Finnish Volleyball icon Riikka Lehtonen retires

Finnish Volleyball legend Riikka Lehtonen has announced her retirement from competitive sport at the age of 42 – doing so through a post she published on her official Instagram account. She could not have chosen any other place than Varala Sports Institute to compose her farewell message – since this is where her journey in the sport began when she was a young teenager more than 20 years ago. In her Instragram post, Riikka acknowledged she felt quite emotional at sharing her decision.

Born in Kangasala, where she actually discovered Volleyball, Lehtonen had a truly amazing career in Volleyball from 1996 to 2011 and, more recently, from 2014 to 2021, in Beach Volleyball as well. Her resume is truly unmatchable in Finnish women’s Volleyball and includes back-to-back CEV Champions League titles with RC CANNES of France in 2002 and 2003. In the same competition, she claimed bronze medals in 2004 and 2006 while playing for RC CANNES and Foppapedretti BERGAMO, respectively. She travelled the world extensively to play Volleyball, claiming the national league title of countries as diverse as Italy, France and even the Maldives in the process.

From 1999 to 2013, Lehtonen played for some of the top clubs in the world, such as RC CANNES (France), Foppapedretti BERGAMO (Italy), NEC Red Rockets (Japan), VakifBank ISTANBUL (Turkey), Olympiacos PIRAEUS (Greece), Sirio Colussi PERUGIA (Italy), Igtisadchi BAKU (Azerbaijan), River Volley PIACENZA (Italy) and Azerrail BAKU (Azerbaijan).

In Finland, Lehtonen received the award for the Volleyball Player of the Year as many as four times and emerged as the Female Volleyball Player of the Year six times in a row.

As far as Beach Volleyball goes, Lehtonen won a whopping 12 Finnish championships and as many as 16 Finnish Championship medals from 1997 to 2020. Last year, she finished as high as fifth at EuroBeachVolley in Jurmala, Latvia, together with Niina Ahtiainen. Lehtonen played at seven European Championships and one World Championship.

We wish Riikka all the best in her future endeavours and thank her for so many years of devotion and commitment to our sport! Kiitos!