ALEXEI EREMENKO

Alexei “Lhosa” Eremenko Jr was born in the Soviet Union and moved to Finland in 1990 when his father, a professional football player at the time, went to play for Finnish club, FF Jaro.

Eremenko belongs to a dynasty of football players. His father played for Spartak Moscow, while his brothers, Roman and Sergei (both of whom have dual Russian and Finnish citizenship), have also played professional football. But while his father played for the Russian national team, Alexei chose to represent Finland at international level.

This now-retired attacking midfielder has played for 13 different clubs in Finland, Italy, Russia, the Ukraine and Scotland throughout his career.

Between 2003 and 2013, Alexei scored 13 goals while playing for the Finnish national team. Seven of these goals were scored in 2004 when he was the second-highest leading scorer in the Euro qualifiers.

His move to Lecce in the summer of 2004 was the second-ever move of a Finnish player to Italian Serie A.