Veikkausliiga (; sv, Tipsligan) is the premier division of

Finnish football ) , country = Finland , sport = association football , noncountry = , teamlabel1 = , nationalteam = Men's national team Women's national team , teamlabel2 = , repteam = , nickname = , first ...

, 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 Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three elem ...

agency

Veikkaus Veikkaus Oy is the Finnish government-owned betting agency which holds a monopoly in the country. It was formed in 2017 as a merger of three previously existing betting and gambling agencies of Veikkaus, Fintoto and Finland's Slot Machine Assoc ...

, hence the league's name. Veikkausliiga was founded in 1990; before that the top division was called ''

Mestaruussarja Mestaruussarja (Championship series) was the top division of Finland, Finnish association football, football from 1930 to 1989. It was replaced by Veikkausliiga in 1990. In 1930 league format was used for the first time to decide the Finnish cham ...

'' (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" ( sv, Fotbollsligan). 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. Veikkausliiga is a founding member of the

European Professional Football Leagues European Leagues (EL) is a sports organization within association football created for growth of professional football in Europe. Its members are the professional football leagues organisations of 29 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark ...

association.

Clubs

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.

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

FC Lahti is a Finnish football club based in the city of Lahti. It currently plays in the Finnish Premier League (''Veikkausliiga'') after placing first in the Finnish First Division (''Ykkönen'') during season 2011. The homeground of FC Lah ...
. Kuusysi returned to Kakkonen

Kakkonen or II divisioona is the third level in the Finnish football league system, league system of Finnish football and comprises 36 Finland, Finnish football (soccer), football teams. The II divisioona was introduced in 1973 and in the mid-1 ...
in 2011 under the name ''Lahti Akatemia'', while Reipas returned to Kolmonen

Kolmonen or III divisioona is the fourth level in the league system of Finnish football and comprises 104 Finnish football teams. The III divisioona was introduced in 1973 and in the mid-1990s became known as the Kolmonen (''Number Three'' in En ...
one year later.}
^{3) Tampere United was formed in 1998 after it inherited the place of FC Ilves

Tampereen Ilves (; Finnish for "Lynx") is a Finnish football club, based in Tampere. They currently play in the Veikkausliiga, the highest level of professional football in Finland.

They were formed in 1975 as a merger between Ilves-Kissat Tam ...
. 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

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.

Top scorers

Individual all-time records

Most matches played

Last updated: 1 November 2022.
Source
Veikkausliiga.com

Most goals scored

Last updated: 1 November 2022.
Source
Veikkausliiga.com

References

External links

Official website

at RSSSF
Fixtures and Tables on aragon.ws
{{UEFA leagues 1

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 ...

Summer association football leagues Sports leagues established in 1990 1990 establishments in Finland Professional sports leagues in Finland it:Campionato finlandese di calcio