Veikkausliiga

Veikkausliiga

Country	Finland
Confederation	UEFA
Founded	1990
Number of teams	12
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Ykkönen
Domestic cup(s)	Finnish Cup Finnish League Cup
International cup(s)	Champions League UEFA Europa League
Current champions	HJK Helsinki (2014)
Most championships	HJK Helsinki (11)
TV partners	ISTV Yle TV2
Website	www.veikkausliiga.com
2015

Veikkausliiga (Swedish: Tipsligan) is the premier division of Finnish football, comprising the top 12 clubs of the country. As of 2013, Veikkausliiga is ranked as the 33rd best league in Europe. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agency Veikkaus, hence the league's name. Veikkausliiga was founded in 1990; before that the top division was called Mestaruussarja (championship series) since 1930 which was an amateur or semi-professional league. Between 1908 and 1930 the championship was decided in a cup competition.

Ykkönen (division one) has been the second highest level of Finnish football since 1973.

As with certain other cold-climate European countries (including parts of Norway and Sweden), league matches in Finland are played in summer, with a schedule usually from April to October. The format and number of teams has changed frequently, and in the 2013 season there were 12 teams, with each team playing the others three times, for 33 rounds during the season. An uneven number of matches meant that the best six teams from the 2012 season had 17 home matches and the other six teams had 16 home matches. At the end of the season, the lowest-placed team is relegated to Ykkönen, whose winner is promoted to Veikkausliiga.

In 2010 the average annual salary with fringe benefits for a league player was 24,400 euro.^[1] Veikkausliiga is a founding member of the European Professional Football Leagues association.^[2]

Clubs

The Veikkausliiga clubs in the 2015 season are presented in the table below:

Number of seasons includes seasons played in preceding Mestaruussarja and seasons of predecessor teams

Former clubs

Note:

• ¹ Formerly known as PPT

Champions

The following clubs have won either the Veikkausliiga (between 1990 and 2014) or the Mestaruussarja (between 1908 and 1989) championship:

• 27 wins: HJK
• 9 wins: FC Haka, HPS
• 8 wins: TPS
• 7 wins: HIFK
• 5 wins: KuPS, Kuusysi¹, Tampere United²
• 4 wins: KIF
• 3 wins: Reipas Lahti¹, VIFK, ÅIFK
• 2 wins: FC Jazz⁴, KTP³, OPS, VPS
• 1 win: HT, KPV, PUS, Turun Pyrkivä, Viipurin Sudet, Unitas, TPV, MyPa, FC Inter Turku

Notes:
¹ Kuusysi and Lahden Reipas merged their professional teams in 1997 to form FC Lahti. Both teams, however, continue in junior football.
² In 1974 Ilves-Kissat Tampere and TaPa Tampere merged with Ilves Tampere, who took Ilves-Kissat's place in the league. Ilves Tampere were renamed Tampere United before the 1999 season as a result of a failed merger. Although Ilves also continues as its own club, all predecessors' titles are included here in the figure for Tampere United.
³ FC KooTeePee was established to continue top-level football in Kotka when the former Kotka team known as KTP went bankrupt. However as KTP also continues to play in lower divisions its titles are not usually considered to be inherited by FC KooTeePee. In December of 2013 FC KooTeePee and KTP merged to bee FC KTP
⁴FC Jazz was formerly known as PPT (Porin Pallotoverit)

Top clubs

Top scorers

Season	Player	Club	Goals
1990	Marek Czakon	Ilves	16
1991	Kimmo Tarkkio	FC Haka	23
1992	Luiz Antônio	FC Jazz	21
1993	Antti Sumiala	FC Jazz	20
1994	Dionísio	TPV	17
1995	Valeri Popovitch	FC Haka	21
1996	Luiz Antônio	FC Jazz	17
1997	Rafael	HJK	11
1998	Matti Hiukka	RoPS	11
1999	Valeri Popovitch	FC Haka	23
2000	Shefki Kuqi	FC Jokerit	19
2001	Paulus Roiha	HJK	22
2002	Mika Kottila	HJK	18
2003	Saku Puhakainen	MyPa	14
2004	Antti Pohja	TamU	16
2005	Juho Mäkelä	HJK	16
2006	Hermanni Vuorinen	FC Honka	16
2007	Rafael	FC Lahti	14
2008	Aleksandr Kokko	FC Honka	13
	Henri Myntti	TamU
2009	Hermanni Vuorinen	FC Honka	16
2010	Juho Mäkelä	HJK	16
2011	Timo Furuholm	FC Inter Turku	22
2012	Irakli Sirbiladze	FC Inter Turku	17
2013	Tim Väyrynen	FC Honka	17
2014	Jonas Emet	FF Jaro	14
	Luis Solignac	IFK Mariehamn

Individual all-time records

Most matches played Player Time Matches Toni Huttunen 1992–2009 441 Valeri Popovitch 1993–2009 395 Saku Puhakainen 1995–2009 382 Tommi Kautonen 1990–2006 376 Juuso Kangaskorpi 1993–2008 373 Aleksei Borisovich Yeryomenko 1991–2005 360 Aarno Turpeinen 1990–2004 358 Vesa Rantanen 1991–2004 354 Tero Taipale 1997–present 352 Rami Nieminen 1991–2004 347 Piracaia 1992–2007 324 Tuomas Aho 1999–present 319 Mikko Innanen 1999–present 318 Rafael 1997–present 317 Mikko Hyyrynen 2001–present 311 Anssi Viren 1995–2013 306 Rami Hakanpää 1994–2013 305 Ilja Venäläinen 2001–2013 304 Kari Rissanen 1990–2003 303 Lasse Karjalainen 1991–2005 302 Juha Riippa 1990–2003 302 Antti Pohja 1994–2010 302 Last updated: 26 October 2014. Sources: Veikkausliigan verkkonäyttely: Tilastot veikkausliiga.com/Player.aspx.

Most goals scored Player Time Goals Matches Average Valeri Popovitch 1993–2009 166 395 0.42 Rafael 1997–present 133 317 0.42 Saku Puhakainen 1995–2009 114 382 0.30 Luiz Antônio 1992–2003 94 196 0.48 Antti Pohja 1994–2009 87 302 0.29 Jari Vanhala 1991–1999 85 236 0.36 Ismo Lius 1991–1999 84 176 0.48 Kimmo Tarkkio 1990–1999 79 178 0.44 Juha Karvinen 1990–2000 77 255 0.30 Ilja Venäläinen 2001–2013 76 304 0.25 Juho Mäkelä 2003–present 74 168 0.44 Mikko Hyyrynen 2001–present 73 311 0.23 Marko Rajamäki 1990–2000 73 199 0.37 Last updated: 26 October 2014. Sources: Veikkausliigan verkkonäyttely: Tilastot veikkausliiga.com/Player.aspx Veikkausliiga - Hall Of Fame.

UEFA Ranking

UEFA Country Ranking As of 27 November 2014 (Previous year rank in italics)

• 33 (31) Moldovan National Division
• 34 (33) Georgian Premier League
• 35 (36) Veikkausliiga
• 36 (37) Úrvalsdeild
• 37 (35) Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina

See also

• Veikkausliiga 2014
• Veikkausliiga 2013
• Veikkausliiga 2012
• Veikkausliiga 2011
• Veikkausliiga 2010
• Football Association of Finland
• List of foreign Veikkausliiga players

References

1. ↑ Palkkatutkimus 2010
2. ↑ http://www.epfl-europeanleagues.com/profile_veikkausliiga.htm

External links

• Official website
• Escape To Suomi - the latest Veikkausliiga news (in English)
• Finland - List of League First Level Tables at RSSSF
• Fixtures and Tables on aragon.ws
• Clean and simple game scores featuring RSS feed
• League321.com - Finnish football league tables, records & statistics database. (English)