Markus Halsti

Club

Esbjerg

Position

Defender

Nationality

Finland

Date of birth

1984-03-19

Birthplace

Helsinki, Finland

Height

1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)

Weight

78

Markus Halsti (born 19 March 1984) is a Finnish football defender and midfielder who plays for the Finland national team and Esbjerg fB in the Danish Superliga.

Club career
In Finland
Starting his career in FC Viikingit before moving to HJK in the Finnish top league in 2003, he debuted in 2003. His 2005 season ended badly with a serious injury in the middle of the season. Same injury came later in the beginning of 2007 when he again missed half of the season due to this fracture in his right leg. This was also his last year in HJK as he signed to a Swedish club GAIS after a tip off from former Finnish national team coach Roy Hodgson as a bosman. However, before he ever had a chance to make a debut for GAIS he moved to the Allsvenskan rivals Malmö FF. Before signing with GAIS, he was on trial with Italian Atalanta and Leeds United. The Norwegian clubs Start and Molde IF, as well as a few unknown Danish clubs were also interested to sign him, but found him too expensive.

Malmö FF
Following a disappointing couple of years with Malmö FF with a knee injury, Halsti reinvigorated his club career by heading in the 3-2 goal against Kalmar FF away from home in April 2010, which ultimately won Malmö the match. In the same game he also got injured, and due to this injury he missed most of the 2010 season. In 2010 Malmö FF won the league just ahead of their rivals Helsingborgs IF. Halsti played as a central defender and right defender positions during the 2011 season. He scored his second goal for the club in the away derby match against Helsingborgs IF, which eventually ended in a 2-2 draw.

In 2011 Malmö FF was close of qualification to the Champions League, first winning Rangers FC away 1-0 where Halsti played as a right back, and then getting 1-1 draw at home in a game where Halsti was injured once again. In the end GNK Dinamo Zagreb went to the Group Stage of the tournament by only one goal marginal, as they first won home 4-1 but then lost 2-0 in Malmö. Halsti played in both games, making a goal pass to 1-1 goal in Zagreb. Malmö still qualified to the Europa League in the same group as AZ Alkmaar, FC Metalist Kharkiv and FK Austria Wien. In the group Malmö didn't have much chance as they got only 1 point in 6 games. AZ Alkmaar and FC Metalist Kharkiv qualified to the quarter- finals of the tournament but were both beaten there. Halsti played totally three games in the competition. For the 2012 season, Halsti found himself in tough competition for a sta