Book. Podcast. Debate. Culture.
Book
Most ambitious football book ever.Progressão is a reflective, thought-provoking, and entertaining work that takes the reader deep into football, skill, and the lifelong process of becoming skillful.With a strong background and rich understanding of the game, Jani Sarajärvi and JP Savolainen offer a unique perspective on the world’s most popular sport, blending science, psychology, anthropology, art, and personal anecdotes into a seamless whole.The word progressão in Portuguese means progression and development — a journey where the focus shifts from isolated techniques to skill as a holistic phenomenon. This book opens the door to that world, offering deep insight for coaches, players, and all lovers of the game.Through Progressão, you travel across four continents and multiple eras, experiencing the depth of football from youth pitches to the international elite game.This is the perfect book for anyone who loves football and wishes to understand its essence in a new, deeper, and wiser way.Progressão is not only a dive into football, but into life itself.Published in Estonia December 2024 & in Finland June 2025.
Order book:
Podcast
Every Tuesday.Football. Life. Skill. Ecological Dynamics.Once a month DISCUSSÃO MUNDO special with a changing guest.
Latest episode:
Debate
Progressão is a frequent educator, lecturer and a guest in various football and sports related events
28.10. 2023 JJV RY: Game intelligence26.12. 2024 Koripalloliiton juniorivalmennusverkosto: Skill and skillful coaching2025 VAT (Ice Hockey): Complexity of game2025 Sihvonen 1v1 Podcast: Jani Sarajärvi2019–2025 Lecturing, coach education, and education development work for the Finnish and Estonian Football Associations and several universities
Culture
Progressão sticker project:
Top lists:
Top 3 Movies:
Andrei Tarkovski: Mirror
Béla Tarr: Sátántangó
Aki Kaurismäki: Ariel
Top 3 Coffee Shops in Cruz Quebrada:
Cafetaria Natural & Abstracto
Villa Cruz
Os Molas Partidas
Top 3 Prog Rock albums:
Genesis: Selling England By The Pound
Yes: Close To The Edge
King Crimson: Red
Top 3 Chess moves:
Alexei Shirov: Bh3
Frank James Marshall: Qg3
Jose Sanz Aguado: Rxb2
People
Jani Sarajärvi
UEFA PRO Head Coach
Head of Estonian Youth National Teams
PhD in Sport Sciences
Football coach, researcher, and former player whose career has taken him across four continents, working with elite clubs and national teams. Originally from Northern Finland, he holds a PhD from the University of Lisbon, where his research focused on football skill, coaching, and Ecological dynamics. Jani’s work sits at the intersection of science, coaching practice, and human development, exploring how players and teams achieve high performance through their ongoing engagement with the environments around them. His journey in football is also a path into understanding life, learning, and what it means to become skillful.
JP Savolainen
UEFA PRO Head Coach
Former professional footballer and two-time Finnish champion who has become one of Finland’s leading coaches and coach educators. He has worked extensively with youth and senior players at the highest national level and has contributed to the development of the Finnish FA’s coaching education. JP’s interests span football, learning, culture, and the craft of coaching, which led him to publish the book Futisvallankumous (The Football Revolution). His fascination with the game lies in its endless depth — its capacity to surprise, teach, and evolve. Progressão grows from this lifelong curiosity.
Progressāo
Kirja. Podcast. Debatti. Kulttuuri.
Kunnianhimoisin suomeksi julkaistu jalkapallokirja.
Kunnianhimoisin suomeksi julkaistu jalkapallokirja.Kyseessä on taitavasti kirjoitettu, mutta täysin uudenlaisen näkökulman maailman suosituimpaan urheilulajiin omaava teos, joka yhdistelee anekdootteja, lajitiedettä, akateemista tutkimusta, biologiaa ja antropologiaa sujuvaan tarinalliseen ja omakohtaiseen kerrontaan, jossa liikutaan juniori- ja huippujalkapalloilun parissa kolmella eri mantereella ja usealla eri aikakaudella.
Sana progressão tarkoittaa portugaliksi etenemistä ja kehittymistä. Erityisesti laji-ihmisille teos tarjoaa viihdyttävän ja syventävän lukukokemuksen, mutta kirja sopii mainiosti myös jalkapalloa eri tavoin rakastaville penkkiurheilijoille.
Progressão ei ole kirja pelkästään jalkapallosta vaan koko elämästä.
Sanottuna kirjasta:
”Teos on näkökulman poikkeuksellisuutensa ja argumentaatiotasonsa ansiosta yksi 2000-luvun suomifutiksen merkittävimmistä.”"Maastamme ei löytyne ainuttakaan jalkapalloihmistä, jonka ajatuksia kirja ei jollain tavalla myllää."
-Urheilulehti"Teoksen kiistattomiin vahvuuksiin kuuluu läpi kirjan esiin puskeva kirjoittajien intohimo, syvä kiinnostus ja aito paneutuminen tarkasteltaviin aiheisiin.""Vastaavanlaista teosta ei ole Suomessa aiemmin tehty – tuskin tullaan vähään aikaan myöskään tekemään."
-Apu Aitio
Duarte Araújo
![Tuomas Iisalo]()
Tuomas Iisalo
![Niklas Moisander]()
Niklas Moisander
![Jarkko Tuomisto]()
Jarkko Tuomisto
![Tom Saintfiet]()
Tom Saintfiet
Mika Lehkosuo
Jamie Hamilton
![Mari Savolainen]()
Mari Savolainen
![Kaan Kairinen]()
Kaan Kairinen
![Vicente Raja]()
Vicente Raja
BOOK
Tapahtuu Portugalissa eräänä tiistaiaamuna: Kaksi lupaavaa suomalaista jalkapallovalmentajaa, Jani Sarajärvi ja JP Savolainen, seisovat Lissabonin yliopiston liikuntatieteellisen tiedekunnan portaiden edessä. He katselevat uteliaasti rakennuksen jylhää ja valkoisella marmorilla päällystettyä sisäänkäyntiä. Tämä on paikka, joka kuuluu maailman arvostetuimpien jalkapallotiede- ja valmennusinstituutioiden joukkoon. Koulu, jossa ovat vuosien mittaan opiskelleet esimerkiksi lähes kaiken mahdollisen seuratasolla voittanut ja jo legendaksi noussut José Mourinho, sekä Portugalin uuden valmentajasukupolven lupaavin nimi Rúben Amorim.Tämä on myös ympäristö, joka hieman myöhemmin inspiroi Jani Sarajärveä ja JP Savolaista aloittamaan Progressão-kirjan tekemisen, jossa lajia, peliä ja jalkapallokulttuuria käsitellään holistisesta ja käytännönläheisestä näkökulmasta. Kyseessä on taitavasti kirjoitettu, mutta täysin uudenlaisen näkökulman maailman suosituimpaan urheilulajiin omaava teos, joka yhdistelee anekdootteja, lajitiedettä, akateemista tutkimusta, biologiaa ja antropologiaa sujuvaan tarinalliseen ja omakohtaiseen kerrontaan, jossa liikutaan juniori- ja huippujalkapalloilun parissa kolmella eri mantereella ja usealla eri aikakaudella.Sana progressão tarkoittaa portugaliksi etenemistä ja kehittymistä. Erityisesti laji-ihmisille teos tarjoaa viihdyttävän ja syventävän lukukokemuksen, mutta kirja sopii mainiosti myös jalkapalloa eri tavoin rakastaville penkkiurheilijoille.Progressão ei ole kirja pelkästään jalkapallosta vaan koko elämästä.Kirja julkaistu Virossa 2024, sekä suomeksi 12.6. 2025.The Progressão book examines football and related phenomena from a complex perspective that takes into account the holistic and correspondent nature of living beings.The book is written in Portugal, where the word progressão means progress and development. The authors of the book also want to move forward and help Finnish football develop.Progressão is a diverse journey of experienced footballers into football and life.
PODCAST
In the Progressão podcast, Jani Sarajärvi and JP Savolainen dive into the themes of their book. Every Tuesday they discuss, among other things, the nature of the game of football, the relationship between humans and the environment, and becoming skilled in football.Welcome to the journey of enskilment.Spotify
Apple Podcasts
TOUR
Progressão wanted to learn together with Finnish clubs and took part in a small-scale tour in the summer of 2022. During the visits, we brought out the themes of our book and later highlighted local club activities in our podcast.
Past tour 2022:
28.6. FC Peltirumpu, Kouvola
29.6. STPS, Savonlinna
30.6. Klubi-36, Iisalmi
2.7. FC Ylivieska, Ylivieska
4.7. Kolarin Kontio, Kolari
JANI SARAJÄRVI
A Head Coach for Nömme United, Coach-analyst for The Gambia national team and a reseacher PhD student in football coaching at the University of Lisbon.Jani has coached in third- (FC YPA) and top tiers (VPS, HJK) in Finland, and also in Ecuador (Independiente del Valle).Jani has educated and lectured e.g., in the Football Association of Finland, University of Jyväskylä, and University of Lisbon.In his playing career, Jani played in Finnish and Swedish top tiers in the years 2000-2010, and earned one cap for Finnish national team. Jani's home club is FC Kurenpojat.
JP SAVOLAINEN
A head coach in FC Inter Reserve team and a bachelor student of football at Lapland University of Applied Sciences.JP has coached juniors in Pallo-Iirot and in one of Finland’s best breeders’ clubs, Käpylän Pallo.In addition to his work, JP has been developing all Football Association of Finland’s coaching courses up to UEFA A, and has been founding the Football Junior Coaches Association.During his playing career, JP played in Finnish top tier in the years 2004-2010. In addition, he has more than 30 boys' national team matches in his belt. JP’s home club is Pallo-Iirot.
©PROGRESSÃO 2023.
SUMMARY
Football has traditionally been based on a culture where things are broken down into pieces, developed separately, and tried to bring them back together in the end. Game and skill are broken down into technique, tactics, physics and psyche. These basic features have been practiced in separate parts and players as well as teams have been developed factory-made towards pre-defined molds.The reductionist perspective described above is the opposite of holistic view, in which the key issues are wholes and, rather than the separation of parts, their correspondence. Ecological dynamics is a broad, all-living exploratory and explanatory theoretical framework based on a holistic view, in which football is seen in fundamentally different ways than in the old limited theories. In the framework of ecological dynamics, football and the phenomena associated with it are described as complex and closely entangled with their environment.The book is about football as a complex phenomenon based on ecological dynamics. In addition, soccer skills, skillful play, and coaching are presented as wide-ranging, corresponding phenomena that evolve in the environment and over time. The book contains the authors' experiences of junior and top football from Finland through Portugal to South America and Africa, through which readers can experience a rich world of football. The book combines scientific research and an artistic approach to people’s lives. Inspiration is gathered from sports as well as biology, anthropology, and the arts. The book is a deep dive into football and life.
©PROGRESSÃO 2023.