Jukka Raitala (born 15 September 1988) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays for Veikkausliiga club IF Gnistan.

[6] In May 2009, Ajax Amsterdam, PSV Eindhoven, Bayer Leverkusen, AZ Alkmaar and Bordeaux joined the race to sign Raitala.

On 28 July 2011, he was loaned again, this time to Osasuna in Spanish La Liga, with the Spaniards having an option to buy him for €1.25 million at the end of the season.

On 28 August 2011, Raitala made his La Liga debut for Osasuna playing as a left defender against Atletico Madrid.

On 6 June 2012, Raitala signed a four-year contract with a Dutch Eredivisie club SC Heerenveen for a transfer fee of €800,000.

On 23 December 2016, Raitala started his journey in Major League Soccer after Columbus Crew SC acquired him through a Discovery Signing for the 2017 season.

[14] He was then immediately traded with fellow expansion draftee Raheem Edwards to Montreal Impact in exchange for defender Laurent Ciman.

[20][21] On 11 December 2023, a newly promoted Veikkausliiga side Gnistan from Northern Helsinki announced the signing of Raitala.

[22] When Raitala was 20 years old he made his Finland national team debut on 4 February 2009, in Tokyo in a friendly match against Japan when Stuart Baxter used him as a substitute.

[23] He played his first UEFA European Championship qualification game on 3 June 2011 when Mixu Paatelainen chose him to the starting line up against San Marino in Serravalle.

He was subsequently a member of the twenty-six players selected by Markku Kanerva to compete in UEFA Euro 2020, the first official international competition for the Finns.

Raitala competed in Finland's all three tournament matches, against Denmark, Russia and Belgium, but eventually they were eliminated from the competition in the group stage with two losses and one win.