Martti Kuusela (born 9 October 1945) is a Finnish football manager and former midfielder.

Martti Kuusela
Personal information
Full name Martti Kuusela
Date of birth (1945-10-09) 9 October 1945 (age 79)
Place of birth Rovaniemi, Finland
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1963–1964 RoPS ? (4)
1967 OTP ? (11)
1965–1968 MP ? (20)
1969–1971 HIFK ? (7)
1972 HJK 21 (3)
1973–1974 Haka 43 (8)
1975–1976 FC Ilves ? (4)
1977–1978 FinnPa ? (4)
Total 64+ (61)
International career
Finland 2 (0)
Managerial career
1979 GrIFK
1980–1981 HJK Helsinki
1982–1987 Finland
1989 B 1903
1990 HJK Helsinki
1991 Beerschot
1992–1994 Budapest Honvéd
1994–1995 Proodeftiki
1995–1996 Apollon Limassol
1997 FinnPa
2000–2001 Panionios
2005 Aris
2008 TPS Turku
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Kuusela enjoyed a moderately successful career as a player in Finland. As a coach, he won the Finnish championship in 1981 and 1990 with HJK Helsinki. He was the head coach of the Finland national team from 1982 to 1987, helping the team to the brink of qualifying for the 1986 World Cup.

Kuusela has worked as coach in Belgium, Greece, Cyprus, Denmark and Hungary. He led Budapest Honvéd FC to the Hungarian championship in 1993. Kuusela coached Aris Thessaloniki F.C. in Greece in 2005. On 15 January 2008, TPS announced they had appointed Kuusela as their new manager. He took the reins at TPS when the previous manager Mixu Paatelainen left the club to become manager of Scottish club Hibernian. Kuusela was sacked by TPS in September 2008, a few weeks before the end of the season.[1] Kuusela also works as an expert commentator for Yle.

References

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  1. ^ "Urheilu". Archived from the original on 16 September 2008.
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