national football.

nice too see a video of him, he was one of the very best penalty kick takers ever imo

And you should definately check out Matt Le Tissier who played with Southampton. Cheers from Puglia!

Litmanen was one of the greatest minds in football. His football IQ is really high. He sometimes make passes wich his teammates could not see possible. Or even commentators. So many missed goals there. I did see very close Jari´s last game when he won Finnish champs. I was bascially 20cm away of him. In youtube time would be easy how was his last game in HJK but if i remember right HJK make 5 goals and Litmanen did assist every single one. He is still the king and best Finnish player ever. Sadly injuries did ruin most of his career but everytime he was in the field he was best player. No matter what was the level. He was best in the world when healthy my opinion.

The Man of Glass wasn't really his nickname. It is just something that he was called in this video. In Finland he was called either Litti or King.

Legend

when the commentator started to list the players of Ajax the memories started to come back.. oh those were the days.. still remember when I was playing FIFA 99 with playstation 1.

Yes he did.

Van Gaal wasn't a big name when Jari went to Ajax. But he became big quickly.

❤❤❤❤❤❤Upeeta ihana ♥ Jari Litmanen

Very nice videos, can you also react to the man who would join Litmanen at Ajax but after a call with Romario moved to PSV Eindhoven named: Ronaldo Luis nazário de lima

Recommend watching 'Kuningas Litmanen' documentary

there is song made about Jari Litmanen. HC Hänninen Saksari on youtube,

Jari was injured often. Most of the times the injuries were flukes, and had nothing to do with poor training or being unfit. Things just happened.

not quite ballon d'or but almost, our greatest footballer nonetheless, exceptional passer, vision, technique

Yes, he did! George Weah, who?

CRYSTAL PALACE FC FOR EVER

Italian ww2 rifles for save, in mint condition...never been fired, only dropped once.