Paavo
Valakari

Paavo Valakari was welcomed onto the coaching team of St Johnstone Football Club at the tail end of 2024.

Taking on the role of Performance Manager, he already had an abundance of coaching experience in his homeland of Finland with SJK Seinäjoki and Käpylän Pallo, commonly referred to as KäPa.

He worked with players aged between 15-18 at SJK and was also the head coach of the women’s team. At KäPa, Paavo held positions of under-18s head coach and men’s reserve team head coach.

Part of his role at McDiarmid Park is monitoring and analysing game model and performance, while determining how future improvements can be made.

Paavo was a talented goalkeeper growing up but quickly found a love – and passion – for coaching.

He has been involved in performance departments throughout his experiences so far, understanding how to correlate performance process through analysis and sport science to enhance coaching techniques and exercise programmes.