Jukka Toijala (born 9 May 1972) is a Finnish professional basketball coach and former player, currently serving as the coach for the Estonia men's national basketball team.
Estonia men's national basketball team | |
---|---|
Position | Head coach |
Personal information | |
Born | Kouvola, Finland | 9 May 1972
Nationality | Finnish |
Career information | |
Playing career | 1993–2006 |
Position | Guard |
Coaching career | 2006–present |
Career history | |
As player: | |
1993–1997 | Kouvot[1] |
1998 | Echo Houthalen[2] |
1998–2000 | Kouvot |
2001–2003 | Kataja |
2003–2006 | Kouvot |
As coach: | |
2006–2010 | Kouvot |
2010–2016 | Kataja |
2010–2019 | Finland (assistant) |
2016–2018 | Steaua Bucuresti |
2018–2019 | Trefl Sopot |
2019 | HBA-Märsky Helsinki |
2019–present | Estonia |
After announcing his retirement from playing career, Toijala stayed in Kouvola with Kouvot and was named the head coach of the team in March 2006, after Risto Piipari.[3]
In 2010, Toijala decided to stay in Finland and signed a deal with Finnish team Kataja Basket.[4] He departed the club in 2016.[5][6]
Toijala worked as the head coach of Steaua București in the Romanian first league from 2016 until 2018.[7] Toijala led Steaua to the finals of the Romanian league twice, eventually falling short on both occasions.[8] Due to political turmoil inside the club, Toijala was released in October 2018. The club later sued Toijala and four players under contract to the court to avoid paying them salaries for the ongoing 2018–19 season.[9]
After his release, he briefly worked as a head coach of Polish club Trefl Sopot in 2018–2019.[10][11]
Since 2019, Toijala is the head coach of HBA-Marsky Helsinki in the Finnish second league.
Since 2010, Toijala has been the assistant coach of the senior Finnish national basketball team.
On 23 October 2019, Jukka Toijala was named the head coach of the Estonia senior national team.[12] Toijala led Estonia to qualify for EuroBasket 2022 final tournament, where the team eventually finished 19th place.[13] After a successful three-year spell, it was announced on 23 November 2022 that Toijala had extended his contract with Estonia, signing a deal until the end of February 2026.[14]