Finnish Ajax icon Jari Litmanen returns to football for age-55 season

[p]After an illustrious career that saw him become a legend at [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/ajax/8UOvIwnb/"]Ajax[/a], where he was a key player in the Amsterdam giants' UEFA Champions League win in 1995, and also play for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/liverpool/lId4TMwf/"]Liverpool[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/barcelona/SKbpVP5K/"]FC Barcelona[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/litmanen-jari/YFwk1gWl/"]Jari Litmanen[/a] last played professionally for HJK Helsinki in 2011, during which season he won his only Finnish league title.[/p][p]The 137-time Finnish international retired in 2011 at age 40, but will now return to play for Estonian [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/tallinna-kalev/jyEPhJp2/"]Tallinna Kalev[/a]'s third team, the club, owned by former Liverpool defender Ragnar Klavan, confirmed on Thursday.[/p][p]Litmanen, nicknamed [i]Kuningas[/i], or [i]The King[/i], has lived in the Estonian capital since at least 2010 and shares his time between Tallinn, where his family lives, and Helsinki, where he works as a pundit for Finnish television.[/p][embed guid="d75ee7b5-da2c-4a6e-91dc-d7ece1b0c7db" url="https://x.com/JKTallinnaKalev/status/2039803184164581441?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]In October, Litmanen also played for Tallinna Kalev III, active in the fourth tier of Estonian football, featuring alongside his two teenage sons when they were short on players. [/p][p][b]"Suddenly, they had a small group, and as I'd been doing some training on the pitch, their coach asked: 'Is it possible for you to practice with us so we have one player more?'" [/b]Litmanen told The Athletic in a late-2025 interview.[/p][p]Tallinna Kalev will be the tenth different club Litmanen will have played for in his career, joining FC Lahti, HJK Helsinki, MyPa, Ajax, FC Barcelona, Liverpool, Hansa Rostock, Malmö FF, and Fulham.[/p]