Paulus Arajuuri

Club

Pafos FC

Position

Defender

Nationality

Finland

Date of birth

1988-06-15

Birthplace

Helsinki, Finland

Height

192 cm

Weight

89 kg

Paulus Verneri Arajuuri (born 15 June 1988) is a Finnish professional footballer, who plays as a centre back for Pafos in the Cypriot First Division and the Finland national team. He began his senior club career playing for FC Espoo, before making his Veikkausliiga debut with Honka at age 18 in 2006.

Arajuuri made his international debut for Finland in January 2010, at the age of 21.

Club career
Early career
Arajuuri made his debut on senior level in the ranks of FC Espoo during the 2005 season of the third-tier Kakkonen. He gained eight caps and scored one goal.

During the 2006 season, he made his debut in the Veikkausliiga with FC Honka against rivals HJK Helsinki. In that season, he was also sent on loan back to FC Espoo for 8 matches.

For the season 2007 he joined HJK Helsinki. He did not make any appearances in the first team, but spent the whole season playing for the reserve team Klubi 04 in the second-tier Ykkönen.

IFK Mariehamn

Arajuuri (left) and Mika Niskala at IFK Mariehamn
Originally from Helsinki, Arajuuri moved to the Åland Islands and their premier side, IFK Mariehamn, in 2008. During his first season with Mariehamn, he participated in all but two games, making it a total of 24 appearances.

During the summer of 2009, Arajuuri was frequently linked with a move to Sweden, especially to Djurgårdens IF. Arajuuri's player agent, Jonas Wirmola, admitted to one of the major newspapers of Åland that Djurgården and several other clubs had shown interest in the young Finnish defender.

Kalmar FF
Eventually, Arajuuri signed a four-year deal on a Bosman-transfer with the Swedish champions of 2008, Kalmar FF on 24 September 2009. He netted his first league goals for Kalmar FF at home against GAIS on 23 June 2011. He scored twice to help the Småland club earn a 2–1 win. Arajuuri played a total of ten matches during the 2011 Allsvenskan, nine of them in the starting line-up, as he scored two goals. Kalmar finished eighth in Allsvenskan, as they advanced to the final of the Svenska Cupen which was lost to Helsingborgs IF. However, through their cup final participation, Kalmar qualified for the UEFA Europa League qualifiers.

Arajuuri experienced a real breakthrough in Kalmar during the 2012 season, when he established himself in the starting line-up. Arajuuri played a total of 21 matches, all in the starting line-up. Arajuuri also appeared in all six qualifiers for Kalmar in the Europa League. Kalmar advanced to the third quali