Football | MTV: Teemu Tainio to become FC Lahti’s new head coach

Teemu Tainio, a former Finland international with experience at Tottenham, Sunderland and Birmingham, will take charge of FC Lahti after the current season, MTV reports.

The Veikkausliiga club announced on Thursday that current head coach Goncalo Pereira, 37, will leave when the season ends. FC Lahti said both sides agreed not to activate the option in Pereira’s contract for 2027.

Pereira led FC Lahti back to Finland’s top division last year. The club finished seventh in this season’s Veikkausliiga regular season. In a statement, Pereira called restoring the club’s credibility his greatest achievement. “After a few difficult years, we have managed to restore pride and joy in the club among the supporters. That is the greatest achievement of all, to see people genuinely smile when they talk about FC Lahti,” he said.

Tainio, 46, played 88 Premier League matches and scored three goals. He also represented Auxerre in France and made 64 appearances for Finland, scoring six goals. He ended his playing career at HJK in 2014.

He began coaching as an assistant at FC Haka in 2017 and became the club’s head coach in November 2018. During his first full season, he guided Haka to victory in the second-tier Ykkönen and promotion to the Veikkausliiga. His time at Haka ended after the 2023 season. Since then, he has worked as an assistant at Cyprus’s AEL Limassol, Estonia’s Kalev and the Finland national team, as well as serving as Kalev’s head coach.

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After a few difficult years, we have managed to restore pride and joy in the club among the supporters. That is the greatest achievement of all, to see people genuinely smile when they talk about FC Lahti.