Naisten Korisliiga (Women's Basketball League) is the highest tier of women's basketball in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. The competition was formerly known as Koripallon naisten SM-sarja (Women's Basketball Finnish Championship) and was renamed Naisten Korisliiga for the 2013-14 season.

History

Women's Finnish Championship was first introduced in 1944. The first championship was won by Helsingin Tarmo. In the 1940s, the league had six teams and the title was awarded after the regular season. In 1953 the number of teams was raised to ten. Postseason

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

were first played in the 1973-74 season, with Nokian Urheilijat emerging victorious after defeating first

Tapiolan Honka Tapiolan Honka is a basketball club based in Espoo, Finland. Their men's team plays in Korisliiga and their women's team plays in Naisten Korisliiga, both on highest tiers of Finnish basketball. History It was founded as a sports club Tapion Ho ...

(2-1) in the Semifinals and then Työväen Mailapojat (2-1) in the Finals. For the 2014-15 season, the league has 10 teams and each team plays each other three times in the regular season, resulting in 27 games per team. The top 8 teams continue to postseason playoffs which are played in

Best-of-five There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the ''single elimination'', the ''best-of-'' series, the ''total points series'' more commonly kn ...

format. The team placed last after the regular season is relegated to Naisten I Divisioona (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: ''Women's First Division'').

Lea Hakala Lea Helena Hakala (born 15 March 1960)) is a Finnish basketball coach and former player. Hakala is considered to be the best Finnish women's basketball player ever. She won 16 women's Finnish championships. In the Finnish national team she pla ...

could be seen as the most influential player so far in the history of Naisten Korisliiga. Hakala played 25 seasons in the league and currently leads the record for career points. She has won the championship title for record-breaking 15 times and she has also been awarded the Player of the Year Award for 4 times.

Current teams

Teams competing in the 2019–20 Naisten Korisliiga season: *

Catz Lappeenranta Catz () is a former commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the commune Carentan-les-Marais.Lappeenranta Lappeenranta (; sv, Villmanstrand) is a city and municipality in the region of South Karelia, about from the Russian border and from the town of Vyborg (''Viipuri''). It is situated on the shore of the Lake Saimaa in southeastern Finland, and ...

Espoo Basket Team Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi whil ...

(EBT),

Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi ...

* Forssan Alku (FoA),

Forssa Forssa is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located almost in the centre of a triangle defined by the three largest major cities in Finland (Helsinki, Turku and Tampere), in the Tavastia Proper region, and which is crossed by Highway 2 ...

* HBA-Marsky,

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

* Hyvinkään Ponteva (HyPo),

Hyvinkää Hyvinkää (; sv, Hyvinge, ) is a city and municipality of Finland. It is located in the Uusimaa region, approximately north of the capital Helsinki. The city was chartered in 1960. The population of Hyvinkää is (). Its neighboring municipal ...

* Kouvottaret,

Kouvola Kouvola () is a cities of Finland, city and Municipalities of Finland, municipality in southeastern Finland. It is located along the Kymijoki, Kymijoki River in the Regions of Finland, region of Kymenlaakso, kilometers east of Lahti, west of Lapp ...

* Peli-Karhut (PeKa),

Kotka Kotka (; ; la, Aquilopolis) is a city in the southern part of the Kymenlaakso province on the Gulf of Finland. Kotka is a major port and industrial city and also a diverse school and cultural city, which was formerly part of the old Kymi parish. ...

, Espoo *

Torpan Pojat Torpan Pojat, shortened to ToPo, is a basketball club based in Helsinki, Finland. Torpan Pojat has their men's and women's team playing in national 1st division and many minor and junior teams in different age categories. History The club was ...

(ToPo), Helsinki * Vimpelin Veto (ViVe),

Vimpeli Vimpeli (; sv, Vindala) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the South Ostrobothnia region, northeast of Seinäjoki and northwest of Jyväskylä. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The p ...

Recent champions

List of champions

Records

Career

At least 100 or more games played in the league * Most points: 11563 **

* Highest points per game average: 19.23 **

Heli Roukanoja Heli, also ''heli'', ''heli-'' may refer to: People *Heli, King of Britain (mythical) *Heli (Bible), listed as an ancestor of Jesus *Heli (name) Places * Heli, Tangyuan County (鹤立镇), town in Tangyuan County, Heilongjiang, China * Heli, Fun ...

* Most assists: 1179 ** Kenya Robinson * Highest assists per game average: 3.26 ** Reetta Piipari * Most rebounds: 6578 ** Kenya Robinson * Highest rebounds per game average: 12.46 ** Kenya Robinson * Highest efficiency: 12294 ** Kenya Robinson * Highest efficiency per game average: 31.15 **

Anna Hollos Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 1221) ...

Season

Has played in at least 50% of the season's games * Most points: 911 **

Melissa Jeltema Melissa is a female given name. The name comes from the Greek word μέλισσα (''mélissa''), "bee", which in turn comes from μέλι (''meli''), "honey". In Hittite, ''melit'' signifies "honey". ''Melissa'' also refers to the plant ''Me ...

(

), 2012–13 * Highest points per game average: 26.47 **

Medina Turner Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...

( Äänekosken Huima), 1996–97 * Most assists: 172 ** Reetta Piipari ( Peli-Karhut), 2013–14 * Highest assists per game average: 6.15 ** Nikki Speed, (

HoNsU The Korisliiga is the top-tier professional basketball league in Finland, comprising the top 12 teams of the country. In its current format, each team plays all other teams two times in the regular season, once at home and once away, for a total o ...

), 2013–14 * Most rebounds: 575 ** Shauna Tubbs ( Äänekosken Huima), 1997–98 * Highest rebounds per game average: 17.14 ** Sarah Zawodny ( Forssan Alku), 2002–03 * Highest efficiency: 1290 ** Keisha Johnson (

Tampereen Pyrintö Tampereen Pyrintö ry is a Finnish multi-sport club from Tampere. Pyrintö representatives have achieved several Olympic medals and other success. In the year 2017, Pyrintö has sport sections in cross-country skiing, basketball, ski jumping, w ...

), 1994–95 * Highest efficiency per game average: 36.95 ** Jennie Hall ( Nokian Urheilijat), 1983–84

Match

* Most points: 53 ** Nina Pajanti-Raudus ( Forssan Alku), vs. Peli-Karhut (121-82), 10-21-1995 * Most assists: 16 ** Erja Laaksonen ( HNMKY), vs.

, (83-73), 10-24-1999 * Most rebounds: 32 **

Oberon Pitterson Oberon () is a king of the fairies in medieval and Renaissance literature. He is best known as a character in William Shakespeare's play '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'', in which he is King of the Fairies and spouse of Titania, Queen of the Fai ...

(

), vs. Äänekosken Huima (78-58), 10-12-1996 * Highest efficiency: 67 **

(

), vs. Äänekosken Huima (78-58), 10-12-1996 ''All records include both regular season and playoffs. Updated as of season 2013-14 ''

References

External links

Official website
{{Women's professional basketball leagues

Basketball leagues in Finland Sports leagues established in 1944 Professional sports leagues in Finland Women's sports leagues in Finland