Tim Sparv

Tim Sparv (born 20 February 1987) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for HJK in the Veikkausliiga and is the captain of Finland's national football team. Sparv was born in Oravais, and started his football career in Norrvalla FF youth team before moving to Southampton's junior organisation. He began his senior club career playing for Halmstad, before signing with Groningen in 2010.

Sparv made his international debut for Finland in February 2009, at the age of 21 and has since had over 70 caps, including appearing in 2010, 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifications. His family is a member of the Swedish-speaking population of Finland.

Club Career

Southampton

Born in Oravais,Ostrobothnia, Sparv spent three years in the youth academy of Southampton. He was a member of Southampton's youth team that reached the final of the FA Youth Cup in 2005, where he played alongside Theo Walcott, losing on aggregate to Ipswich Town. He was named in the first team squad for 2006–07 season and made numerous reserve team appearances but, as Southampton had a plethora of midfielders from which to choose, he was unable to break through into the first team itself.

Halmstad

On 7 January 2007, he moved to Halmstads BK to play in Allsvenskan, on the advice of both his father and former Halmstads BK player Michael Svensson. He made his Allsvenskan debut on 9 April 2007 in a match against Helsingborg when he replaced Andreas Johansson as a substitute for the second period. On 1 May 2008, he was loaned out to Vaasan Palloseura after suffering illness as well as a lack of playing time with Halmstads.

Groningen

In August 2009, he was close to a move to Groningen, but Halmstad refused to let him go at that point. On 14 August, FC Groningen announced that Sparv would join them as of 1 January 2010. He made his Eredivisie debut on 7 March 2010 in a 1–0 victory over VVV-Venlo, coming on for Fredrik Stenman in the

This page also has a version in other languages :  Тим Спарв (russian)