Sami Hyypia, born on October 7, 1973 in Porvoo, Finland is professional footballer who plays as a central defender. His love for the game can be well-understood because he grew up in a family of footballers. His father, Jouko, played for the Finnish team named Palla Peikot, while his mother was an amateur goalkeeper. Sami Hyypia is married to Susanna Rissanen and has two sons, Rico Nestor Hyypia and Kasper Erik Hyypia. At the age of 19, he debuted for the Finnish national football team against Tunisia in November 1992. A second-choice captain of the team, he scored his first international goal against North Ireland and also made a winning goal in his 50th cap against the same team in 2003. He was conferred the Footballer of the Year title by Finland, 6 times.
Sami Hyypia played ice hockey initially but went on to pursue football as his career owing to his parents’ influence. His foray into the world of football started at Kokkolan Palloveikot and later at KuMu before he joined Myllykosken Pallo (MyPa), a Finnish football club, in 1992. While he was in MyPa, the club won the Finnish Cup in 1992 and 1995. At the age of 22, he went to Newcastle United to catch a glimpse of English football. In 1995, Sami Hyypia joined Willem II Tilburg, a Dutch football club, and played 100 games for it during his tenure of 4 years from 1995-99. In his final season, he captained the club to qualify for the Champions League and won the title of Premier League’s Player of the Month.
Liverpool signed Sami Hyypia in May 1999, and he went on to share the captaincy with Robie Fowler during 2000-01. The duo led the team to a historic cup treble, the Worthington Cup, the Football Association (FA) Cup and Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Cup. His brilliant performances made him the only Liverpool player who was selected in the 2001 UEFA Team of the Year. In the same year, he bagged the Finnish Sportsperson of the Year tag. Sami Hyypia earned his full time captaincy with Liverpool in 2002, and he led the team to victory stand at the UEFA Champions League in 2004 and the European Super Cup in 2005.
Sami Hyypia made it to the top 25 all-time appearances for the club during 2005-06 season and escalated to reach the top 20 Liverpool FC player appearances of all time in March 2008. He signed a new deal in April 2008, to stay in the club untill the summer of 2009, marking his tenth season. Sami Hyypia scored the equalizer against Arsenal F.C. and with Liverpool winning the game 4-2, entered into the semifinals of the 2008-08 Champions league.
Sami Hyypia was voted 19th in Sky's Top 50 Premier League Foreign Players, 45th in Four Four Two magazine's 100 Greatest Foreigner Players and at 38th position in 100 Players Who Shook the Kop. Sami Hyypia has won the Finnish Sports' Journalists Player of the Year 7 times, from 1999-03, 2005 and 2006.
He was awarded the Finnish Football Association’s Player of the Year title in 1999, 2001-03, and in 2005-06.
