Pasi Rautiainen

Pasi Pentti Rautiainen (born 18 July 1961) is a Finnish football manager and former player. He made 29 appearances for Finland national football team, scoring one goal. Rautiainen was named in the Finnish Football Hall of Fame in 2021.

Playing career Rautiainen was very talented as a young player, and he joined Bayern Munich at the age of just 18 in 1980. He only made one appearance for the club, but was still named German champion with Bayern in the 1980–81 season. Rautiainen later made 115 appearances in the Bundesliga for Werder Bremen (1981–82) and Arminia Bielefeld (1982–1985), scoring 14 goals. He also played in the 2. Bundesliga for Bielefeld and SG Wattenscheid 09. In Finland Rautiainen played for HJK Helsinki, winning the Finnish championship in 1978 and 1990. He also earned 25 caps for the Finland national football team, scoring once. 1982 the sports journalists of his home country elected him Finnish Footballer of the Year.

Managerial career Rautiainen started coaching the first team of his former youth club PK-35 in 1994. He helped the club to win back-to-back promotions to Veikkausliiga for the 1998 season. He has also coached Jokerit and KooTeePee in Finland, and Levadia and Flora in Estonia. His last club was Turun Palloseura (TPS).

Later career Rautiainen is also a popular football pundit in Finland. He's known for his energetic and enthusiastic behavior when talking about anything concerning football. He commented UEFA Champions League games for the TV channel Nelonen. In the 2003–04 season, he promised he'd walk from Helsinki to Porvoo (some 50 kilometres) if Deportivo were able to knock A.C. Milan out in the quarter finals which indeed happened. He never wore socks even when live on TV. He was also featured on the broadcasts of Estonian channel ETV during the 2006 World Cup. Now he works as a studio commentator in Finland's national team matches. He also continues to work as studio commentator for Champions League and English Premier League broadcasts for Viaplay.

Personal life His father and sister Jutta are former footballers and managers.

Career statistics Club

International goals As of match played 26 October 1979. Finland score listed first, score column indicates score after each Rautiainen goal.

Honours Individual Veikkausliiga Coach of the Month: July 2009