Veikkausliiga
Veikkausliiga () is a professional association football league in Finland and the highest level of the Finnish football league system. The league comprises 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" (). 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 2024, there are 12 teams, which first face the other teams two times in the regular season. After the regular season, the league is di ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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HJK Helsinki
Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki (), or simply as HJK (), is a Finnish football club based in Helsinki. The club competes in Veikkausliiga, the top division of the Finnish football league system. Founded in 1907, the club has spent most of its history in the top tier of Finnish football. The club's home ground is the 10,770-seat Töölö Football Stadium, where they have played their home games since 2000. Generally considered as Finland's biggest club, HJK is the most successful Finnish club in terms of championship titles with 33. The club has also won 14 Finnish Cups and 6 Finnish League Cups. Many of Finland's most successful players have played for HJK before moving abroad. The club has also similar success with women's Kansallinen Liiga. HJK is the only Finnish club that has participated in the UEFA Champions League group stage. In 1998, they beat Metz in the play-off round to clinch their place in the competition for the following season ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kuopion Palloseura
Kuopion Palloseura, commonly referred to as KuPS, is a Finnish professional football club based in Kuopio. KuPS competes in Veikkausliiga, the top flight of Finnish football. The team plays its home matches at Kuopio Football Stadium. KuPS has won the Finnish championship title seven times, the Finnish Cup five times and the Finnish League Cup once. The club is placed fourth in the all-time Finnish Premier League honor table. History The club was officially founded on 16 March 1923, at Kuopion Seurahuone. The club was named Kuopion Palloseura ("Kuopio Football Club") with an abbreviation of KPS, which was later changed to KuPS. The club spent the majority of the 1920s playing friendly games against other local clubs. In the 1930s and early 1940s, the club played in the second highest tier of Finnish football. KuPS was first promoted to Mestaruussarja in 1947, but were relegated at the end of their first season. The club was promoted again in 1949 and this time remained in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Toni Huttunen
Toni Huttunen (born 12 January 1973) is a Finnish retired footballer who played almost his entire career for MyPa. He earned 11 caps for the Finnish national side between 1994 and 2002. Huttunen has made a total of 441 appearances in Veikkausliiga with MyPa, making him the most capped player in the Finnish top-tier. Personal life His son Anttoni Huttunen is also a professional footballer.Anttoni Huttunen vaihtaa MyPasta KTP:hen – "Poika tekee ihan omaa uraa", MyPa-ikoneihin kuuluva Toni-isä sanoo , 22 December 2020 Career statistics International ...
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2024 Veikkausliiga
The 2024 Veikkausliiga was the 94th season of top-tier football in Finland, which takes place from April to November. Veikkaus was the league's sponsor. Teams The league consisted of twelve teams; ten teams remaining from the previous season, and two teams promoted from the Ykkönen. HJK entered the season as defending champions (for the fourth consecutive season). Team changes EIF were promoted as champions of the 2023 Ykkönen (returning to the top flight after a 90-year absence), replacing the bottom-placed 2023 Veikkausliiga team ( KTP, relegated after a single-year stint in top flight). Ykkönen runners-up Gnistan were also promoted (marking their debut in the top flight) after fifth-placed Veikkausliiga team Honka were demoted due to bankruptcy, replacing them in the league. At the end of the season, EIF were relegated back to Ykkösliiga after finishing 12th. The 11th placed team FC Lahti were defeated in the relegation play-offs by FF Jaro and were also relegat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2025 Veikkausliiga
The 2025 Veikkausliiga is the 95th season of top-tier football in Finland, which takes place from April to November. Veikkaus is the league's sponsor. Teams The league consisted of twelve teams; ten teams remaining from the previous season, and two teams promoted from the Ykkösliiga. KuPS entered the season as defending champions. Team changes KTP were promoted as champions of the 2024 Ykkösliiga (returning to the top flight after a single year of absence), replacing EIF (relegated after a single season), the bottom-placed team of the 2024 Veikkausliiga. Ykkösliiga runners-up Jaro (returning to the top flight after a nine-year absence) defeated second-bottom Veikkausliiga team Lahti (relegated after a 13-year stint in the top flight) in the Veikkausliiga play-off, taking their place in the league. Stadiums and locations Personnel and kits All teams are obligated to have the Veikkausliiga logo on the right sleeve of their shirt. Note: Flags indicate national team as ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ykkösliiga
''Ykkösliiga'' (English language, English: ''"League One"''; ) is the second highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga), managed by the Football Association of Finland. The teams in Ykkösliiga also play a pre-season league cup, the Ykkösliigacup. The nation-wide second-tier league was first established in 1973 as I divisioona. It was later renamed Ykkönen, starting in 1994. The new and current Ykkösliiga will start running in 2024, and the former second-tier Ykkönen continues as the new third-tier level. History The first league format competition in the second level of Finnish football was called , which was founded in 1936. Before the inauguration of the , from 1930 to 1935, there had been special qualification matches for the right to play in the ''Mestaruussarja''. In the autumn of 1969, the Finnish football underwent a league system reform, and the was renamed ''II divisioona'', or Kakkonen, 2nd Division, with regional sections. I ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Finnish League Cup
The Finnish League Cup (in Finnish: ''Liigacup''), is a knock-out football competition contested annually during the pre-season in winter by teams from Veikkausliiga. The competition is notably the only football competition in Europe which is mostly played indoors. It is also administrated by Veikkausliiga History The competition was founded in 1994. After 18 editions it was abolished in 2016. It was replaced with the Finnish Cup group stage starting from the 2017 season The league cup was revived in 2022, as it returned in its original format. The competing teams are allowed to have up to three non-contract test players in their roster, with seven possible substitutions. ve ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Valeri Popovitch
Valeri Aleksandrovich Popovitch (; born 18 May 1970) is a Russian former football forward. Popovitch is the all-time scoring leader of FC Haka. After his contract ended with HJK in 2010, he joined Ilves Tampere playing in Kakkonen, as a player-coach, signing a two-year contract. Currently he is a youth coach at FC Haka. Popovitch also holds the Finnish citizenship. He has also capped several times for Soviet U-17 and U-19 National football teams. U-17 finished third in the 1986 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship, and U-19 won the UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship in 1988. Popovitch played in both tournaments. Popovitch played for FC CSKA Moscow in Soviet First League and FC Spartak Moscow in the Soviet Top League. Legacy Popovitch holds a legendary status in Finland and especially in Valkeakoski, where his regarded as one of the best players ever to play for FC Haka. FC Haka retired his number, 14. During his career, he made 395 appearances and scored ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mestaruussarja
Mestaruussarja (Championship series) was the top division of Finnish 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 champion. Before that (1908-1929) the championship was decided by cup competition. The league was dominated by clubs from Helsinki, Turku and Vyborg. The first champion was HIFK Footboll from Helsinki. In 1935, the four best clubs were from Helsinki; and in 1934 and 1936 the top three clubs also came from Helsinki. From 1908 to 1940, the championship went outside Helsinki on only six occasions. Kuopio was the first inland city to get into the league when Pallotoverit were promoted in 1938. During World War II years the league was sometimes cut short, abandoned or decided with cup competition instead. In 1940s TUL clubs also participated. The last Mestaruussarja season was 1989 and FC Kuusysi was crowned as the last champions. The new top level division was at first cal ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ykkönen
''Ykkönen'' (Finnish language, Finnish for 'Number One'; , previously I divisioona) is the third highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga and Ykkösliiga), managed by the Football Association of Finland. Until the end of 2023, ''Ykkönen'' was the second-highest level in Finland, but after the creation of new second-tier Ykkösliiga, it was dropped down one level in the league pyramid. History The first league format competition in the second level of Finnish football was called , which was founded in 1936. Before the inauguration of the , from 1930 to 1935, there had been special qualification matches for the right to play in the ''Mestaruussarja''. In the autumn of 1969, the Finnish football underwent a league system reform, and the was renamed ''II divisioona'', or Kakkonen, 2nd Division, with regional sections. In 1973, this level of football in Finland became nationwide, and the new name was (First Division). The name has been used s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Olli Rehn
Olli Ilmari Rehn (; born 31 March 1962) is a Finnish public official who has been serving as governor of the Bank of Finland since 2018. A member of the Centre Party, he previously served as the European Commissioner for Enlargement from 2004 to 2010, European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro from 2010 to 2014, and Minister of Economic Affairs in Juha Sipilä's cabinet from 2015 until 2016. Rehn ran for President of Finland as an independent candidate in 2024, but was not elected. Early life and education Born in Mikkeli in Eastern Finland, Rehn studied economics, international relations, and journalism at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in the United States. He gained a master's degree in political science from the University of Helsinki in 1989, and a D.Phil. from St. Antony's College, Oxford in 1996 on the subject of "Corporatism and Industrial Competitiveness in Small European States". In addition to his native Finnish, he spe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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UEFA Conference League
The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual football competition organised since 2021 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It is the third-tier competition of European club football, ranking below the second-tier UEFA Europa League, and the first-tier UEFA Champions League. Introduced in 2021 as the UEFA Europa Conference League, the competition was initially intended as the bottom level of the UEFA Europa League. Teams from lower-ranked UEFA member associations primarily contest the competition. From the 2024–25 season, the competition was rebranded to the UEFA Conference League, and the group stage was replaced with an expanded league phase of 36 teams. No teams qualify directly for the league phase: instead the teams eliminated in the Europa League play-off round qualify, with the rest coming from the Conference League qualifying and play-off rounds. The winner of t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |