Veikkausliiga

Veikkausliiga
Founded	1990
Country	Finland
Confederation	UEFA
Number of teams	12
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Ykkönen 1–2 (depending on qualification playoffs)
Domestic cup(s)	Finnish Cup
International cup(s)	UEFA Champions League; UEFA Europa Conference League
Current champions	HJK ; (2022)
Most championships	HJK Helsinki (33)
TV partners	IS Extra, Ruutu+, Nelonen, Jim
Website	veikkausliiga.com
	Current: 2023 Veikkausliiga

Veikkausliiga (Finnish: [ˈʋei̯kːɑusˌliːɡɑ]; Swedish: Tipsligan) is the premier division of Finnish football, the highest tier of the Finnish football league structure, 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 as a knock-out cup competition.

Structure

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. As of 2020 there are 12 teams, which first face the other teams two times. After the two rounds, the league is divided into championship group (6 teams) and challenge group (6 teams), and both groups play a single series of five further matches. At the end of the season, the last team is relegated to Ykkönen, whose winner is promoted to Veikkausliiga, and the second last 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 euros.[2] Veikkausliiga is a founding member of the European Professional Football Leagues association.[3]

Clubs

Football teams FC Ilves and FC Inter in a Veikkausliiga match at Tammela Stadium in Tampere, Finland, in August 2016.

The Veikkausliiga clubs in the 2023 season are presented in the table below. Number of seasons includes seasons played in Veikkausliiga and preceding Mestaruussarja and seasons of predecessor teams after season 2022. In the case of mergers, the seasons of the predecessor with the most seasons are counted.

Club	City	Stadium	Capacity	2022 position	Number of seasons*
AC Oulu	Oulu	Raatti Stadium	4,392	7th	4
FC Haka	Valkeakoski	Tehtaan kenttä	3,516	4th	65
FC Honka	Espoo	Tapiolan Urheilupuisto	4,100	3rd	14
FC Inter	Turku	Veritas Stadion	9,372	5th	26
FC Lahti	Lahti	Lahden kisapuisto	4,000	11th	50
HJK	Helsinki	Bolt Arena	10,770	1st, Champions	84
IFK Mariehamn	Mariehamn	Wiklöf Holding Arena	1,650	9th	18
Ilves	Tampere	Tampere Stadium	16,800	8th	41
KuPS	Kuopio	Savon Sanomat Areena	5,000	2nd	66
KTP	Kotka	Arto Tolsa Areena	4,780	Promoted from Ykkönen	27
SJK	Seinäjoki	OmaSP Stadion	6,000	6th	12
VPS	Vaasa	Elisa Stadion	6,009	10th	58

Former clubs

Club	Home town	Seasons
AC Allianssi	Vantaa	2002–2005
Atlantis FC	Helsinki	2001
FC Hämeenlinna	Hämeenlinna	2002–2004
FC Jazz¹	Pori	1991–2004
FC Jokerit	Helsinki	1999–2001, 2003
FC KooTeePee	Kotka	2003–2008
FC Kuusysi²	Lahti	1990–1995
FC Oulu	Oulu	1992, 1994
FC Viikingit	Helsinki	2007
FinnPa	Helsinki	1993–1998
HIFK	Helsinki	2015-2017, 2019-2022
JJK	Jyväskylä	2009–2013, 2017
KPV	Kokkola	1990, 2019
Kumu	Kuusankoski	1990
MP	Mikkeli	1990–1996
MyPa	Kouvola	1992–2014
OTP	Oulu	1990–1991
PK-35	Helsinki	1998, 2016
Ponnistus	Helsinki	1995
Reipas²	Lahti	1990–1991
RoPS	Rovaniemi	1990-2001, 2004-2005, 2008-2009, 2011, 2013-2020
TPV	Tampere	1993–1995, 1999
Tampere United³	Tampere	2000–2010
TPS	Turku	1990-2000, 2003-2014, 2018, 2020
TP-Seinäjoki	Seinäjoki	1997
TP-47	Tornio	2004–2005

^{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 in the meantime had bought the place of KooVee in second division, got promoted back to the highest league in 2015.}

Veikkausliiga 1990–present

Season	Winner	Runners-up	Third place
1990	HJK	Kuusysi	MP
1991	Kuusysi	MP	FC Haka
1992	HJK	Kuusysi	FC Jazz
1993	FC Jazz	MyPa	HJK
1994	TPV	MyPa	HJK
1995	FC Haka	MyPa	HJK
1996	FC Jazz	MyPa	TPS
1997	HJK	VPS	FinnPa
1998	FC Haka	VPS	PK-35
1999	FC Haka	HJK	MyPa
2000	FC Haka	FC Jokerit	MyPa
2001	TamU	HJK	MyPa
2002	HJK	MyPa	FC Haka
2003	HJK	FC Haka	TamU
2004	FC Haka	AC Allianssi	TamU
2005	MyPa	HJK	TamU
2006	TamU	HJK	FC Haka
2007	TamU	FC Haka	TPS
2008	FC Inter	FC Honka	FC Lahti
2009	HJK	FC Honka	TPS
2010	HJK	KuPS	TPS
2011	HJK	FC Inter	JJK
2012	HJK	FC Inter	TPS
2013	HJK	FC Honka	VPS
2014	HJK	SJK	FC Lahti
2015	SJK	RoPS	HJK
2016	IFK Mariehamn	HJK	SJK
2017	HJK	KuPS	Ilves
2018	HJK	RoPS	KuPS
2019	KuPS	FC Inter	FC Honka
2020	HJK	FC Inter	KuPS
2021	HJK	KuPS	SJK
2022	HJK	KuPS	FC Honka
2023	HJK	KuPS	VPS

Performance

Performance by club

The following clubs have won:

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

30 clubs have been Champions.

Club	Titles	Runners-up	Winning Years
HJK	32	14	1911, 1912, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1923, 1925, 1936, 1938, 1964, 1973, 1978, 1981, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022
FC Haka	9	7	1960, 1962, 1965, 1977, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004
HPS	9	6	1921, 1922, 1926, 1927, 1929, 1932, 1934, 1935, 1957
TPS	8	12	1928, 1939, 1941, 1949, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975
HIFK	7	7	1930, 1931, 1933, 1937, 1947, 1959, 1961
KuPS	6	12	1956, 1958, 1966, 1974, 1976, 2019
FC Kuusysi	5	4	1982, 1984, 1986, 1989, 1991
Kiffen	4	–	1913, 1915, 1916, 1955
ÅIFK	3	5	1910, 1920, 1924
Reipas Lahti	3	3	1963, 1967, 1970
VIFK	3	2	1944, 1946, 1953
Tampere United	3	–	2001, 2006, 2007
VPS	2	5	1945, 1948
KTP	2	–	1951, 1952
OPS	2	–	1979, 1980
FC Jazz	2	–	1993, 1996
MyPa	1	5	2005
FC Inter Turku	1	4	2008
SJK	1	1	2015
PUS	1	1	1909
Sudet Vyborg	1	1	1940
KPV	1	1	1969
FC Ilves	1	1	1983
Unitas	1	–	1908
HT	1	–	1942
Ilves-Kissat	1	–	1950
Pyrkivä Turku	1	–	1954
TPV	1	–	1994
IFK Mariehamn	1	–	2016

Top scorers

Season	Player	Club	Goals
1990	Marek Czakon	Ilves	16
1991	Kimmo Tarkkio	FC Haka	23
1992	Luiz Antônio Moraes	FC Jazz	21
1993	Antti Sumiala	FC Jazz	20
1994	Dionísio	TPV	17
1995	Valeri Popovitch	FC Haka	21
1996	Luiz Antônio Moraes	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
2008	Henri Myntti	TamU	13
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
2014	Luis Solignac	IFK Mariehamn	14
2015	Aleksandr Kokko	RoPS	17
2016	Roope Riski	SJK	17
2017	Aleksei Kangaskolkka	IFK Mariehamn	16
2018	Klauss	HJK	21
2019	Filip Valenčič	FC Inter	16
2020	Roope Riski	HJK	16
2021	Benjamin Källman	FC Inter	14
2021	Ariel Ngueukam	SJK	14
2022	Lee Erwin	FC Haka	20

Individual all-time records

Player in activities

Most matches played

Player	Time	Matches
Toni Huttunen	1992–2009	441
Mikko Hauhia	2003–2019	416
Ari Nyman	2000–2018	406
Valeri Popovitch	1993–2009	395
Saku Puhakainen	1995–2009	382
Tommi Kautonen	1990–2006	376
Juuso Kangaskorpi	1993–2008	373
Tuomas Aho	1999–2017	371
Alexei Eremenko	1991–2005	360
Aarno Turpeinen	1990–2004	358
Rafael	1997–2016	358
Henri Lehtonen	2000–2017	358
Vesa Rantanen	1991–2004	354
Tero Taipale	1997–2014	352
Rami Nieminen	1991–2004	347

Last updated: 1 November 2022.
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	2003–2018	111	288	0.39
Luiz Antônio	1992–2003	94	196	0.48
Antti Pohja	1994–2009	87	302	0.29
Timo Furuholm	2003–2021	85	230	0.37
Jari Vanhala	1991–1999	85	236	0.36
Ismo Lius	1991–1999	84	176	0.48
Akseli Pelvas	2007–2020	80	233	0.34
Demba Savage	2008–2021	80	280	0.29
Kimmo Tarkkio	1990–1999	79	178	0.44
Juha Karvinen	1990–2000	77	255	0.30
Ilja Venäläinen	2001–2013	76	304	0.25
Aleksei Kangaskolkka	2004–2018	76	246	0.31