Ville Antti Lehtinen (born 17 December 1978) is a Finnish former footballer.

Ville Lehtinen
Personal information
Full name Ville Antti Lehtinen
Date of birth (1978-12-17) 17 December 1978 (age 45)
Place of birth Toijala, Finland
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
JJK
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1997 HJK 2 (0)
1997–98 Sheffield United 0 (0)
1999 Jazz 23 (1)
2000 Pallo-Iirot 23 (3)
2001–2002 Tampere United 48 (13)
2002–2004 Bodø/Glimt 20 (1)
2005 AC Allianssi 10 (1)
2005–2006 Tampere United 36 (19)
2007 Atlantis 2 (0)
2007 AC Oulu 11 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 31 December 2007

As a junior Lehtinen played for Jyväskylän Jalkapalloklubi. He made his first-team debut in Finland's top division Veikkausliiga for Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi in 1997. He played only two games before moving to Sheffield United. He played only in youth and reserve team matches for Sheffield United .

In December 1998 Lehtinen returned to Finland and practised with FC Inter Turku. Inter and Lehtinen had some controversy regarding the contract between them. Inter claimed that Lehtinen was only for trial in the team, but Lehtinen claimed he had signed a one-year contract with Inter. Inter won the court battle, and in 1999 Lehtinen played for FC Jazz from Pori. In 2000, he played with Pallo-Iirot from Rauma.

In 2001 Lehtinen joined Tampere United. He made seven goals and won the Finnish championship. During the season 2002 he moved to Norwegian F.K. Bodø/Glimt. He spent three years in Norway before returning to Finland and AC Allianssi. With Allianssi he won the Finnish League Cup in 2005. After Allianssi was drifted to match fixing scandal, Lehtinen returned to Tampere United during the season. In 2006, he was the best goalscorer for the team and again won the Finnish championship. After the season, he traveled to England doing trials for many clubs like Leeds United and also tried to sign contract with FC Honka from Espoo. However no contract was made and Lehtinen decided to end his football career and concentrate on his job as an investment manager. In July 2007 Lehtinen decided come back to football fields. He played two games in Atlantis FC in Ykkönen (the second tier) before the contract with Veikkausliiga team AC Oulu was announced.

He is also a musician and his first single Naapurintyttö was released in 2006. Many Finnish radio stations have played his music.

Career statistics

edit
As of 1 September 2024.
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup[a] Europe Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
JJK 1995 Kakkonen
1996 Ykkönen
Total 33 3 0 0 0 0 33 3
HJK 1997 Veikkausliiga 2 0 2 0
Jazz 1999 Veikkausliiga 23 1 23 1
Pallo-Iirot 2000 Ykkönen 23 3 23 3
Tampere United 2001 Veikkausliiga 31 7 1 0 32 7
2002 Veikkausliiga 17 6 1[b] 0 18 6
Total 48 13 1 0 1 0 50 13
Bodø/Glimt 2002 Tippeligaen 6 0 6 0
2003 Tippeligaen 11 1 2 3 13 4
2004 Tippeligaen 3 0 2 0 5 0
Total 20 1 4 3 0 0 24 4
AC Allianssi 2005 Veikkausliiga 10 1 10 1
Tampere United 2005 Veikkausliiga 15 7 1[c] 0 16 7
2006 Veikkausliiga 21 11 4[c] 5 25 16
Total 36 18 0 0 5 5 41 23
Atlantis 2007 Ykkönen 2 0 2 0
AC Oulu 2007 Veikkausliiga 11 1 11 1
Career total 208 41 5 3 6 5 219 49
  1. ^ Includes Suomen Cup and Norwegian Football Cup
  2. ^ Appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League
  3. ^ a b Appearance(s) in UEFA Intertoto Cup
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  NODES
Note 1