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Veikkausliiga

Founded	1990
Country	Finland
Confederation	UEFA
Number of teams	12
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Ykkönen
Domestic cup(s)	Finnish Cup
League cup(s)	Finnish League Cup
International cup(s)	Champions League UEFA Europa League
Current champions	HJK Helsinki (2018)
Most championships	HJK Helsinki (12)
TV partners	IS Extra, Ruutu+, Nelonen, Jim
Website	Veikkausliiga
2018 Veikkausliiga

Veikkausliiga (Swedish: Tipsligan) is the premier division of Finnish football, comprising the top 12 clubs of the country. 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.

During the 1990 and 1991 seasons the Veikkausliiga was played under the name "Futisliiga" (Swedish: Fotbollsligan).^[1]

As with certain other cold-climate European countries, 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 as of 2016 there are 12 teams, with each team playing the others three times, for 33 rounds during the season. The best six teams from the previous season play 17 home matches, while the other six teams play 16 home matches. At the end of the season, the lowest-placed team is relegated to Ykkönen, whose winner is promoted to Veikkausliiga, and the second-worst team plays a two-leg play-off versus the Ykkönen runner-up.

In 2010 the average annual salary with fringe benefits for a league player was 24,400 euro.^[2] Veikkausliiga is a founding member of the European Professional Football Leagues association.^[3]

Clubs

The Veikkausliiga clubs in the 2018 season are presented in the table below. Number of seasons includes seasons played in preceding Mestaruussarja and seasons of predecessor teams after season 2017.

Former clubs

^{1) FC Jazz was formerly known as PPT (Porin Pallotoverit).
2) Kuusysi and Reipas merged their professional teams in 1996 to form FC Lahti. Kuusysi returned to Kakkonen in 2011 under the name Lahti Akatemia, while Reipas returned to Kolmonen one year later.
3) Tampere United was formed in 1998 after it inherited the place of FC Ilves. Tampere United was dissolved in 2011 and Ilves, which had continued playing at lower levels, got promoted back to the highest league in 2015.}

Veikkausliiga 1990–present

Performance

Performance by club

The following clubs have won:

Finnish Championship Cup Competition (1908–1929)
Mestaruussarja (1930–1989)
Veikkausliiga (1990–present)

29 clubs have been Champions.

Performance by city

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
2015	Aleksandr Kokko	RoPS	17
2016	Roope Riski	SJK	17
2017	Aleksei Kangaskolkka	IFK Mariehamn	16

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 Ari Nyman 2000–present 379 Tommi Kautonen 1990–2006 376 Juuso Kangaskorpi 1993–2008 373 Tuomas Aho 1999–2017 371 Aleksei Borisovich Yeryomenko 1991–2005 360 Aarno Turpeinen 1990–2004 358 Rafael 1997–2016 358 Henri Lehtonen 2000–2017 358 Mikko Hauhia 2003–present 355 Vesa Rantanen 1991–2004 354 Tero Taipale 1997–2014 352 Rami Nieminen 1991–2004 347 Last updated: 07 April 2018. Source: Veikkausliiga.com.

Most goals scored Player Time Goals Matches Average Valeri Popovitch 1993–2009 166 395 0.42 Rafael 1997–2016 136 358 0.38 Saku Puhakainen 1995–2009 114 382 0.30 Juho Mäkelä 2003–present 104 256 0.41 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 Akseli Pelvas 2007–present 75 198 0.38 Marko Rajamäki 1990–2000 73 199 0.37 Mikko Hyyrynen 2001–2014 73 311 0.23 Toni Lehtinen 2003–2016 73 228 0.32 Last updated: 07 April 2018. Source: Veikkausliiga.com.

See also

• Football Association of Finland


• List of foreign Veikkausliiga players

References

External links

• Official website


• 
  Finland - List of League First Level Tables at RSSSF (in English)
  


• 
  Fixtures and Tables on aragon.ws (in English)