As expected, the new sports director of the Helsinki Football Club, which plays in the Veikkausliiga, is Petri Vuorinen.
HJK report that he chose as his new sports director Petri Vuorinen.
HJK’s men’s season was famously mixed. In May, the sports director Vesa Mäki and the head coach hired by Mäki Ferran Sibila were fired – although Sibila was not officially the head coach at that stage due to the lack of a Uefa Pro license.
Mäki became HJK’s sports director in autumn 2023, when the predecessor Miika Takkula had moved to Ilves.
According to the release, the sports director’s main focus is on the men’s representative team and its support functions. He leads the club’s performance unit, scouting unit and the path from HJK’s academy through the reserve team to the representative office.
– Everyday quality criteria are the basis of everything, and when that basis is in order, success will follow, Vuorinen says.
Vuorinen also emphasizes the players’ leadership and emotional level.
– When hard and professional work is done in everyday life, the players experience the “value of the logo”, i.e. the meaning of playing for the team and the club.
According to HJK, the selection process for the sports director was long, and there was interest in the position both in Finland and internationally.
– We did a thorough mapping work with a large group, we took an external view and analysis as part of the selection process. We interviewed many candidates, and in our opinion we got just the right person, the CEO of HJK Aki Riihilahti tells.
HJK oy had recently approved a new strategy that emphasizes the development of quality criteria. According to HJK, resources can be used more when the quality of everyday life, systematicity and knowledge-based management improve and are visible in the field.
– In our numerous discussions, Vuorinen’s ability to understand the quality criteria of modern football and the processes required for it, and to lead systematically through information, has been highlighted. He has very clearly analyzed where we need to improve.
In Vuorinen’s opinion, the foundations are in order, because the reserve team Klubi 04 was promoted to the First League, the C and A boys won the SM gold, as well as the winning B boys. He says he knows where to jump.
– There is pressure, and that is good. HJK is in a position where the pressure is self-earned, and that’s why I came here, because of the tough challenge. I am professionally curious, willing to experiment and ambitious, and I also want to develop myself.
– On the other hand, they are just football pressures, and I believe that with 52 years of life experience I can put them in the right perspective.