In Finland they call him ‘The King’ and to me, he is and will always be The King

Truly a legend.

When Bergkamp left Ajax they did not miss him because they had Litmanen. That alone says enough. By far the greatest Finnish football player of all time.

Speaking as an AFC Ajax fan, Jari is a true LEGEND for us. I dare to say that without him, Ajax would not have won the CL in 1995. He was so important to thge squad, always scoring goals when Ajax wasn’t.t playing their best. Litmanen brought us so much joy, we will NEVER forget him!!

This man is literally the reason "Jari" is a common name for boys now in the Netherlands, he was so incredibly popular here even with supporters from different clubs. Absolute legend.

One of the most underrated players in history.

Yes he did deserve it, my son will be named Jari grtz from Amsterdam. Oh and at his second time at Ajax he helped a player called Zlatan develop his skills further...Zlatan had a tough first year at Ajax until Jari came. Jari will forever be a son of god(Ajax) in Amsterdam

6:46 "the final was poor showing"... yes, he had allergic flue. I also remember a national team game against England (the one at 8:00), where Jari's hand bone broke from multiple places but he still played the game till' the end. The kind of player not to fake injury in order to get a freekick but to fake good health in order to get to play.

Here in Finland we simply call him The King :)

He was one of the best players ever to play at Ajax. He could shoot from any angle, dribbel and score headers. Furthermore he was extremely intelligent on the pitch.

Jari Litmanen is my childhood idol. I started watching football just after Bergkamp left Ajax. I absolutely loved Litmanen as a footballer, and to date he's still my favourite player ever. An absolute magician who's carreer was over way too soon.

As a Finnish person, it was amazing to get to chat with this great man when i was visiting Russia for the world cup. Met him in a restaurant and had a chat about all kinds of stuff, including Ajax and what he thinks of the modern club. He is a true legend here and a great analytic person off the pitch as well.

I saw him live in Spain when he was in Barcelona. He was very technical, very good playmaker and assistant. His generation was dominated by monsters in his position: Zidane, Rivaldo...very difficult to win a Ballon d'or. Litmanen is a legend in his own right and that is a lot. Best player from Finland, ever.

I have a great memory of Litmanen from his final career year in HJK. They were playing an away game against JJK and I was right behind the home team goal during the second half. Litmanen came in as a substitute for a corner kick situation towards the end of the match. He was applauded onto the field by fans of both teams. He jogged towards the goal, went right next to the JJK goalkeeper and said something to him with a little mischievous grin on his face. The JJK goalkeeper seemed a little pissed off about it. Jari then went to the back post and the corner kick was played right towards him. He stood still, extended his foot just a little bit and tipped the ball in. He turned around, starting jogging towards the middle and signaled "substitution" with his hands. The JJK fans gave him a standing ovation.

1. Awesome that you have Litmanen in the program. Well deserved. 2. You have focussed for such a great player, unique Ajax legend, to much on his injuries and not on his impact. 3. Jari Litmanen is ( i am an Ajax fan and expert of the club) one of the greatest Ajax players off all time. He is so loved by the fans and this didnt came out in the video. You have to consider this because of so many Ajax legends. From Cruijf to Bergkamp, from Van Basten to Zlatan, Davids till Seedorf. 4. He played two CL finals in a row as NR 10, for Ajax. This is extremely special. Since money was also destroying the fairness of the game. 5. For a long time he was the CL topscorer of the CL. 6. He is till this day, the European topscoorder of Ajax of all time, before Johan Cruijf 7. He was 9 times best footballer of Finland 8. He has won almost all the club prices you can win: CL, worldcup, National titles, cups, supercups, European supercup. 9. If he would have been Dutch, he would have played worldcups, European cups, and be regular in the squad. Since he was that good. 10. With Litmanen in 2003 that made it again in the CL quaterfinals. Litmanen scored again in the CL for Ajax against Roma. And he is the reason why Zlatan made it by Ajax. Litmanen his presence. Litmanen was extermely important for that new team what was doing well in Europe with Chivu, Maxwell, Zlatan, Nigel de Jong, Van der Vaart, Sneijder. Ajax lost undeserved from Milaan in the CL quater final with 3-2. Litmanen scored again the the Quarterfinal. Without Litmanen they would have not reached so far. He played 7 games and had 2 goals. ( Milaan and Roma) How do you mean he was absent? Litmanen deserved higher then 73. First of all he is Icon. 2nd of all, he is unque. 3nd, he is the op 3 list of any Ajax fan probably in the world of favorite players. 4th, besides Johan Cruijf, there is no one who has his own clothing line. Jari has. 5th. In front of the goal, Litmanen basically never missed. He was that good. It didnt matter if it was CL Milaan or Dutch competition. 6th. Mentality is 10 out of 10. You cant have a better mentality as footbal player as Litmanen. He lived for the sport. Won almost everything. Played till 40/ 7. If you have to follow up Bergkamp and you win so much...............you are truly great, consider that for many players like Henry, Van Persie etc who know... that Bergkamp was the greatest they every played with. Think about that, how special Litmanen was. He needs to go at least till : 76

People don't really talk about how good he was at creating plays. Glad you did on the video, if only for a short while. When he started to suffer from the injuries he changed his play style to be more useful for the teams he was representing. That's a really valuable player. A team player.

Prime jari was different class.. wee used to get the Dutch league every Thursday night.. in the UK and I seen some great player's.. jari was one of the best guy was different class.. and there were alot of players that looked good for a season or two then disappeared .. kalou not the one that went to Chelsea his older brother.. at times he was class very skillful joy to watch.. a young zlatan and mido . A guy Michael mols who played for Utrecht.. what a player.. then guys like Leonardo who in some game's looked world class then would disappear.. van bommel also a great player.. van persie was a joy to watch and other interesting player's.. Dennis rommidal.. the guy was so fast it was crazy he got the ball and none one could beat him for pace .. Wilfred bouma defender but technically good .. the Dutch league from the mid 90s till early 2000s was full of young talented players I remember when herenveen had good player's hunterla being one az Alkmaar also had a good team .. I remember Ajax having Cruz as a striker Argentinian.. Maxwell also .. then just skillful players to watch wamberto a little Brazilian that when on form could dribble past defender's twice his size.. there's lots of players also that looked like they would become too class kezman in Holland goal machine.. and guys no-one knows denboomen .. herenveen striker looked good but never got to where I think he could have.. and there's more that people no about vander vart robben .. I remember a Japanese player for feynoord Ono great player Pierre van h donk.. Roy Mackey.. so many.. but I like your channel and knowledge of football.. in the UK every kid wants to play football.. my son is obsessed and at 11 Is playing pro youth for a premier League teams .. I'm just glad he's enjoying football his brother is a two time national champion in judo and a sponsored athlete.. he was also in judo.. wanted to be a MMA fighter.. but at 6 people started talking about how good he was at football.. had to play in a team a year older .. the coach said it's becoming the d show.. kids are here to learn but no-one can get the ball .. IV had to tell him to stop scoring goals.. after that he moved to a different team then won the league cup.. all kids from all over Britain..he ended up in the local paper news .. and when they asked him his favourite players.. he said maradona and ronaldinho.. he was 9 in UK kids that age don't know about maradona ronaldinho had retired.. but he watches football constantly on KZfaq basically sleeps with a ball he's never not got a football he's obsessed.. but I'm glad he didn't keep wanting to be a MMA fighter .. and he followed his brother into judo from 4. But now he's obsessed with football.. and I won't need to see him fighting getting kicked and punched.. but he loves your channel.. and wee live next to a football park.. and that's where all the boys go and then I found out and seen he was different then so did scouts.. but anything can happen as long as he's having fun.. sorry for the long comment.. but I get him to watch your videos and now at 11 singed pro youth.. the stories about player's.. not making it but keep trying coaches saying there not good enough.. then become world class.. that helps him .. and thanks for your content.. best on KZfaq for football fans ♥️

I saw him play for HJK Helsinki in his 40's. He didn't play much but every time he was on the field he slowed the game to his own pace and did whatever he wanted. I think he didn't missed one pass during that game.

I’m am from Amsterdam en this man was my hero. Unbelievable player and mind. Jari Jari !!!

I remember Juventus played against his Ajax a few times. What a player. You just had to admire him

My dad played against him in an international friendly when they were around 18 years old. He was deadly already back then🔥

One of the best moments I ever have experienced in football was when I was like 10 years old and then suddenly Jari came to our practice to say hello to his old friend from the national team called Toni Kuivasto who was coaching us. He wrote all of us his signature on some piece of paper and I still have that saved in my room.

A bit longer story, I apologise. In 2001 a Finnish team, Haka, was lucky enough to draw Liverpool in the Champions League qualifications. Lucky as it meant great matchday revenue, especially with both Litmanen and Sami Hyypiä in the team. There are easily more Liverpool fans in Finland than Haka fans, and the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki was mostly red. When Owen scored assisted by Litmanen the cheering was especially Grand. Even a Haka fan myself, I was mostly enjoying the world stars and unaffected by the 5-0 loss.

Let's be fair fifa / fifa players have ruined his name. He was an amazing player

I can advise to read his book, you will apreciate him even more. His ankle injuries goes back to his early Ajax days, One season he was supposed to undergo surgery, but they delayed it because it would put im out of the season for several months. So basically he was playing with medicine to supress the pain. Very down to earth and humble person, also very underated. He remains my alltime favorite player. Not even Messi or C. Ronaldo will change that. :) XXX

Season 1995, Yes he would have deserved the Ballon D'or, easily. I think he was the best player of that year in Europe, but I think he didn't win it because he ain't the flashy type to make lots of noise and ruckus about himself. Still he is a legend, at least to finnish football followers and to Ajax supporters. I always do wonder how good he would have been without the injuries tho.

I came across this channel quite a while ago and hoped you'd some day do Litmanen, nice! Enjoyed this very much! A couple of pointers about his career especially later on though. I feel like you didn't quite emphasize enough how big of an aspect of his overall game his playmaking was. Yes, in his prime he was also one of the most lethal goal scorers in the game, but for most of his career he was a playmaker first and foremost. His vision, decision making and composure on the ball was even more impressive than his goal scoring ever was. In Barca in addition to the injuries his problem was the formation as there were two attacking midfielders. Van Gaal said that he doesn't understand how a player be so good centrally but when asked to play alongside another "10" a bit more on the side it doesn't work at all. Also there was a certain Rivaldo playing the same position at the time. In Liverpool Houllier preferred a 442 with Owen and Heskey and Litmanen doesn't fit the formation that well. A ton of the fans were still demanding that he should play more because when he did he still pulled of really good performances, but it's hard to change a tactic to suit a player who is constantly injured. Rooney said that one of the reasons he loved watching Jari was that even though he wasn't the fastest somehow he always had enough time on the ball to pick the exact correct pass. Hamann (Liverpool team mate) said that Jari never lost once in training when playing mini games like 3 on 3 or 5 on 5 no matter who he played with and that he thought he had good vision until he saw Jari who seemingly had eyes on the back of his head. Gerrard wrote in his autobiography that the moment he saw Jari in training he was bewitched, that he was like a chess grand master always anticipating 3-4 moves ahead of everyone else. He made average team mates look good, this was especially evident when playing for the national team. He was absolutely integral for the National team until his very last game. Even at 38 years old against Germany, Klinsmann said after the match that Litmanen was by far the best player on the pitch that day.

My favourite player from my favourite mid 90s team, unreal, vastly underrated.

My favorite player ever! Happy to have met him briefly in 2008

One of the most underrated player's going. As a Liverpool fan and watched him throughout the year's at various clubs. He was a joy to watch. Yes at Liverpool was tough for him. But I loved watching him play. And was sad to see him go. Amazing player.

I remember watching Ajax games on TV, pretty much first foreign team I was aware of and will think fondly. Names of his team mates are still in my memory. It is a great tragedy that he had so injuries.

That Ajax squad was unbelievable

Boss player. Wish Liverpool had got him when he was younger. Fantastic to watch and loved him at Liverpool.

Yes he is a legend in The Netherlands, probably my favorite player. Just the talent and humble attitude. He almost never made any fouls. I still remember he got a red card once and I was shocked. If the stats are correct in 179 matches in eredivisie in NL 1 yellow and 1 red card. In his whole career 12 yellow cards.

Growing up as a fan of Feyenoord, I still admired the greats that the rest of the Netherlands had. Ajax of course had van Basten, Overmars, Seedorf. PSV had Romario, Ronaldo, Cocu, Jaap Stam, Berry van Aerle. But Jari Litmanen was this crazy player that didn't look like superman, you didn't see him move. Only when he got the ball you'd be surprised by how easy football was. He wasn't fast like Romario, strong like Ronaldo, or skilled like Bergkamp - he just got the ball, passed and if he didn't pass, he turned around and scored. For the lack of a better word, I would call him a phantom.

Anyone that has followed this man knows he was absolute magic. In fact one of the very best 10's of all time. Relatively so few footballfans know this.

Any one taking the time making a video on Jari Litmanen deserves a like. The golden age of icons in dutch football Jari litmanen AJAX, Joseph Kirpich Feyenoord, Romario , Ronaldo PSV just to name a few.

Jari had (has) very bad allergies, that caused sometimes him to even miss games at spring time. Another unlucky perk for the King.

One of the best ever in this beautiful game. In his best moments he was magical.

He's probably one of the best players to never play in a World Cup. We were close to qualifying a few times, but never quite got through. Also during the early 2000s when our national team was at it's best, we got unlucky with Germany and England going to our group in the 2002 World Cup qualification.

I remember the 1994 World Cup. Holland seemed to try to play like the great Ajax team. But it did not work. They were missing the crucial player.

He's one of the best players on his post in the '90s. He must receive a Ballon d'Or.

During his time in Malmö, he was accidently hit in the eye with a bottle cap after a game. Team manager opened a bottle of carbonated water and the cap blew off and hit Jari in the eye.

Best player, man of glass. I got his book and its a great book to read ❤

This channel is doing a good job.....cause a lot of these internet warriors from nowadays never heard about this players...and it reminds me of a different era!

Liked before the video started. Litmanen is a hero here in Finland. Unbelievable that he played for Barcelona.

Football in Finland is famous because of Litmanen. His legacy can never be shrouded.

best of the best finish football player now and ever in my mind. long live the king.

You didn't include his most iconic unlucky injury. While in the locker room in Malmö, one of his teammates or staff opened a bottle and the cap flew directly into him, partly blinding his left eye permanently. He still played for about 5 years in our national team after that, simply by anticipating events in his blind spot..

Really nice short-doc on this finnish football legend, thank you!

Thanks for the very complete backstory. BTW Litmanen would be an interesting person to interview about football life. If only for earning nicknames as 'the professor' a.k.a. Merlin.

even though i am finnish but litmanen deserved ballon d'or , most underrated player from the 90s

Along with Romario, Ronaldo, Laudrup and Luc Nillis..Litmanen is among the best foreign players i've seen play in the Netherlands.

Jari was Zlatans mentor and Rooney said Jari was his favourite player and inspiration

Great player, with the balance and dancing feet of a ballerina. A sheer joy in his prime. FULL STOP !!

Jari was just incredibly underrated

i was wondering wat happened to this player, so injuries fucked him up. He was a brilliant player at ajax, legendary team in dose days!!

Bro I always consider your video for choosing an Icon for my team in football game it always helps so thanks 🙏

Iam a Liverpool fan and I have fond memories of him, I remember when we signed him and I was really excited.

Cool video! I was named after this awesome player!

What a genius Litmanen was a true legend.World class footballer

Should have shown his bicycle kick for Fc Lahti when he was 37 or something like that, great video still👍

I'm not 100% sure if this is a fact or myth, but finnish footballers tried to avoid sitting next to Jari in bus/airplanes/trains. They say he kept talking 24/7 and there was never a quiet time. So it was impossible to try to relax if he was sitting next to you. I found that quite hilarious

Patrick Kluivert, Frank and Ronald de Boer, Finidi George, Frank Rijkaard, Marc Overmars... you name them, the Ajax Legends of 1994/1995. But for me, and many more Ajax-fans, the best of the best was Jari Litmanen. He was so incredibly important with his crucial goals, crosspass assists and football intelligence. And always a gentleman. Never complaining at the ref., hardly took a card and always fair play. Always with that same cool look on his face like his pic above.. One of the greatest Ajax players of all time for me.

Holy shit dude. Awesome work! 👌

All I have to look at is the thumbnail and I’m so happy to be watching these

Let's gooooooo!! I've been looking forward to another video.

Can you make on of Michael Laudrup. One of the best ever and a truly underrated player

Technically sublime, tactically brilliant and as selfless as they come in football. Forever in the hearts of the Amsterdam people. Our hero from Finland

Awesome Job with this video!! Thank You!

Thanks, man! Love your videos!

A great documentary... I remember watching at Liverpool when I was a kid... I wasn't aware of his entire career

This video is very heartwarming ❤️‍🩹 and heartbreaking 💔 i just subbed to your channel because your narration is so good

I was delighted when Liverpool signed him so was a pity it didn't work out.

Thank you for this video. A real eye-opener for a win that's a not a footballer follower.

Very great video !! Keep up the great work !!

In his short time at Liverpool Jari was loved by the fans, so sad he wasn't there earlier in his career. He could have been a legend.

Litmanen played for Finnish national team from 89 to 2010. Not sure, but I believe that he's still the only player to play international games in 4 decades.

He was certainly a huge legend for Ajax. Before his times in Ajax, name Jari and Yari weren't in Dutch use at all. During and after his Ajax career there has been a lot of Dutch and Belgian Jaris and Yaris. 😄 Also, certainly a huge icon for Finnish football earning the title "Kuningas", i.e. The King. I think his play style played a major role on his injuries. He didn't fear contact but bulldozed his way through opposition players when he wanted to score. In a way it could be said that the injuries were a price he paid for his success, as sad as that may sound. By the way, Litmanen hasn't officially announced his retirement from football and is actually minor manager for FC Kuusysi, a 3rd thier Finnish football club that was formed when his former club Reipas united with another local club. There were even some rumors he would play at some future match. 😁 Although, he caught a bad case of long covid-19 and still hasn't fully recovered. 😢

I had the pleasure of meeting him at the movie premier of "Kuningas Litmanen" (2012). Great video btw

LFC supporter. we were blessed to have the two greatest players from Finland to wear on our shirt!

Without a doubt my favourite channel on youtube! I would love a video on Paul Scholes daily dose

Surprisingly good pronounciation on the finnish names.

Growing up in England before multiple streaming sites, youtube and the like - the only regular exposure to football we got was the English leagues and Serie A on Sundays - and then small snippets from across Europe in a weekly roundup show. Sure, I had my favourites from around the English leagues - but 3 players stood out to me from other leagues. Franco Baresi, Roberto Baggio and Jari Litmanen. Baresi for his never say die attitude and no-nonsense defending that often stopped you from noticing how good he was on the ball. Then Baggio and Litmanen for how easy they made the game seem. Interestingly, those 3 players made me keep a keen eye on Juve, AC Milan and Ajax - which led me to admiration of Maldini, Del Piero and Ibrahimovic

This is one of the most heartwarming videos i’ve ever watched about football

great video man good job

Great videos man

That Ajax team was just awesome - So cool to see the love for Litmanen still!

I'm a United fans since 1990.. I was a kid back then.. Would really appreciate if u do the KING Eric CANTONA Video..

Here in Lahti, Where Litmanen is Easily the Greatest player we've ever had, There's actually a statue of him near the stadium.

Man of glass but full of class. Even his injury record is glorious. I mean, the man broke almost every possible part of his body. Achilles tendon, broken wrist, heart problems from overworking, ear injury, multiple concussions, multiple ankle injuries, career ending knee injury, back injury from falling down stairs, eye injury from the cap of a soda bottle, and the list goes on. I found a list of his most significant injuries and I counted 55. Beginning from 1995 he had at least one injury every calendar year until 2010, averaging over 4 injuries per year. My sources tell me Litmanen hasn't retired yet. He's just waiting for prosthetics technology to advance enough, so he can have a working body.

I really liked him as a player and as a person. one of my favorite players in the golden Ajax. Much love from Israel

Ur next video ideas :- 1. How good was Diego forlan 2. Romario deserved a ballon dor 1994 3. Bergkamp with ball is mesmerising to watch 4. Man United captain marvel : BRYAN ROBSON , MUST WANT VIDEO 5. How good was rummenigge 6. Yashin was so good at gk that pele and Garincha Brazil could only get 2 past him 7. How gifted was juninho 8. 1st ballon dor winner : Stanley mathews 9. Thiery Henry should have won ballon dor over nedved 10. Best , Denis law , Chalton trio is the best trio in history of football?

I like that you put in the effort to pronounce the finnish name so well.

Dont really know how to use this comment bit, but like I was saying weeks ago. Litmanen was used as a attackin midfielder or as a pulled striker mostly cause of his play iq and ability to put a good throughpass. In national team he was mostly centermidfield cause there was noone else that could see the openings and control the pace. Hat off to the MAN! ! !

remember this guy from that ajax squad in the mid 90s, great player

I rate footballers not in stats but in how much joy they give me when playing. Litti will always be up there for me along side Zidane, Ronaldinho, Figo, Fat Ronaldo, Messi etc. Legend. YNWA. Anyone else think Jari’s dad 0:51looks like Kevin De Bruyne? 😂 Thanks for a great upload. 👍

There were so many great players from that era , bound to be some who don’t win it that maybe “deserved” it

Great video

Love the vids bro !!