Sakari Tukiainen

Sakari Tukiainen (born 2 October 1991) is a Finnish striker who plays for Thai League 3 club Udon United.

Club career Tukiainen began his career with Finnish youth academy Espoon Palloseura (EPS), where he played from 1997 until 2008 when he quit the game. At EPS, Tukiainen played as a defender. He stopped playing football at the age of 17 due to lack of motivation.

After a five-year break, his friend encouraged him to play for Club Latino Español who were playing in the 7th Division in Helsinki. Club Latino Español in Helsinki who were then coached by Paraguayan Rodrigo Acosta. Acosta saw a striker in Tukiainen, and he was their best in 2013 with 30 goals.

In January 2014, he moved to neighboring club Atlantis FC, who were playing in the Finnish Kakkonen and coached by the Brazilian Alan Arruda. He started with the reserve team, but joined the first team during the preseason. His goal star continued to be brilliant in Atlantis, as during the 2014 Kakkonen season Tukiainen scored 40 goals in 27 games and broke the single-season record of Kakkonen, which was formerly owned by Pasi Nevanperä and Joel Pohjanpalo with 33 goals.

In November 2014, Tukiainen went to a test camp at the Allsvenskan AIK, where he scored two goals in him only test game, but ended up not joining AIK. In December 2014, he was bought to Estonia to Flora Tallinn, one of the most successful clubs in the country. He played with Flora and was also loaned to JK Tulevik Viljandi for a brief period.

He signed with Veikkausliiga club Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS) in 2017. RoPS already had several experienced strikers, and Tukiainen did not get to feature prominently until the end of the season.

He signed with Danish club Thisted in January 2018. In the 2018–2019 season, he became the top scorer for that season with 10 goals, and an additional 3 in the DBU cup.

He is an avid futsal player who played both futsal and football for much of his career. He also has a rank of Second Lieutenant having served in the Finnish Army for one year.

He signed for Thisted in 2018 after they sold their top striker Mikkel Agger to Norway's Sarpsborg 08.

In March 2022, he signed with Cambodian Premier League club Boeung Ket.

Career statistics