Kaan Kairinen

Kasper Kaan Özden Kairinen (born 22 December 1998) is a Finnish professional footballer, who plays as a central midfielder for Czech First League club Sparta Prague and the Finland national team.

Kaan Kairinen

Kairinen with Inter Turku in 2015
Personal information
Full name	Kasper Kaan Özden Kairinen
Date of birth	(1998-12-22) 22 December 1998 (age 26)
Place of birth	Turku, Finland
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Central midfielder
Team information
Current team	Sparta Prague
Number	6
Youth career
	TuNL [fi]
0000–2015	Inter Turku[1]
2016–2018	Midtjylland
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2014–2016	Inter Turku	27	(0)
2016–2020	Midtjylland	5	(0)
2017	→ Skive IK (loan)	6	(0)
2018	→ Inter Turku (loan)	6	(0)
2019	→ HJK (loan)	24	(2)
2020	→ Lillestrøm (loan)	28	(4)
2021–2022	Lillestrøm	42	(2)
2023–	Sparta Prague	73	(3)
International career‡
2014–2015	Finland U17	10	(0)
2015–2016	Finland U19	7	(0)
2017–2020	Finland U21	19	(4)
2019–	Finland	23	(1)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 8 August 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 10 June 2025

Early life

Kairinen was born to a Turkish father and a Finnish mother in Turku, and was raised in Runosmäki neighbourhood.^[2]

Club career

Inter Turku

Kairinen is a youth exponent from Inter Turku. He made his Veikkausliiga debut at 25 October 2014 against FF Jaro, coming on as a substitute for Kalle Kauppi after 70 minutes in a 1–0 home defeat.^[3] Kairinen became the second-youngest player in Inter Turku's history to play for the club, since he made his debut at the age of 15. In October 2015, Kairinen was named among the top 50 best young talents in world football by The Guardian.^[4] He also spent time with Juventus on trial and was offered a contract.^[5]

Midtjylland and loans

On 1 February 2016, it was confirmed by FC Midtjylland, that they had signed with Kairinen for an undisclosed fee.^[6]

On 14 November 2018, Midtjylland announced that Kairinen would spend 2019 at HJK Helsinki on a loan deal.^[7]

Lillestrøm

Kairinen had a successful loan spell with Lillestrøm in Norway in the 2020 season, after which the club gained a promotion to Eliteserien. After the season, Kairinen transferred to Lillestrøm on a permanent contract, signing a four-year deal, for a transfer fee of €300,000.^[8][9] In late 2021, he suffered from a long-lasted foot injury, which was eventually operated in January 2022 by surgeon Lasse Lempainen in Turku, Finland.^[10]

Sparta Prague

2022–23 season

On 20 December 2022, it was confirmed by Sparta Prague, that they had signed with Kairinen on a deal until 30 June 2026, ^[11] for a reported fee of €1.5 million.^[12] Kairinen scored a goal and provided an assist in his debut in Czech First League on 5 February 2023, in a 4–1 home win against Mladá Boleslav.^[13] During his first season in Prague, he helped the club to win their first Czech championship title since 2014.^[14]

2023–24 season

On 16 March 2024, Kairinen extended his contract with Sparta until 30 June 2028.^[15][16][17] Kairinen recorded 12 appearances and provided four assists in Sparta's 2023–24 UEFA Europa League campaign, helping his side to advance to the round of 16, where they were eventually defeated by Liverpool.^[18] On 18 May 2024, after an away win against Mladá Boleslav, Kairinen and Sparta secured their second Czech First League championship title in a row.^[19] On 22 May 2024, Kairinen and Sparta were crowned the 2023–24 Czech Cup champions after beating Viktoria Plzen 2–1 in the final,^[20] completing Sparta's first double since 2014.

2024–25 season

He missed the start of the 2024–25 season due to a leg injury he suffered in May,^[21] and returned to the line-up in the end of July 2024, in a win against FK Teplice.^[22] One month later, Kairinen and Sparta qualified for the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League after defeating Malmö FF 4–0 on aggregate in the qualifying play-off round,^[23] making it the club's first appearance in the UCL final competition in 19 years. On 18 September, he scored in his debut in the UCL league phase, an opening goal in a 3–0 home win against RB Salzburg,^[24] becoming the 13th Finnish player to score in the Champions League.^[25] On 1 October, Kairinen scored again in his second UCL match, an equalizer from a free-kick past Alexander Nübel, in a 1–1 away draw against VfB Stuttgart.^[26] After the goal, his player profile in Transfermarkt was temporarily among the most popular profiles in the website.^[27][28]

International career

A former regular youth international, Kairinen debuted for the Finland senior national team on 8 January 2019^[29][30][31] in a friendly match against Sweden, as a substitute for Rasmus Schüller in the 54th minute.^[32]

Kairinen scored his first goal for the Finland national team on 24 March 2025, in a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Lithuania.^[33]

Personal life

Kairinen has two siblings; an older brother and a younger sister. Karinen's father died when he was five.^[34] He has openly discussed the eating disorder and depression he suffered during his time with Midtjylland, which almost ended his career prematurely.^[35][36][37]

Career statistics

Club

As of 8 August 2025^[38]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup[a]		League cup		Europe		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Inter Turku	2014	Veikkausliiga	1	0	0	0	0	0	—		1	0
	2015	Veikkausliiga	25	0	3	0	4	0	—		32	0
	2016	Veikkausliiga	0	0	0	0	1	0	—		1	0
	Total		26	0	3	0	5	0	0	0	34	0
Midtjylland	2016–17	Danish Superliga	2	0	0	0	—		0	0	2	0
	2017–18	Danish Superliga	3	0	0	0	—		0	0	3	0
	Total		5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
Skive IK (loan)	2017	Danish 1st Division	6	0	0	0	—		—		6	0
Inter Turku (loan)	2018	Veikkausliiga	6	0	0	0	—		—		6	0
HJK (loan)	2019	Veikkausliiga	24	2	5	1	—		6[b]	0	35	3
Lillestrøm (loan)	2020	1. divisjon	28	4	0	0	—		—		28	4
Lillestrøm	2021	Eliteserien	20	1	1	0	—		—		21	1
	2022	Eliteserien	22	1	2	0	—		4[c]	0	28	1
	Total		42	2	3	0	0	0	4	0	49	2
Sparta Prague	2022–23	Czech First League	15	1	3	0	—		—		18	1
	2023–24	Czech First League	28	2	2	0	—		14[b]	0	44	2
	2024–25	Czech First League	28	0	5	0	—		12[d]	2	45	2
	2025–26	Czech First League	2	0	0	0	—		3[c]	1	5	1
	Total		73	3	10	0	0	0	29	3	112	6
Career total			210	11	21	1	5	0	39	3	275	15

1. Includes Finnish Cup, Norwegian Cup and Czech Cup
2. Appearances UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League
3. Appearances in UEFA Conference League
4. Appearances UEFA Champions League

International

As of match played on 10 June 2025

National team	Year	Competitive		Friendly		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Finland	2019	0	0	2	0	2	0
	2020	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2021	2[a]	0	1	0	3	0
	2022	2[b]	0	0	0	2	0
	2023	8[c]	0	0	0	8	0
	2024	3[d]	0	1	0	4	0
	2025	4	1	0	0	4	1
Total		19	1	4	0	23	1

1. Appearances in the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification.
2. Appearances in the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League B.
3. Appearances in the UEFA Euro 2024 qualification.
4. Appearances in the UEFA Euro 2024 qualification play-offs and 2024–25 UEFA Nations League B.

As of match played 24 March 2025

Scores and results list Finland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kairinen goal.

List of international goals scored by Kaan Kairinen

No.	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	24 March 2025	Darius and Girėnas Stadium, Kaunas, Lithuania	1	Lithuania	1–0	2–2	2026 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Sparta Prague

• Czech First League: 2022–23, 2023–24^[19]
• Czech Cup: 2023–24
• Czech Cup runner-up: 2022–23, 2024–25

Lillestrøm

• 1. divisjon runner-up: 2020

Midtjylland

• Danish Superliga: 2017–18

Individual

• Veikkausliiga Breakthrough of the Year: 2015^[39]
• Finnish FA: U21 Player of the Year, 2017^[40]