Veikkausliiga
Season2019
ChampionsKuPS
6th title
RelegatedKPV
VPS
Champions LeagueKuPS
Europa LeagueInter Turku
Ilves
Matches played162
Goals scored396 (2.44 per match)
Top goalscorerFilip Valenčič (16)
Highest scoringIFK Mariehamn 3–4 KuPS
(1 May 2019)
← 2018
2020 →

The 2019 Veikkausliiga was the 89th season of top-tier football in Finland. Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi were the defending champions.[1] KuPS won the title.

New league format

Veikkausliiga adopted a new league format for the 2019 season. Each team played against each other twice in the regular season. After the regular season the top six teams advanced to the Championship Series which determines the champion and European tournament qualification places. The bottom six teams advanced to the Challenger Series. The best team from the Challenger Series plays in a tournament against the Championship Series' 4th, 5th, and 6th place teams. The winner from that plays in a final series against the 3rd best team from the Championship Series. The last UEFA Europa League qualification place goes to the winner of that final series.[2]

The bottom team from the Challenger Series will relegate to the Ykkönen, and second to last team will play in a relegation play-off series against the 2nd best team from Ykkönen.

Teams

Palloseura Kemi Kings were relegated to Ykkönen after finishing at the bottom of the 2018 season. Their place was taken by Ykkönen champions HIFK Fotboll.

Turun Palloseura as 11th-placed team lost their Veikkausliiga spot after losing to second-placed Ykkönen team Kokkolan Palloveikot in a relegation/promotion playoff.

Stadia and locations

2019 Veikkausliiga is located in Finland
HIFK HJK
RoPS
KuPS
FC Honka
FC Lahti
IFK Mariehamn
Ilves
KPV
SJK
VPS
FC Inter
Location of teams in 2019 Veikkausliiga
Club Location Stadium Turf Capacity
FC Honka Espoo Tapiolan Urheilupuisto Natural 6,000
Inter Turku Turku Veritas Stadion Natural 10,000
FC Lahti Lahti Lahden Stadion Natural 15,000
HIFK Helsinki Telia 5G -areena Artificial 10,770
HJK Helsinki Telia 5G -areena Artificial 10,770
IFK Mariehamn Mariehamn Wiklöf Holding Arena Natural 4,000
Ilves Tampere Tammelan Stadion Natural 5,040
KPV Kokkola Kokkolan Keskuskenttä Natural 2,000
KuPS Kuopio Savon Sanomat Areena Artificial 5,000
RoPS Rovaniemi Rovaniemen keskuskenttä Artificial 4,000
SJK Seinäjoki OmaSP Stadion Artificial 6,000
VPS Vaasa Elisa Stadion Artificial 6,000

League table

Regular season

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation[a]
1 KuPS (C) 27 15 8 4 46 24 +22 53 Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round.
2 Inter Turku 27 15 3 9 42 29 +13 48 Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round.
3 FC Honka (O) 27 14 5 8 41 29 +12 47 Qualification for the national Europa League qualification final.
4 Ilves 27 13 8 6 34 25 +9 47 Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round.[b]
5 HJK 27 9 10 8 33 29 +4 37 Qualification for the national Europa League qualification tournament.
6 IFK Mariehamn 27 9 5 13 31 34 −3 32
7 HIFK 27 10 9 8 37 34 +3 39 Qualification for the national Europa League qualification tournament.
8 FC Lahti 27 9 9 9 29 36 −7 36
9 SJK 27 7 9 11 18 29 −11 30
10 RoPS 27 8 6 13 23 35 −12 30
11 KPV (R) 27 7 4 16 32 47 −15 25 Qualification for the relegation play-offs
12 VPS (R) 27 3 10 14 30 45 −15 19 Relegation to the Ykkönen
Source: Veikkausliiga, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Head-to-head away goals scored; 7) Play-off
(Note: Play-off is only played if need to decide champion, teams for relegation or UEFA competition and will be played on a neutral ground).
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ Teams played against each other twice (22 matches) after which the league split in two (top 6 and bottom 6 teams).
  2. ^ Ilves qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round by winning the 2019 Finnish Cup


Results

Home \ Away HFK HJK HON MAR ILV INT KPV KPS LAH RPS SJK VPS
HIFK — 0–2 2–0 1–1 2–2 1–1 3–2 1–1 0–1 1–0 1–0 2–1
HJK 1–1 — 0–1 2–1 0–0 2–1 3–1 1–1 4–0 2–2 2–2 1–1
FC Honka 3–0 0–1 — 1–3 1–2 3–2 0–1 1–2 2–0 1–0 0–0 1–1
IFK Mariehamn 1–3 0–2 2–2 — 0–1 1–2 3–0 3–4 0–1 2–0 1–0 1–0
Ilves 3–1 1–1 1–1 0–0 — 0–1 4–2 0–2 1–0 2–2 3–0 0–0
FC Inter 3–2 4–1 3–1 1–0 2–3 — 2–1 1–0 2–0 3–0 1–2 1–1
KPV 1–1 2–1 0–1 0–4 0–2 1–3 — 2–1 0–0 0–1 1–2 2–1
KuPS 1–1 0–0 0–3 0–0 1–0 2–0 3–1 — 5–1 2–2 0–1 5–0
FC Lahti 0–0 3–0 3–2 0–1 1–0 1–1 1–0 3–3 — 1–2 1–1 1–1
RoPS 1–0 0–1 1–2 1–2 0–1 0–2 0–0 0–1 3–0 — 1–1 2–1
SJK 1–0 0–0 1–2 0–2 0–1 2–1 1–0 1–3 0–2 0–0 — 1–0
VPS 3–2 1–1 2–3 2–1 1–2 1–2 2–2 1–2 1–1 0–1 1–1 —
Source: Veikkausliiga
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

European competition

Five teams will play for a spot in the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League first qualifying round.

HJK2–2 (a.e.t.)FC Lahti
 Report
Penalties
4–2
Telia 5G -areena, Helsinki
Referee: Mattias Gestranius
IFK Mariehamn0–0 (a.e.t.)HIFK
Report
Penalties
4–2
Wiklöf Holding Arena, Mariehamn
Referee: Mohammed Al-Emara
HJK1–2 (a.e.t.)IFK Mariehamn
 Report
Telia 5G -areena, Helsinki
Referee: Antti Munukka

Bracket

 
QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal
 
                
 
23 October 2019 (2019-10-23)
 
 
HJK2(4)
 
27 October 2019 (2019-10-27)
 
FC Lahti2(2)
 
HJK1
 
23 October 2019 (2019-10-23)
 
IFK Mariehamn2
 
IFK Mariehamn0(4)
 
 
 
HIFK0(2)
 
IFK Mariehamn101
 
 
FC Honka213
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Final stage

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
IFK Mariehamn 1–3 FC Honka 1–2 0–1
IFK Mariehamn2-3FC Honka
Report
Wiklöf Holding Arena, Mariehamn
Referee: Joni Hyytiä
FC Honka2-1IFK Mariehamn
Report
Tapiolan Urheilupuisto, Espoo
Referee: Petri Viljanen

Relegation play-offs

TPS0–0KPV
Report
Veritas Stadion, Turku
Attendance: 3,376
Referee: Kalle Mäkinen
KPV0–3TPS
Report Ääritalo 44'
Jakonen 67'
Duah 90+2'
Kokkolan keskuskenttä, Kokkola
Attendance: 1,200
Referee: Ville Nevalainen

Season statistics

Top scorers

Final standings[3]

Rank Player Club Goals
1 Slovenia Filip Valenčič Inter Turku 16
2 Finland Lauri Ala-Myllymäki Ilves 12
Spain Borjas Martín Honka
4 Finland Timo Furuholm Inter Turku 10
Brazil Tiquinho HIFK
6 Brazil Luís Henrique HIFK 8
Ukraine Denys Oliynyk SJK
Brazil Lucas Rangel KuPS

Awards

Annual awards

Award[4] Winner Club
Player of the Year Slovenia Filip Valenčič Inter Turku
Goalkeeper of the Year Finland Mika Hilander Ilves
Defender of the Year Colombia Luis Carlos Murillo KuPS
Midfielder of the Year Finland Petteri Pennanen KuPS
Striker of the Year Slovenia Filip Valenčič Inter Turku
Breakthrough of the Year Brazil Jair Ilves
Coach of the Year Finland Jonas Rantanen HJK

Team of the Year

Team of the Year[5]
Goalkeeper Finland Mika Hilander (Ilves)
Defence Finland

Felipe Aspegren (Ilves)

Senegal

Babacar Diallo (KuPS)

Ghana

Baba Mensah (Ilves)

Colombia

Luis Carlos Murillo (HJK)

Midfield Finland

Niko Markkula (Inter Turku)

Finland Ville Saxman

(KuPS)

Finland Lauri Ala-Myllymäki (Ilves) Finland

Petteri Pennanen (KuPs)

Attack Slovenia Filip Valenčič (Inter Turku) Spain Borjas Martín (Honka)

References

  1. ^ "Veikkausliiga".
  2. ^ "Sarjajärjestelmä" (in Finnish). Veikkausliiga.com. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  3. ^ "Perustilastot". veikkausliiga.com/ (in Finnish). Veikkausliiga. 24 June 2019. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  4. ^ "Palloliitto ja Veikkausliiga palkitsivat kauden 2019 parhaita - katso tästä kaikki palkitut | Sportti.com". www.sportti.com (in Finnish). Retrieved 2023-01-02.
  5. ^ Zavros, Christos (2019-10-19). "Ilveksen ja KuPSin ylivoimaa - tässä on Veikkausliigan tähdistöjoukkue". SuomiFutis (in Finnish). Retrieved 2023-01-02.
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