Walter Viitala
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 9 January 1992 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Helsinki, Finland | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| PPJ Eira | |||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2010–2015 | Honka | 52 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2011 | → HIFK (loan) | 17 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2012 | → Pallohonka | 2 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2015–2016 | IFK Mariehamn | 41 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2017–2018 | Viborg FF | 20 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2018 | Malmö FF | 2 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2019 | Sandefjord | 13 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2020–2021 | SJK | 8 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2022–2023 | Inter Turku | 20 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||
| 2008 | Finland U-16 | 6 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2009 | Finland U-17 | 10 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2011 | Finland U-19 | 17 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2012 | Finland U-20 | 7 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2013 | Finland U-21 | 10 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2017–2019 | Finland | 3 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 29 May 2023 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 17 January 2019 | |||||||||||||||||
Walter Viitala (born 9 January 1992) is a Finnish former professional footballer who last played as goalkeeper for Inter Turku.[1][2]
After winning the Finnish championship title with IFK Mariehamn, on 15 December 2016, Viitala signed a 2.5-year contract with Viborg FF on a free transfer. He made his debut in a 1–0 victory against AaB on 8 April 2017.
On 11 August 2018 Viitala signed for Swedish champions Malmö FF. He signed a short-term contract for the rest of the year to replace injured back-up goalkeeper Fredrik Andersson.[3][4] He made his first appearance for Malmö FF on 23 September 2018, when he replaced an injured Johan Dahlin at halftime in a 4–0 victory over Kalmar FF.[5] He made his first start a week later in a 0–0 draw against GIF Sundsvall.
On 2 December 2021, he joined Inter Turku on a two-year contract.[6] He retired after the 2023 season.
International career
Viitala is a former youth international for Finland, and represented his country from under-16 to under-21 level.
In November 2016, Viitala received his first call-up to the senior Finland squad for the match against Ukraine.[7] He made a debut on 9 January 2017 in a 1–0 win against Morocco in Al Ain.[8]