Markus Heikkinen

Heikkinen started his senior career in OPS, when the club played in Ykkönen in 1996 season. Heikkinen scored five goals, most in his team, but ultimately OPS were relegated back to Kakkonen, and Heikkinen left the club. He spent three seasons in Veikkausliiga with TPS and MyPa, before joining HJK Helsinki. In January 2003, Heikkinen joined English club Portsmouth on a three-month loan deal. Whilst at Portsmouth on loan, he contributed two appearances as they won the First Division Championship and promotion to the Premier League. During his two years with Aberdeen, Heikkinen was popular and important player, who usually featured in central midfield, where he had a reputation as a tough tackling and dependable player. Despite repeated attempts by Aberdeen manager Jimmy Calderwood to get the player to sign a new deal, he indicated that he was unsettled at Aberdeen and wanted to move on. An integral part of the Luton side that finished 10th in the 2005–06 Championship season, Heikkinen collected four awards – the Player of the Year trophy, Players' Player of the Season, Internet Player of the Season and the Luton News Player of the Season. On 29 December 2006, in a game for Luton against Birmingham City he was feared to have a compound fracture of the fibula, however it was in fact a nasty gash down his leg, after a late challenge by midfielder Fabrice Muamba. He returned to action against Stoke City on 17 February 2007. After his years in England Heikkinen played six seasons…

Heikkinen made his national team debut on 4 January 2002 against Bahrain. He immediately became an important defensive player to his native team. He often played as defensive midfielder. However, he returned to his old position as centre back in 2010, after Hannu Tihinen retired in professional football. He announced his retirement from international football on 26 September 2011.

During the last years of his playing career, Heikkinen worked also as a sporting director of AC Oulu in second-tier Ykkönen. Since the end of 2018, he has served as the club's sole sporting director, and helped AC Oulu to promote to Veikkausliiga after the 2020.

Club

As of 12 January 2024

International