The 2011 Veikkausliiga was the 81st season of top-tier football in Finland. It began on 2 May 2011 and ended on 29 October 2011.[2] HJK were the defending champions and successfully defended their title.

Veikkausliiga
Season2011
ChampionsHJK
8th Veikkausliiga title
24th Finnish title
RelegatedRoPS
Champions LeagueHJK
Europa LeagueInter Turku
JJK
KuPS
MYPA
Matches played198
Goals scored599 (3.03 per match)
Top goalscorerTimo Furuholm (22 goals)
Biggest home winHJK 6–0 TPS
(22 June)
FF Jaro 8–2 RoPS
(29 June)
HJK 6–0 FF Jaro
(28 September)
Biggest away winHaka 0–5 HJK
(18 June)
Highest scoringFF Jaro 8–2 RoPS
(29 June)
Longest winning runHJK
(10 games)[1]
Longest unbeaten runFC Honka
(14 games)[1]
Longest winless runRoPS
(21 games)[1]
Longest losing runRoPS
(6 games)[1]
2010
2012

The pre-season was severely affected by license revocations to two teams, which eventually resulted in a later than originally scheduled begin date and an increase of scheduled matches from 26 to 33 per team.

Teams edit

The league was originally supposed to have 14 teams, but AC Oulu was refused a license due to club's bad economic situation and Tampere United was excluded from every official competition of Football Association of Finland due to breaking the rules of the association, and the league will therefore be played with only 12 teams.[3][4] AC Oulu was, however, obtained a license for Ykkönen, where it will play this season.

FC Lahti were relegated to Ykkönen after finishing at the bottom of the 2010 season. Their place was taken by Ykkönen champions RoPS. 13th-placed Veikkausliiga team JJK and Ykkönen runners-up FC Viikingit competed in a two-legged relegation play-offs for one spot in this season. JJK won 3–1 on aggregate and thereby retained their league position once again.

Team summaries edit

Location of teams in 2011 Veikkausliiga
Club Location Stadium Capacity Manager Captain
FC Honka Espoo Tapiolan Urheilupuisto 6,000   Mika Lehkosuo   Tomi Maanoja
FC Inter Turku Veritas Stadion 10,000   Job Dragtsma   Henri Lehtonen
FF Jaro Jakobstad Jakobstads Centralplan 5,000  /  Alexei Eremenko Sr.   Heikki Aho
Haka Valkeakoski Tehtaan kenttä 3,516   Sami Ristilä   Regillio Nooitmeer
HJK Helsinki Sonera Stadium 10,770   Antti Muurinen   Ville Wallén
JJK Jyväskylä Harjun stadion 3,000   Kari Martonen   Mikko Hyyrynen
KuPS Kuopio Kuopion keskuskenttä 5,000   Esa Pekonen   Pietari Holopainen
IFK Mariehamn Mariehamn Wiklöf Holding Arena 4,000   Pekka Lyyski   Allan Olesen
MYPA Kouvola Saviniemi 4,167   Toni Korkeakunnas[5]   Tuomas Aho
RoPS Rovaniemi Rovaniemen keskuskenttä 4,000   Matti Hiukka   Tuomo Könönen
TPS Turku Veritas Stadion 10,000   Marko Rajamäki   Jarno Heinikangas
VPS Vaasa Hietalahti Stadium 4,600   Petri Vuorinen   Tero Koskela

Managerial changes edit

Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Incoming manager Date of appointment Table
VPS   Tommi Pikkarainen Resigned 28 July 2011[6]   Petri Vuorinen 28 July 2011 11th
RoPS   John Allen Sacked 8 August 2011[7]   Matti Hiukka 8 August 2011 12th

League table edit

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 HJK (C) 33 26 3 4 86 23 +63 81 Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round
2 FC Inter 33 16 9 8 70 44 +26 57 Qualification to Europa League second qualifying round[a]
3 JJK 33 14 12 7 60 48 +12 54 Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round
4 FC Honka 33 13 14 6 57 40 +17 53
5 TPS 33 13 11 9 48 44 +4 50
6 KuPS 33 10 10 13 44 55 −11 40 Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round[a]
7 IFK Mariehamn 33 10 8 15 39 47 −8 38
8 MYPA 33 11 5 17 39 52 −13 38 Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round[b]
9 VPS 33 8 13 12 32 44 −12 37
10 Haka 33 10 7 16 36 60 −24 37
11 FF Jaro 33 7 10 16 49 64 −15 31
12 RoPS (R) 33 5 8 20 39 78 −39 23 Relegation to Ykkönen
Source: soccerway.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ a b HJK won the 2011 Finnish Cup competition. Because they won the league, they will enter the second qualifying round of UEFA Champions League and their cup winner spot in UEFA Europa League will be given to the league runners-up. KuPS qualify for the first qualifying round of UEFA Europa League as cup runners-up.
  2. ^ MYPA qualify for the first qualifying round of UEFA Europa League via Fair Play ranking.[8][9]

Results edit

As a consequence of the decreased number of teams immediately prior to the start of the season, the schedule for this season had to be significantly altered. Teams will now play each other a third time after a regular double-round robin schedule; each team will hence play a total of 33 matches. The schedule for the additional round of matches was determined by the final positions of the 2010 season, with the best six teams being assigned an extra home match in the process.

Statistics edit

Updated to games played on 29 October 2011.

Top scorers edit

Source: veikkausliiga.com (in Finnish)

Rank Player Club Goals
1   Timo Furuholm FC Inter 22
2   Tamás Gruborovics JJK 16
  Mika Ojala FC Inter 16
  Akseli Pelvas HJK 16
5   Henri Lehtonen FC Inter 15
  Berat Sadik HJK 15
  Demba Savage FC Honka 15
8   Babatunde Wusu JJK 14
9   Papa Niang FF Jaro 11
  Teemu Pukki HJK 11
  Ilja Venäläinen KuPS 11
  Mika Ääritalo TPS 11
13   José Manuel Rivera RoPS 10
14   Dudu FC Honka 9
  Irakli Sirbiladze FF Jaro 9
  Olajide Williams KuPS 9
17 3 players 8
20 5 players 7
25 12 players 6
37 6 players 5
43 9 players 4
52 20 players 3
72 32 players 2
104 58 players 1

Monthly awards edit

Month Coach of the Month Player of the Month
May[10]   Job Dragtsma (FC Inter)   Timo Furuholm (FC Inter)
June[11]   Antti Muurinen (HJK)   Mika Ojala (FC Inter)
July[12]   Toni Korkeakunnas (MYPA)   Mika Ojala (FC Inter)
August[13]   Sami Ristilä (Haka)   Sampsa Timoska (MYPA)
September[14]   Kari Martonen (JJK)   Alexander Ring (HJK)
October[15]   Mika Lehkosuo (FC Honka)   Akseli Pelvas (HJK)

Players of the year edit

Source: veikkausliiga.com (in Finnish)

Position Player
Best Goalkeeper   Ville Wallén (HJK)
Best Defender   Mathias Lindström (HJK)
Best Midfielder   Mika Ojala (FC Inter)
Best Striker   Timo Furuholm (FC Inter)

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d "Veikkausliiga - 2011". WhoScored.com. WhoScored.com. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  2. ^ "SPL:n liittohallitus käsitteli otteluohjelman muutoksia". Archived from the original on 4 August 2012. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  3. ^ "Palloliiton liittohallitus ei käsittele AC Oulun lisenssihakemusta". Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
  4. ^ "Tampere Unitedia koskevat päätökset". Archived from the original on 2 May 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  5. ^ "Korkeakunnas MYPA:n valmentajaksi". Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
  6. ^ "Pikkarainen ja VPS purkivat sopimuksen - Vuorinen vetovastuuseen". veikkausliiga.com (in Finnish). Veikkausliiga. 28 July 2011. Archived from the original on 11 August 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  7. ^ "Matti Hiukka RoPS:n päävalmentajaksi". veikkausliiga.com (in Finnish). Veikkausliiga. 8 August 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  8. ^ "Norway wins UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking". UEFA. 7 May 2012.
  9. ^ "MYPA kilpailee paikasta Eurooppa-liigassa" (in Finnish). palloliitto.fi. 7 November 2011.[permanent dead link]
  10. ^ FC Interin Timo Furuholm Veikkausliigan toukokuun pelaaja Archived 4 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine (in Finnish)
  11. ^ Kuukauden valmentaja ja pelaaja kohtaavat perjantaina Archived 11 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine (in Finnish)
  12. ^ Ojalalle toinen titteli peräkkäin Archived 20 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine (in Finnish)
  13. ^ Sampsa Timoskasta Veikkausliigan elokuun pelaaja Archived 11 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine (in Finnish)
  14. ^ Alexander Ringistä syyskuun pelaaja Archived 5 February 2013 at archive.today (in Finnish)
  15. ^ HJK:n Akseli Pelvas lokakuun pelaaja Archived 14 September 2012 at archive.today (in Finnish)

External links edit