Briefly in English
The Coolest Football on Earth – The
Finnish Football League. The Finns can´t boast with well-known and
successful history on the pitch. However, the top division of Finnish
football – Veikkausliiga – is going strong and developing with steady
footsteps. The Finnish Football League Association was formed and
separated from the FA of Finland in 1990. Since that the Finnleague
Trophy has been delivered to seven different clubs. HJK Helsinki won
club's eleventh championship in 2014 and Haka from Valkeakoski follow HJK
with five league titles. HJK also survived to the top floor of the
European game and played in the Champions League in 1998.
The
most famous Finnish footballers have all grown up in the age of
Finnleague. Jari Litmanen, the best Finnish player of all time, started
his career in Lahden Reipas (known as FC Lahti nowadays) and moved to
Ajax Amsterdam, FC Barcelona, Hansa Rostock, Malmo FF and Liverpool
FC via HJK Helsinki and Myllykosken Pallo. The FA Cup and Champions League winner Sami Hyypiä (Bayer
04 Leverkusen, formerly Liverpool and Willem II) launched also his
career from MYPA.
While the biggest European leagues are in
flames there is half a meter of snow on the pitches in Finland. For that
reason the Veikkausliiga is played between mid-April and the end of
October. The match rounds are played from Friday to Monday in
general.
In a country that is almost three times bigger than
England but has a population of only five million you really have to try
to achieve anything. Never giving up, never loosing your coolness. That
is what the Veikkausliiga is all about.
Results season 2014:
1st HJK, Helsinki
2nd SJK, Seinäjoki
3rd FC Lahti, Lahti
TPS
from Turku was relegated to first division. HIFK from Helsinki won the first division title
and was promoted first time in club's history to Veikkausliiga for the season 2015.