Introduction
Roope Riski (born 16 August 1991) is a Finnish footballer currently playing for German 3. Liga club SC Paderborn on loan from SJK Seinäjoki.
He is known as a clinical, well positioned forward who can get into the right place at the right time. In the middle of the 2010 season, Riski was selected to the opening squad for the first time of his career. Since then he has enjoyed a phenomenal season, starting 12 games and scoring 11 goals. He has the best game/goal ratio in the Veikkausliiga. He has often been compared to Bayer Leverkusen forward Javier Hernández.
Career
On 22 September 2010, Riski scored a hat-trick against AC Oulu. By doing this, he became the first ever player in Finland to score a hat-trick in all the highest three levels of Finnish football system during one season.
From 27 January 2011 he is an official Cesena player.He made his Serie A debut on 19 March 2011 against Lazio on Stadio Olimpico (1−0 away loss) as a 69th-minute substitute for Fabio Caserta, he has had loan spell in Finland for TPS Turku in 2012 and Hønefoss BK in Norway. In August 2012, Riski joined English side Derby County on trial ahead of their pre-season against Chesterfield, where he started in a 3–1 loss, he scored in a reserve friendly against Matlock Town.
On 8 February 2016, SJK announced the signing of Riski on a two-year contract. On 10 January 2017 he was loaned to SC Paderborn.
International career
On 19 January 2015, Riski made his senior debut for Finland in a 1–0 friendly against Sweden, where he scored the only goal of the match.
International goal
- Score and result list Finland's goal tally first.
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 19 January 2015 | Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi |  Sweden | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly |
Personal life
He is the younger brother of Riku Riski, who currently plays for Odds BK and the Finland national football team.
Career statistics
| Season | Club | Division | League | Cup | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| 2010 | TPS Turku | Veikkausliiga | 18 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 12 |
| 2010 | Viikingit | Ykkönen | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 5 |
| 2010 | Åbo IFK | Kakkonen | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 2010–11 | Cesena | Serie A | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2011 | TPS Turku | Veikkausliiga | 11 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 4 |
| 2012 | Hønefoss | Tippeligaen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2012 | TPS Turku | Veikkausliiga | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| 2013 | 23 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 6 | ||
| 2014 | Hønefoss | 1. Divisjon | 23 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 12 |
| 2015 | Haugesund | Tippeligaen | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| 2015 | SJK Seinäjoki | Veikkausliiga | 13 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 8 |
| 2016 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 27 | 16 | ||
| Career Total | 140 | 69 | 12 | 7 | 152 | 76 | ||
Honours
Club
- SJK
- Veikkausliiga (1): 2015
- "SJK on Suomen mestari - RoPS:lle hopeaa, Jaro putosi Ykköseen" [SJK is a Finnish champion, silver to RoPS, Jaro goes to Ykkönen]. yle.fi (in Finnish). YLE. 25 October 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2015.