Veikkausliiga
Season2020
ChampionsHJK
RelegatedRoPS, TPS
Champions LeagueHJK
Europa Conference LeagueKuPS
Inter Turku
FC Honka
Matches played132
Goals scored296 (2.24 per match)
Top goalscorerAlbion Ademi
Roope Riski
(12 each)[1]
Biggest home win
HJK 6–1 IFK Mariehamn
(30 August 2020)[1]
Biggest away winFC Lahti 0–4 HJK
(1 July 2020)[1]
Highest scoringIlves 4–3 IFK Mariehamn
(1 July 2020)
HJK 6–1 IFK Mariehamn
(30 August 2020)
HIFK 4–3 HJK
(10 September 2020)[1]
Longest winning run7 matches
KuPS[1]
Longest unbeaten run10 matches
HJK[1]
Longest winless run16 matches
RoPS[1]
Longest losing run12 matches
RoPS[1]
← 2019
2021 →

The 2020 Veikkausliiga was the 90th season of top-tier football in Finland with KuPS being the defending champions.[2] HJK won the league.

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 Conference League qualification place goes to the winner of that final series.[3]

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

VPS were relegated to Ykkönen after finishing at the bottom of the 2019 season. Their place was taken by Ykkönen champions FC Haka.

KPV as 11th-placed team lost their Veikkausliiga spot after losing to second-placed Ykkönen team TPS in a relegation/promotion playoff.

Stadiums and locations

2020 Veikkausliiga is located in Finland
HIFK HJK
RoPS
KuPS
FC Honka
FC Lahti
IFK Mariehamn
Ilves
SJK
FC Inter
FC Haka
TPS
Location of teams in 2020 Veikkausliiga
Club Location Stadium Turf Capacity
FC Haka Valkeakoski Tehtaan kenttä Artificial 3,516
FC Honka Espoo Tapiolan Urheilupuisto Natural 6,000
FC Inter Turku Veritas Stadion Natural 9,372
FC Lahti Lahti Lahden Stadion Natural 15,000
HIFK Helsinki Bolt Arena Artificial 10,770
HJK Helsinki Bolt Arena Artificial 10,770
IFK Mariehamn Mariehamn Wiklöf Holding Arena Artificial[4] 4,000
Ilves Tampere Tammelan Stadion Natural 5,040
KuPS Kuopio Savon Sanomat Areena Artificial 5,000
RoPS Rovaniemi Rovaniemen keskuskenttä Artificial 4,000
SJK Seinäjoki OmaSP Stadion Artificial 6,000
TPS Turku Veritas Stadion[5] Natural 9,372

League table

On 28 October 2020, it was decided to cancel the championship and relegation round due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland, and the regular season standings after 22 rounds would be considered final.[6]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 HJK (C) 22 14 6 2 53 17 +36 48 Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2 Inter Turku 22 12 5 5 36 17 +19 41 Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round
3 KuPS 22 12 5 5 39 26 +13 41
4 FC Honka 22 9 10 3 26 17 +9 37
5 Ilves 22 10 6 6 37 29 +8 36
6 FC Lahti 22 8 8 6 33 30 +3 32
7 SJK 22 8 5 9 27 29 −2 29
8 HIFK 22 8 4 10 29 33 −4 28
9 IFK Mariehamn 22 6 5 11 29 43 −14 23
10 FC Haka 22 5 7 10 25 41 −16 22
11 TPS (R) 22 6 3 13 23 39 −16 21 Qualification for the relegation play-offs
12 RoPS (R) 22 1 2 19 15 51 −36 5 Relegation to the Ykkönen
Source: [1], [2]
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; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away HAK HON INT LAH HFK HJK MAR ILV KPS RPS SJK TPS
FC Haka — 1–1 0–2 2–2 0–2 1–4 0–1 0–2 2–4 0–2 1–4 2–1
FC Honka 1–2 — 1–1 2–1 0–1 0–0 1–0 3–2 1–1 1–0 0–0 3–1
Inter Turku 2–0 0–0 — 3–0 3–2 1–0 2–1 5–1 2–0 3–1 0–1 3–0
FC Lahti 0–0 0–0 2–2 — 2–1 0–4 3–1 3–2 1–2 3–0 0–0 1–1
HIFK 0–1 1–1 0–0 0–3 — 4–3 2–2 1–2 0–3 1–0 2–1 2–0
HJK 3–1 1–1 1–1 1–1 3–0 — 6–1 2–0 2–2 4–0 2–0 2–2
IFK Mariehamn 2–2 0–0 2–0 2–2 0–3 0–5 — 0–2 0–2 4–0 2–3 1–0
Ilves 1–1 4–1 0–2 3–1 2–2 1–2 4–3 — 0–0 1–0 0–0 4–0
KuPS 2–3 0–2 1–0 3–0 3–2 0–3 2–1 1–1 — 3–0 2–1 3–1
RoPS 2–2 1–3 0–2 0–4 0–1 0–1 2–3 1–1 0–2 — 2–3 2–3
SJK 1–1 0–2 3–2 0–1 3–2 1–2 1–2 1–3 1–1 2–1 — 1–0
TPS 2–3 0–2 1–0 1–3 1–0 0–2 1–1 0–1 3–2 4–1 1–0 —
Source: [3]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

European competition

Five teams would originally play for a spot in the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League first qualifying round, but this was cancelled and the spot would be awarded based on regular season position.

Relegation play-offs

KTP0–0TPS
Arto Tolsa Areena, Kotka
Attendance: 1315
Referee: Mattias Gestranius
TPS1–1KTP
Muzaci 58' Mäkijärvi 83'
Veritas Stadion, Turku
Attendance: 2469
Referee: Dennis Antamo

1–1 on aggregate. KTP won on away goals.

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of 4 November 2020[7]

Rank Player Club Goals
1 Finland Roope Riski HJK 16
2 Albania Albion Ademi IFK Mariehamn 14
3 Finland Timo Furuholm Inter Turku 10
4 Finland Jasin-Amin Assehnoun FC Lahti 9
Finland Tim Väyrynen HJK
6 Finland Lauri Ala-Myllymäki Ilves 7
Cameroon Jean Marie Dongou FC Honka
Finland Naatan Skyttä Ilves
Nigeria Aniekpeno Udo KuPS
10 France Dimitry Imbongo FC Lahti 6
Finland Ilmari Niskanen KuPS
Finland Salomo Ojala FC Haka

Awards

Annual awards

Award[8] Winner Club
Player of the Year Finland Roope Riski HJK
Goalkeeper of the Year United States Tim Murray Honka
Defender of the Year Finland Daniel O'Shaughnessy HJK
Midfielder of the Year Ghana Nana Boateng KuPS
Striker of the Year Finland Roope Riski HJK
Breakthrough of the Year Nigeria Usman Sale KuPS
Coach of the Year Finland Samuel Fagerholm KuPS

Team of the Year

Team of the Year[9]
Goalkeeper United States Tim Murray (Honka)
Defence Finland

Nikolai Alho

(HJK)

Netherlands

Rick Ketting (Inter Turku)

Finland

Daniel O'Shaughnessy (HJK)

Colombia

Luis Carlos Murillo (HJK)

Midfield Finland

Riku Riski (HJK)

Ghana Nana Boateng (KuPS)

Finland

Naatan Skyttä (Ilves)

Albania

Albion Ademi (Mariehamn)

Attack Finland Timo Furuholm (Inter Turku) Finland Roope Riski (HJK)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Summary: Veikkausliiga 2020 Regular Season". Soccerway. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  2. ^ "Veikkausliiga".
  3. ^ "Sarjajärjestelmä" (in Finnish). Veikkausliiga.com. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  4. ^ Wiklöf Holding Arenan uuden kentän rakennus etenee aikataulussa
  5. ^ "Veikkausliiga - FC TPS". Archived from the original on 2020-02-20. Retrieved 2020-02-20.
  6. ^ "Veikkausliiga päättyy runkosarjaan" [The Veikkausliiga ends in the regular season] (in Finnish). Veikkausliiga. 29 October 2020.
  7. ^ "PLAYERS: Topscorers". Soccerway. 15 October 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  8. ^ "Teemu Pukki ja Natalia Kuikka kruunattiin Vuoden jalkapalloilijoiksi – HJK:n Roope Riski kahmi palkintoja". www.iltalehti.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 2023-01-02.
  9. ^ "Pallo-Koplan Veikkausliigan tähdistöjoukkue on valittu". www.veikkausliiga.com (in Finnish). Retrieved 2023-01-02.
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