Will Jääskeläinen

William Albert Jääskeläinen (born 25 July 1998) is a professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for National League club Woking. Born in England, he has represented Finland at youth international level.

Will Jääskeläinen

Jääskeläinen playing for Crewe Alexandra at Crawley Town
Personal information
Full name	William Albert Jääskeläinen[1]
Date of birth	(1998-07-25) 25 July 1998 (age 26)[2]
Place of birth	Bolton, England[3]
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[4]
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team	Woking
Number	22
Youth career
	Bromley Cross Sharks
2015–2017	Bolton Wanderers
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2017	Leek Town	0	(0)
2017–2022	Crewe Alexandra	84	(0)
2017	→ Loughborough Dynamo (loan)	8	(0)
2017	→ Nantwich Town (loan)	5	(0)
2018	→ Buxton (loan)	3	(0)
2018	→ Chester (loan)	0	(0)
2018	→ Nantwich Town (loan)	7	(0)
2018–2019	→ Nantwich Town (loan)	16	(0)
2022–2023	AFC Wimbledon	0	(0)
2023–	Woking	60	(0)
International career‡
2015	Finland U18
	Finland U19
	Finland U21
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19:19, 17 November 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 09:57, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

Club career

Bolton Wanderers

Prior to joining the Bolton Wanderers academy, Jääskeläinen started out at Bromley Cross Sharks.^[5] He turned professional with Bolton Wanderers at the start of the 2015–16 season.^[2][6] Shortly after, Jääskeläinen was given a number fifty shirt.^[7]

After being released by the club, he had a trial in August 2017 at VPS^[8][9] in his father's native Finland. On 24 July he signed for Leek Town^[10][11]

Crewe Alexandra

A month later, he signed for Crewe Alexandra.^[12]

During the 2017–18 season, Jääskeläinen went on loan to Loughborough Dynamo,^[13][14][15] Nantwich Town,^[16][17] Buxton,^[18] and Chester.^[19]

Jääskeläinen signed a new three-year contract with Crewe in May 2018,^[20] but spent much of the 2018–19 season on loan again at Nantwich Town,^[21][22][23] though a loan extension to the end of the season was cut short when Crewe recalled him on 20 March 2019.^[24]

He made his first team debut for Crewe Alexandra on 19 April 2019, keeping a clean sheet, in a 2–0 win over Yeovil Town at Gresty Road.^[25] In June 2020, Jääskeläinen signed a new two-year deal with Crewe.^[26] Following relegation to League Two, Jääskeläinen was released by the club at the end of the 2021–22 season.^[27] Both the club and Jääskeläinen felt that he needed a "fresh challenge".^[28]

AFC Wimbledon

He signed for AFC Wimbledon in September 2022, on a one-month contract, as cover for the injured Nathan Broome.^[29] He made his debut for the club in the EFL Trophy victory over Crawley Town and then extended his contract until January 2023.^[30] He was released upon the expiry of his contract on 13 January 2023.^[31]

Woking

On 4 February 2023, Jääskeläinen signed for National League club Woking.^[32] After 14 appearances for the Cardinals, he was offered a new contract in May 2023,^[33] signing a one-year deal.^[34]

International career

Jääskeläinen is eligible to play for England, his birthplace, and Finland, through his parents.^[35]

Jääskeläinen made his debut in international football on 25 August 2015 at the age 17 when he was called to represent Finland under-18s in a match against Montenegro under-18s.^[36]

Jääskeläinen has also represented Finland at under-19 youth level.^[4] In August 2019, he was called up by Finland Under-21s for two UEFA Euro U21 qualifiers.^[37] He was called up again by the under-21s in November 2019.^[38]

Personal life

Jääskeläinen is the son of former Bolton Wanderers and Finland goalkeeper Jussi Jääskeläinen,^[39] the oldest of three brothers.^[40] His younger brother Emil signed his first professional contract with Blackpool in 2019.^[41] Jääskeläinen was educated at Bolton School Boys’ Division.^[42] Growing up, Jaaskelainen and his brothers were raised bilingually, speaking Finnish at home and English with their friends.^[43][40]

Career statistics

As of match played 16 November 2024.

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		EFL Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Crewe Alexandra	2018–19[44]	League Two	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
	2019–20[45]	League Two	35	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	39	0
	2020–21[46]	League One	31	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	33	0
	2021–22[47]	League One	15	0	0	0	2	0	3[a]	0	20	0
	Total		85	0	6	0	2	0	3	0	96	0
Loughborough Dynamo (loan)	2017–18[15][48][49]	Northern Premier League Division One South	8	0	0	0	—		1[b]	0	9	0
Nantwich Town (loan)	2017–18[50][4][51][52]	Northern Premier League Premier Division	5	0	3	0	—		2[c]	0	10	0
Buxton (loan)	2017–18[53][54][55]	Northern Premier League Premier Division	3	0	0	0	—		0	0	3	0
Chester (loan)	2017–18[4]	National League	0	0	0	0	—		0	0	0	0
Nantwich Town (loan)	2018–19[56][57][58][59]	Northern Premier League Premier Division	23	0	1	0	—		2[d]	0	26	0
AFC Wimbledon	2022–23[60]	League Two	0	0	0	0	0	0	1[a]	0	1	0
Woking	2022–23[4]	National League	13	0	—		—		1[e]	0	14	0
	2023–24[4]	National League	30	0	3	0	—		1[b]	0	34	0
	2024–25[4]	National League	17	0	2	0	—		0	0	19	0
	Total		60	0	5	0	—		2	0	67	0
Career total			182	0	15	0	2	0	11	0	210	0

1. Appearance(s) in EFL Trophy
2. Appearance(s) in FA Trophy
3. One appearance in FA Trophy; one appearance in Northern Premier League Challenge Cup
4. Appearances in Cheshire Senior Cup
5. Appearance in National League play-offs

Honours

Crewe Alexandra

• EFL League Two runner-up: 2019–20^[4]

Individual

• Crewe Alexandra Breakthrough Player of the Year: 2019–20^[61]

External links

• Biography portal
• Association football portal
• Finland portal

• Will Jääskeläinen at Soccerbase
• William Jääskeläinen at Soccerbase
• Crewe Alexandra official profile
• William Jääskeläinen – SPL competition record

References

1. "Club list of registered players: As at 19th May 2019" (PDF). English Football League. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
2. "Profile". Bolton Wanderers F.C. Retrieved 22 August 2017.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
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4. Will Jääskeläinen at Soccerway. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
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11. Jones, Will H. (25 July 2017). "Transfer News: Jaaskelainen finds a new club". Lion Of Vienna Suite.
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35. "WANDERERS: Mark back on a mission". The Bolton News. 29 July 1998. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
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37. Johnson, Matt (28 August 2019). "Jaaskelainen Called Up By Finland U21s". CreweAlex.net. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
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39. Marc Iles (20 May 2016). "Jussi Jaaskelainen: I was 100 per cent ready to come back to Wanderers". The Bolton News. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
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