Marco Parnela

Marco Parnela

Personal information
Date of birth	(1981-01-05) 5 January 1981
Place of birth	Orivesi, Finland
Position	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
	Atletico Catania
	ESV München
2001–2003	Thun	33	(1)
2003–2004	Zwolle	8	(0)
2004–2010	Go Ahead Eagles	162	(14)
Total		203	(15)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Marco Parnela (born 5 January 1981) is a Finnish former professional footballer who played as a defender. Active in both Switzerland and the Netherlands, Parnela made over 200 career league appearances.

Career

Despite being born in Finland, Parnela spent all his professional career abroad. He played from 2001 to 2003 in Switzerland for FC Thun, then moving to the Netherlands later that year to join Eerste Divisie club FC Zwolle. In 2004, he then agreed to join another Eerste Divisie team, Go Ahead Eagles from Deventer, where he spent the remainder of his career. Parnela also served as the team captain of Go Ahead Eagles.

In December 2010 Parnela announced his decision to put an end to his professional career and focus on a business career instead, effective 1 January 2011.

He joined Dutch amateurclub SV Zwaluwen Wierden in January 2011.

Personal life

Parnela is of Finnish and Italian descent.

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Thun	2001–02	Swiss Nationalliga B	12	1	2	1	14	2
	2002–03	Swiss Nationalliga A	6	0	0	0	6	0
	Total		18	1	2	1	20	2
Zwolle	2003–04	Eredivisie	8	0	0	0	8	0
Go Ahead Eagles	2004–05	Eerste Divisie	33	1	0	0	33	1
	2005–06	Eerste Divisie	33	4	0	0	33	4
	2006–07	Eerste Divisie	39	4	1	0	40	4
	2007–08	Eerste Divisie	14	0	2	0	16	0
	2008–09	Eerste Divisie	21	2	0	0	21	2
	2009–10	Eerste Divisie	19	3	2	0	21	3
	2010–11	Eerste Divisie	5	0	0	0	5	0
	Total		164	14	5	0	169	14
SV Zwaluwen Wierden	2011–12	Derde Divisie	23	0	0	0	23	0
Career total			213	15	7	1	220	16