Rosa Lappi-Seppälä

Finnish head coach of the Saudi Arabia women's national football team

Rosa Lappi-Seppälä
Personal information
Date of birth	(1974-11-04) 4 November 1974 (age 49)
Place of birth	Helsinki, Finland
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
1982–1986	KäPa
1987–1988	Valtti
1988–1989	HJK
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1990–2000	HJK	–	(–)
1994–1995	→ Anderlecht	–	(–)
1996–1997	→ Barry University	–	(–)
1997–1998	→ Miami Gliders	–	(–)
1999–2000	→ ACF Torino	20	(6)
2000–2001	→ Foroni	25	(14)
2001	FC United	–	(–)
2001–2002	→ Fiammamonza	14	(6)
2002–2004	HJK	–	(–)
2002–2003	→ ACF Milan	–	(–)
2005	FC Espoo	–	(–)
2006	Åland United	–	(–)
2007–2008	PuiU	–	(–)
International career
1995–2002	Finland	21	(1)
Managerial career
2012–2013	EIF
2014	KoiPS
2017	Finland U-20
2018	Finland U-23
2019–2021	FC Honka
2023–	Saudi Arabia
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Rosa Lappi-Seppälä (born 4 November 1974) is a Finnish former footballer and football manager who is the head coach of the Saudi Arabia women's national football team.^[1] Besides Finland, she has played in Nicaragua, Belgium, the United States, and Italy.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

Career

Lappi-Seppälä played in the Finnish women's premier division 1990–2009 for HJK, FC United, FC Espoo, Åland United and PuiU. During the winter periods she played in Belgium, the United States and Italy. Lappi-Seppälä earned 21 caps for the Finland women's national team.^[6]

In 2019–2021 Lappi-Seppälä was the head coach of FC Honka in the Finnish women's top division Kansallinen Liiga.^[6] In February 2023, she was appointed the manager of the Saudi Arabia women's national team.^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]

Club honors

Finnish Women's Championship: 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
Finnish Women's Cup: 1991, 1992, 1993, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
Belgian Women's Championship: 1995
Cooppa Italia: 2001

Family

Rosa LAppi-Seppälä's father is writer Jyrki Lappi-Seppälä. Her grandfather was the politician and architect Jussi Lappi-Seppälä.^[6]

References

^ "Rosa Lappi appointed as coach of Saudi women's football team". Saudi Gazette. 14 February 2023. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
^ "La chica goleadora: "Nicaragua es única y original"". el19digital.com.
^ "Saudi-Arabian maajoukkuepesti nostatti ison äläkän – jalkapallovalmentaja Rosa Lappi-Seppälä ei koe olevansa urheilupesun väline". yle.fi.
^ "من هي روزا لابي مدربة المنتخب السعودي للسيدات ؟". arriyadiyah.com.
^ "Kun kilpikonnat katosivat". hs.fi.
^ ^a ^b ^c Virtanen, Ari (17 April 2021). "Kun kilpikonnat katosivat" (in Finnish). Helsingin Sanomat. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
^ "Saudi-Arabian suomalaisvärväys ihmetyttää: "Rosa on nyt osa tätä peliä"". iltalehti.fi.
^ "Arvostettu suomalaisvalmentaja antoi itsensä naisia alistavan Saudi-Arabian välineeksi". aamulehti.fi.
^ "Suomalaisvalmentajan kohupesti Saudi-Arabiassa saa kritiikkiä: "Palvelee poliittisia pyrkimyksiä"". hs.fi.
^ "عامًا .. روزا لابي سيبالا مدربة للمنتخب السعودي للسيدات رسميًا". goal.com.
^ "El fútbol femenino atraviesa un momento histórico en Arabia Saudí".