Alexander Ring

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Alexander Ring
Alexander-ring.jpg
Personal information
Full name Alexander Michael Ring
Date of birth (1991-04-09) 9 April 1991 (age 30)
Place of birth Helsinki, Finland
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Austin FC
Number 8
Youth career
1995–1998 VfL Lannesdorf
1998–2008 Bayer 04 Leverkusen
2001 Anderlecht
2009 HJK Helsinki
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009–2010 Klubi-04 32 (9)
2010 → Tampere United (loan) 4 (1)
2010–2013 HJK Helsinki 27 (2)
2012–2013 → Borussia Mönchengladbach (loan) 14 (0)
2013–2017 1. FC Kaiserslautern 76 (8)
2017–2020 New York City FC 113 (10)
2021– Austin FC 31 (4)
National team‡
Finland U17 6 (1)
2008 Finland U18 10 (0)
2009 Finland U19 7 (2)
2010 Finland U20 2 (1)
2011 Finland U21 3 (0)
2011–2018 Finland 44 (2)
Honours
Finland national football team
Second place Baltic Cup 2012
Third place Baltic Cup 2014
HJK
First place Veikkausliiga 2011
First place Finnish Cup 2011
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:46, 22 November 2021 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 2 September 2017 (UTC)

Alexander Michael Ring (born 9 April 1991) is a Finnish professional footballer who captains and plays as an midfielder for Major League Soccer club Austin FC.

Club career[]

Early career[]

He moved to Bonn with his family when aged three, and grew up there and in Belgium. Ring went through the ranks of Bayer 04 Leverkusen before returning to Finland with his family in 2008.

HJK[]

He signed for HJK's reserve team Klubi-04 in 2009, and represented them until being promoted to the first team, and signed full professional contract with the club in August 2010.[2] However, Ring was loaned out to Tampere United for the rest of that season. He returned to HJK after the season, and was established as the first choice holding midfielder for HJK in early 2011. On 26 September 2011, he signed a contract extension with HJK, keeping him in the Finnish capital until 2015.[3] During December 2011, it was rumored that German Bundesliga side Borussia Mönchengladbach were interested in signing the young Finn for approximately one million euros.[4]

Loan to Mönchengladbach[]

On 5 January 2012, it was announced that Mönchengladbach had signed Ring on loan until the summer 2013, with having an option to buy at the end of the season.[5] On 10 March 2012, Ring made his Bundesliga debut for Mönchengladbach against Freiburg, and on 21 August Ring scored his first goal for Mönchengladbach in a 1–3 defeat to Ukrainian Dynamo Kiev in the first leg of 2012–13 UEFA Champions League's playoff-round.[6] However, despite some encouraging displays for the club, Ring soon fell out of favour, and in February 2013 it was announced that Borussia would not use their option to buy the player.[7]

1. FC Kaiserslautern[]

In June 2013, he signed a contract with 1. FC Kaiserslautern to play in 2. Bundesliga.[8][9] The clubs did not publish the transfer fee, but according to newspapers Kaiserslautern paid HJK Helsinki 500.000 Euros.[10] After an encouraging start, and the club sacking of the first team coach Franco Foda in September 2013, he struggled to keep his position in the side. However, he was picked for the opening line-up in the cup games versus both Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern München. He scored his first goal for the club in August 2014 versus SV Sandhausen.[11] Despite a lengthy lay-off due to a knee injury in the home game versus Fortuna Düsseldorf,[12] the season 2014-15 turned out to be his best in Germany, with six goals in 24 league games. During the following seasons, Ring's performances were marred by minor injuries and constant head coach changes, that hindered his progress. In January 2017 the economically ailing club decided to let him move on before his contract would have expired.

New York City FC[]

Ring was purchased from 1. FC Kaiserslautern by New York City FC on January 31, 2017.[13] Ring made himself an invaluable part of New York City's midfield during the 2017 season as he earned 29 appearances in the regular season. Despite New York City losing the Eastern Conference semifinals versus Columbus Crew, Ring's first season in MLS was a major personal success as he was elected the club's Newcomer of the Year.[14] He scored his first MLS goal on April 15, 2018 vs. Atlanta United FC.[15] On February 7, 2019, Ring was named the second captain in New York City FC's history,[16] after David Villa's departure to Vissel Kobe in December.

Austin FC[]

On 17 December 2020, Ring was traded to new expansion side Austin FC in exchange for up to $1.25 million in General Allocation Money.[17] He was subsequently selected as Club Captain prior to Austin FC's first league match.

International career[]

Ring's convincing performances in the Finnish League Cup and the Veikkausliiga earned him a call-up to the new coach Mixu Paatelainen's first gathering of the Finland national football team in May 2011.[18] He made his senior national team debut on 7 June 2011 in 5–0 defeat against Sweden. On 11 October 2011, Finnish star Roman Eremenko described Ring as a soon-to-be key player in the Finland national football team, saying: "I knew Alex when he came to the national team, but I hadn't seen any of his games before. When he came, it was immediately obvious that he is here to stay. He plays without fear."[19] He established himself as a regular in the national team during Finland's qualification campaign for the UEFA Euro 2012.[20] Ring scored his first goal for the national team on 26 March 2013 in Luxembourg in a match against Luxembourg.[21] His second international goal came from a direct freekick vs. Iceland in a WC qualifier in September 2017.[22]

In September 2018, Ring announced his retirement from international football.[23]

International goals[]

Scores and results list Finland's goal tally first.[24]
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 26 March 2013 Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg  Luxembourg 1–0 3–0 Friendly
2. 2 September 2017 Tampere Stadium, Tampere, Finland  Iceland 1–0 1–0 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification

Personal life[]

Ring doesn't have German citizenship, even though he has lived most of his life in Germany. In Maali! 3/2011 he stated: "I have not even applied for German citizenship. It has been obvious for me that I represent Finland".[25]

Ring is married with two daughters.[26][27]

In March 2018, Ring earned a U.S. green card which qualifies him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.[28]

Career statistics[]

Club[]

As of 1 November 2020[24][29]
Club Season Division League Domestic Cups Continental Other Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Klubi-04
2009 Ykkönen 15 3 0 0 0 0 - - 15 3
2010 17 6 0 0 0 0 - - 17 6
Club Total 32 9 0 0 0 0 - - 32 9
Tampere United (Loan)
2010 Veikkausliiga 4 1 0 0 1 0 - - 5 1
Club Total 4 1 0 0 1 0 - - 5 1
HJK Helsinki
2010 Veikkausliiga 3 0 0 0 0 0 - - 3 0
2011 24 2 11 4 6 2 - - 41 8
Club Total 27 2 11 4 6 2 - - 44 8
Mönchengladbach (Loan)
2011-12 Bundesliga 8 0 0 0 0 0 - - 8 0
2012-13 6 0 1 0 6 1 - - 13 1
Club Total 14 0 1 0 6 1 - - 21 1
Kaiserslautern
2013-14 2. Bundesliga 21 0 3 0 0 0 - - 24 0
2014-15 24 6 2 0 0 0 - - 26 6
2015-16 21 2 1 0 0 0 - - 22 2
2016-17 10 0 1 0 0 0 - - 11 0
Club Total 76 8 7 0 0 0 - - 83 8
New York City FC
2017 Major League Soccer 29 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 32 0
2018 30 2 0 0 0 0 3 0 33 2
2019 31 4 2 0 0 0 1 0 34 4
2020 22 4 - - 2 0 - - 24 4
Club Total 112 10 3 0 2 0 6 0 123 10
Career Total 265 30 22 4 15 3 6 0 308 37

International[]

Statistics accurate as of matches played on 2 September 2017[24][30]

National team Year Apps Goals
Finland
2011 6 0
2012 7 0
2013 9 1
2014 7 0
2015 5 0
2016 8 0
2017 1 1
Total 43 2

Honours and achievements[]

HJK

Individual

References[]

  1. ^ http://www.fck.de/fileadmin/001___PORTAL__/001_downloads/Autogrammkarten/Autogrammkarten_13_14/06_Ring_AK.pdf
  2. ^ "HJK pestasi oman kasvatin" (in Finnish). iltasanomat.fi. 3 August 2010. Archived from the original on 4 September 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  3. ^ "Ringille jatko kauden 2015 loppuun" [Ring signs until 2015] (in Finnish). HJK Helsinki. 26 September 2011. Archived from the original on 16 October 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  4. ^ "Saksalaislehden ykkösuutinen: Ring Bundesliigaan" [Ring to Germany?] (in Finnish). mtv3.fi. 5 December 2011. Archived from the original on 15 January 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  5. ^ "Kicker: HJK vuokraa Ringin Saksaan" [Kicker: HJK loans Ring to Germany] (in Finnish). iltasanomat.fi. 5 January 2012. Archived from the original on 11 January 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  6. ^ "Mönchengladbach eye return to top table". UEFA.com. 20 August 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  7. ^ "Auch Ring ist vor dem Absprung" (in German). kicker.de. 27 February 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  8. ^ "ALEXANDER RING WIRD EIN ROTER TEUFEL" (in German). fck.de. 19 June 2013. Archived from the original on 26 June 2013. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
  9. ^ "ALEXANDER RING BECOMES A RED DEVIL". fck.de. 19 June 2013. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  10. ^ "Kicker: Näin saksalaisseurat maksoivat suomalaispelaajistaan" (in Finnish). Ilta-Sanomat. 30 June 2013. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  11. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 29 October 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. ^ "1. FC Kaiserslautern: Jetzt Bangen um Alexander Ring und Kerem Demirbay". 27 October 2014.
  13. ^ "Soccer Teams, Scores, Stats, News, Fixtures, Results, Tables - ESPN".
  14. ^ "Alexander Ring: 2017 Newcomer of the Year in Photos".
  15. ^ https://www.prosoccerusa.com/mls/new-york-city-fc/watch-alexander-rings-stunning-first-goal-for-nycfc-in-atlanta/
  16. ^ Bogert, Tom (7 February 2019). "NYCFC name midfielder Alex Ring second captain in club history". MLS Soccer.
  17. ^ https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/12/17/austin-fc-acquire-midfielder-alex-ring-nycfc-blockbuster-deal[bare URL]
  18. ^ "Sweden bid to bridge gap at summit". UEFA.com. 1 June 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  19. ^ Miettinen, Heikki (10 October 2011). "Roman Eremenko: Alexander Ring tuli maajoukkueeseen jäädäkseen" (in Finnish). hs.fi. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  20. ^ "Alexander Ring" (in Finnish). Suomen Palloliitto. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  21. ^ "Suomelle vakuuttava voitto Luxemburgista" (in Finnish). YLE Urheilu. 26 March 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  22. ^ "Ring free kick fires Finland to 1-0 win over Iceland". Reuters. 2 September 2017.
  23. ^ "Alex Ring Announces International Retirement".
  24. ^ a b c Alexander Ring at National-Football-Teams.com
  25. ^ "Alexander Ring". Maali! 3/2011 (in Finnish). Suomen Palloliitto (Football Association of Finland). p. 26.
  26. ^ "Ring: I Can't Wait to Play at Yankee Stadium".
  27. ^ "Ring Celebrates Dominant Return to XI".
  28. ^ "NYCFC Duo Receive U.S. Green Cards". NYCFC.com. 1 March 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  29. ^ "Finland - A. Ring - Profile with news, career statistics and history - Soccerway".
  30. ^ Palloliitto
  31. ^ "Veikkausliiga palkinnot" (in Finnish). Veikkausliiga. Archived from the original on 17 February 2015. Retrieved 17 February 2015.

External links[]

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