| Aapo Halme | |
| Fullname: | Aapo Ilmari Halme[1] |
| Birth Date: | 22 May 1998 |
| Birth Place: | Helsinki, Finland |
| Height: | 1.96m[2] |
| Position: | Centre-back |
| Currentclub: | HJK |
| Clubnumber: | 6 |
| Youthyears1: | 2009–2015 |
| Youthclubs1: | Honka |
| Years1: | 2014[3] |
| Clubs1: | Honka |
| Caps1: | 1 |
| Goals1: | 0 |
| Years2: | 2015 |
| Clubs2: | Klubi 04 |
| Caps2: | 15 |
| Goals2: | 1 |
| Years3: | 2015–2018 |
| Clubs3: | HJK |
| Caps3: | 29 |
| Goals3: | 0 |
| Years4: | 2018–2019 |
| Clubs4: | Leeds United |
| Caps4: | 4 |
| Goals4: | 0 |
| Clubs5: | Barnsley |
| Years5: | 2019–2022 |
| Caps5: | 55 |
| Goals5: | 4 |
| Clubs6: | HJK |
| Years6: | 2022– |
| Caps6: | 24 |
| Goals6: | 2 |
| Nationalyears1: | 2013–2014 |
| Nationalteam1: | Finland U16 |
| Nationalcaps1: | 5 |
| Nationalgoals1: | 0 |
| Nationalyears2: | 2014 |
| Nationalteam2: | Finland U17 |
| Nationalcaps2: | 10 |
| Nationalgoals2: | 1 |
| Nationalyears3: | 2015–2016 |
| Nationalteam3: | Finland U18 |
| Nationalcaps3: | 9 |
| Nationalgoals3: | 0 |
| Nationalyears4: | 2015–2017 |
| Nationalteam4: | Finland U19 |
| Nationalcaps4: | 7 |
| Nationalgoals4: | 0 |
| Nationalyears5: | 2017–2020 |
| Nationalteam5: | Finland U21 |
| Nationalcaps5: | 18 |
| Nationalgoals5: | 0 |
| Club-Update: | 15 August 2024 |
| Nationalteam-Update: | 23:00, 17 November 2020 |
Aapo Ilmari Halme (born 22 May 1998) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Veikkausliiga club HJK. He has also represented the Finland national under-21 football team from 2017 to 2020.[4] Halme was born in Helsinki, Finland. He began his senior club career playing for Honka, before signing with HJK Helsinki at age 17 in 2015.[5] He would go on to win the 2017 Veikkausliiga and 2016–17 Finnish Cup.
Formerly an international at under-16, under-17, under-18, under-19, under-20 and under-21 level. Halme was nominated to Finland´s preliminary UEFA Euro 2020 team[6] but he did not make it to the final squad.
Halme started his youth career at FC Honka, making 1 senior appearance before joining Klubi-04, where he made 15 appearances and scored once.
The winners of the 2015 Finnish League Cup HJK Helsinki brought in Halme from Klubi-04 on a three-year deal expiring at the end of the 2018 season as stated in his contractual obligation.[7] [8] [9] He made 29 league appearances over three seasons with the club, scoring once.
On 3 January 2018, Halme signed for Leeds United on a four-year contract for an unknown fee,[10] reported to be around £500,000. He became the fourth Finnish player to sign for Leeds after Sebastian Sorsa, Mika Väyrynen and Mikael Forssell.[11]
However, Halme picked up a serious foot injury during one of his first training sessions at Leeds in January, which was to rule him out for the remainder of the season.[12] After nearly nine months out injured, on 27 August 2018, Halme made his first appearance for the club representing Leeds Under 23's against Queens Park Rangers' Development squad.[13] On 23 November 2018, Leeds' first-team head coach Marcelo Bielsa gave Halme special praise after returning from his long injury layoff.[14] He made his debut the next day in the EFL Championship against Bristol City in a 2–0 win, after being named in the starting lineup after an injury to Pontus Jansson and long-term injuries to Luke Ayling and Gaetano Berardi.[15]
He scored his first goal for Leeds on 6 January 2019 during a 2–1 defeat to Queens Park Rangers in the third round of the FA Cup.[16]
Halme was regularly named as an unused substitute on the bench for the first team squad in the Championship, but still featured regularly for Carlos Corberán's under 23's side[17] that won the 2018-19 Professional Development League Northern Section. They then became the national Professional Development League champions by beating Birmingham City in the final.[18]
On 3 July 2019, Halme joined Championship club Barnsley for an undisclosed six-figure fee.[19] He made his debut for Barnsley on 13 August in a EFL League Cup match against Carlisle United.[20] He scored his first goal for Barnsley in a 2–2 draw with Derby County on 2 October 2019.[21]
On 25 July 2022 it was announced that Halme had signed a contract with HJK until the end of 2024.[22]
Halme has represented Finland at U16, U17, U18 and U19 levels. He made his debut for Finland U21's on 8 June 2017 against Ukraine U21's. On 23 March 2019, Halme captained Finland U21 to an 8–3 victory against Norway U21.[23]
Halme was called up for the UEFA Euro 2020 pre-tournament friendly match against Sweden on 29 May 2021 but he remained as an unused substitute.[24]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | League Cup | Continental | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Honka | 2014 | Veikkausliiga | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Klubi 04 | 2015 | Kakkonen | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 15 | 1 | |||
| HJK | 2015 | Veikkausliiga | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2016 | Veikkausliiga | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 0 | ||
| 2017[25] | Veikkausliiga | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | 15 | 0 | |||
| Total | 29 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 35 | 0 | |||
| Leeds United | 2018–19 | Championship | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 5 | 1 | ||
| Barnsley | 2019–20 | Championship | 32 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 34 | 4 | ||
| 2020–21 | Championship | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 20 | 0 | |||
| 2021–22 | Championship | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 7 | 0 | |||
| Total | 55 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 61 | 4 | |||
| HJK | 2022 | Veikkausliiga | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 1 | |
| 2023 | Veikkausliiga | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 15 | 0 | ||
| 2024 | Veikkausliiga | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 18 | 1 | ||
| Total | 24 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 38 | 2 | |||
| Career total | 128 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 156 | 8 | |||
HJK