Pyry Soiri joins Athens Kallithea FC

Athens Kallithea FC announce the acquisition of Finland international wingback Pyry Soiri from Romanian top flight club Universitatea Craiova.

Soiri, 29, is a regular starter for Finland’s senior national team and won back-to-back Finnish league championships with HJK Helsinki before moving to UEFA Conference League participants Universitatea Craiova in the middle of last season. He is now set to bring speed and experience on both flanks for AKFC.

Born in the Finnish town of Ekenäs, Soiri spent much of his childhood in Mozambique, Namibia, and Tanzania, eventually returning to Finland and emerging from the youth academy at MyPa, with whom he made his professional debut at the age of 17. Over the next five seasons — two more seasons with MyPa, followed by three seasons at VPS – Soiri would make 112 total appearances in Finland’s top division with 15 goals and 10 assists.

Soiri would move abroad for the next four seasons, playing in the Belarusian Premier League with Shakhtyor Soligorsk, in the Austrian Bundesliga with Admira Wacker, and the Danish Superliga with Esbjerg fB, before returning home with Finland’s biggest club, HJK Helsinki.

In the 2022 and 2023 seasons, Soiri would help HJK win their third and fourth consecutive league championships, respectively, making 69 total appearances with four goals and four assists across all competitions, including 26 total appearances with two assists in UEFA competitions.

After a winter move to Craiova, Soiri made six appearances for the club in the second half of the 2023/24 season, before being acquired by AKFC.

In international play, Soiri has earned 45 caps for Finland’s senior national team, scoring seven goals with four assists. In 2019, Soiri was a mainstay in qualifying to help Finland reach their first ever major tournament, UEFA Euro 2020. Soiri would make one appearance at the tournament in a 1-0 loss to Russia. His most recent cap came last month in a friendly match against Portugal.

Welcome, Pyry.