“Like a refuge”
©IMAGO
Teemu Pukki has decided not to play for the Finnish national team anymore. The former Schalke striker is the top goalscorer in history. At the age of 35, it is now time to step down. He could get the opportunity to show himself twice more.
Pukki showed his goal threat in the national team and especially during his years at Norwich City (2018 to 2023) and previously at Bröndby IF (2014 to 2018). At Schalke, for example, he still had a hard time after the Royal Blues made a transfer payment of 1.8 million euros to HJK Helsinki. After two S04 years, he moved on to Celtic Glasgow in 2013 for 2.5 million euros. When things were difficult at the club when he was younger, the national team was “like a refuge,” Pukki said in an association announcement about his departure from the national team.
Pukki’s retirement does not mean the end of his career. The veteran is under contract with HJK Helsinki, where he first kicked the ball between 2010 and 2011, until the end of 2026. The 131-time national player – the second most of all Finnish national team players – returned to Finland at the beginning of this year after a year and a half with MLS club Minnesota United.
The upcoming international matches against Malta in the World Cup qualification, in which the Finns no longer have a chance of taking part in next year’s World Cup, and against Andorra will be the last for Pukki. He can expand his record to up to 133 games, which is not enough to overtake record player Jari Litmanen (137). However, it seems impossible that he could be knocked off the throne as his country’s best goalscorer in the near future.
“I’m really proud that I was able to do this for so long,” said Pukki about his career with the national team. “Lately I’ve been feeling like it’s time to end this career. It wasn’t an easy decision for me, but now that I’ve made it public, it feels right.”