Personal Life
Litmanen was born into a footballing family. His father, Olavi Litmanen, was also a Finnish international and a Reipas player. His mother also played for Reipas at the women's highest level. Litmanen became a father in November 2005, when his Estonian girlfriend Ly Jürgenson gave birth to a son named Caro. The couple's second son, Bruno, was born in September 2007.
On 10 October 2010, Litmanen became the first Finnish team sport player to receive a statue. His statue is located at Kisapuisto (Lahti) where he started his career in the 70's.
Besides playing, Litmanen – using his old contacts in Netherlands – has also managed to send young Finnish players to visit the training camps and play on trial to numerous clubs in Eredivisie. Including Kari Arkivuo, Drilon Shala and Berat Sadik at Go Ahead Eagles and most recently Henri Toivomäki at Ajax.
Read more about this topic: Jari Litmanen
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