The 2017 Veikkausliiga was the 87th season of top-tier football in Finland. IFK Mariehamn were the defending champions.

Veikkausliiga
Season2017
ChampionsHJK
RelegatedHIFK
JJK Jyväskylä
Champions LeagueHJK
Europa LeagueKuPS
Ilves
Lahti
Matches played198
Goals scored542 (2.74 per match)
Top goalscorerAleksei Kangaskolkka
16 goals
Biggest home winHJK 6–0 SJK (31 May)
Biggest away winSJK 0–6 HJK (10 August)
Highest scoringFC Inter 6–2 RoPS (12 April)
Lahti 6–2 Mariehamn (29 July)
2016
2018

Fixtures for the 2017 season were announced on 19 January 2017.[1] The season started on 5 April 2017 and ended on 28 October 2017.[2]

Teams

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PK-35 Vantaa were relegated to Ykkönen after finishing at the bottom of the 2016 season. Their place was taken by Ykkönen champions JJK.

FC Inter as 11th-placed team regained their Veikkausliiga spot after beating the second-placed Ykkönen team TPS 2–0 on aggregate in a relegation/promotion playoff.

Stadia and locations

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Location of teams in 2016 Veikkausliiga
Club Location Stadium Turf Capacity
FC Inter Turku Turku Veritas Stadion Natural 10,000
FC Lahti Lahti Lahden Stadion Natural 15,000
HIFK Fotboll Helsinki Telia 5G -areena Artificial 10,770
Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi Helsinki Telia 5G -areena Artificial 10,770
IFK Mariehamn Mariehamn Wiklöf Holding Arena Natural 4,000
FC Ilves Tampere Tammelan Stadion Natural 5,040
JJK Jyväskylä Jyväskylä Harjun stadion Natural 3,000
Kuopion Palloseura Kuopio Savon Sanomat Areena Artificial 5,000
Palloseura Kemi Kings Kemi Sauvosaaren Urheilupuisto Natural 4,500
RoPS Rovaniemi Rovaniemen keskuskenttä Artificial 4,000
Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho Seinäjoki OmaSP Stadion Artificial 6,000
Vaasan Palloseura Vaasa Elisa Stadion Artificial 6,000

Personnel and kits

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Club Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Sponsors
FC Inter   Fabrizio Piccareta   Timo Furuholm Nike Alfons Håkans
FC Lahti   Toni Korkeakunnas   Mikko Hauhia Umbro BE Group
Lahti Energia
Halton
HIFK   Antti Muurinen   Mika Väyrynen Puma Aktia Bank
HJK   Mika Lehkosuo   Rafinha Adidas Apu
IFK Mariehamn   Peter Lundberg[3]   Jani Lyyski Puma Hotell Arkipelag
Ilves   Jarkko Wiss   Antti Hynynen Adidas Various
JJK   Juha Pasoja   Tommi Kari Nike Harvia
KuPS   Jani Honkavaara   Sebastian Sorsa Puma Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas
PS Kemi   Jari Åhman   Lassi Nurmos Stanno Various
RoPS   Juha Malinen   Antti Okkonen Puma Saraware
SJK   Brian Page
  Toni Lehtinen
  Mihkel Aksalu Adidas LähiTapiola
EPKK
Prima Power
VPS   Petri Vuorinen   Veli Lampi Puma Various

Managerial changes

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Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Incoming manager Date of appointment Table
KuPS   Marko Rajamäki End of contract n/a   Jani Honkavaara 17 October 2016[4] Pre-season
SJK   Simo Valakari Sacked 17 February 2017[5]   Sixten Boström 20 February 2017 Pre-season
SJK   Sixten Boström Sacked 2 June 2017[6]   Manuel Roca 2 June 2017 8th
FC Inter Turku   Shefki Kuqi Sacked 3 August 2017[7]   Fabrizio Piccareta 3 August 2017 9th
SJK   Manuel Roca Sacked 9 September 2017[8]   Brian Page
  Toni Lehtinen
9 September 2017 5th

League table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 HJK (C) 33 23 7 3 78 16 +62 76 Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2 KuPS 33 16 8 9 51 36 +15 56 Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round[a]
3 Ilves 33 15 11 7 39 35 +4 56
4 Lahti 33 12 13 8 46 31 +15 49
5 IFK Mariehamn 33 13 10 10 44 42 +2 49
6 SJK 33 13 8 12 42 47 −5 47
7 RoPS 33 12 6 15 43 51 −8 42
8 VPS 33 9 12 12 38 51 −13 39
9 Inter Turku 33 10 8 15 54 57 −3 38
10 PS Kemi Kings 33 8 8 17 38 59 −21 32
11 HIFK (R) 33 6 11 16 37 54 −17 29 Qualification for the relegation play-offs
12 JJK Jyväskylä (R) 33 6 8 19 32 63 −31 26 Relegation to the Ykkönen
Updated to match(es) played on 28 October 2017. Source: Veikkausliiga (in Finnish), 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; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ Since HJK, winners of the 2016–17 Finnish Cup, qualified for the Champions League first qualifying round, the spot awarded to the cup winner (Europa League first qualifying round) is passed to the next best-placed team (in this case to the fourth-placed team).

Results

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Each team plays three times against every other team, either twice at home and once away or once at home and twice away, for a total of 33 matches played each.

Relegation play-offs

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First Match

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FC Honka0–0HIFK

Second Match

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HIFK1–1FC Honka
Sihvola   90+4' Äijälä   28'
Attendance: 4,158

FC Honka won 1-1 on away goals.

Statistics

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Top scorers

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Source: veikkausliiga.com (in Finnish)

As of match played 28 October 2017.
Rank Player Club Goals
1   Aleksei Kangaskolkka IFK Mariehamn 16
2   Tuco Ilves 15
  Filip Valenčič HJK
4   Akseli Pelvas HJK 14
5   Marko Simonovski FC Lahti 13
6   Billy Ions SJK 12
7   Gaël Etock JJK 11
  Alfredo Morelos HJK
9   Pekka Sihvola HIFK 10
10   Timo Furuholm FC Inter 9
  Stênio FC Lahti
  Benjamin Källman FC Inter
  Gbolahan Salami KuPS
  Urho Nissilä KuPS

Awards

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Month Coach of the Month Player of the Month
April[9]   Mika Lehkosuo (HJK)   Alfredo Morelos (HJK)
May[10]   Jani Honkavaara (KuPS)   Alfredo Morelos (HJK)
June[11]   Mika Lehkosuo (HJK)   Filip Valenčič (PS Kemi)
July[12]   Toni Korkeakunnas (FC Lahti)   Santeri Hostikka (FC Lahti)
August[13]   Jarkko Wiss (Ilves)   Akseli Pelvas (HJK)

Annual awards

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Award[14] Winner Club
Player of the Year   Filip Valenčič HJK
Goalkeeper of the Year   Aleksandr Vasyutin Lahti
Defender of the Year   Juha Pirinen HJK
Midfielder of the Year   Anthony Annan HJK
Striker of the Year   Filip Valenčič HJK
Breakthrough of the Year   Kaan Kairinen Inter Turku
Coach of the Year   Mika Lehkosuo HJK

Team of the Year

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Team of the Year[15]
Goalkeeper   Aleksandr Vasjutin (Lahti)
Defence  

Albin Granlund (Mariehamn)

 

Hannu Patronen (HJK)

 

Hamed Coulibaly (KuPS)

 

Juha Pirinen (HJK)

Midfield  

Rasmus Karjalainen (PS Kemi)

  Anthony Annan (HJK)

  Filip Valenčič (HJK)  

Santeri Hostikka (Lahti)

Attack   Aleksei Kangaskolkka (Mariehamn)   Ariel Ngueukam (Ilves)

References

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  1. ^ "Veikkausliigan otteluohjelma 2017 julkistettu". www.veikkausliiga.com. 19 January 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  2. ^ Otteluohjelma | Veikkausliiga
  3. ^ "Kari Virtanen fortsätter i rådgivarroll för IFK". IFK Mariehamn (in Swedish). IFK Mariehamn. 2 February 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  4. ^ "Jani Honkavaara on Kuopion Palloseuran uusi päävalmentaja". KuPS (in Finnish). KuPS. 17 October 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  5. ^ "Simo Valakari on vapautettu SJK:n päävalmentajavastuusta". SJK (in Finnish). SJK. 17 February 2017. Archived from the original on 24 August 2017. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  6. ^ "Sixten Boström ei jatka SJK:n päävalmentajana". SJK (in Finnish). SJK. 2 June 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  7. ^ "Tiedote: Shefki Kuqi ei jatka Interin päävalmentajana". FC Inter Turku (in Finnish). FC Inter Turku. 3 August 2017. Archived from the original on 8 August 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  8. ^ "Brian Page ja Toni Lehtinen vetävät kauden loppuun". SJK (in Finnish). SJK. 9 September 2017. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  9. ^ Veikkausliigan kuukauden parhaat valittu (in Finnish)
  10. ^ Morelos jälleen kuukauden pelaajaksi (in Finnish)
  11. ^ [1] (in Finnish)
  12. ^ [2] (in Finnish)
  13. ^ [3] (in Finnish)
  14. ^ Is, Stt- (2017-11-03). "Filip Valencic on Veikkausliigan kauden paras pelaaja". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 2023-01-02.
  15. ^ "Jalkapallolehdistön tähdistö valittiin – KuPS sai hopeaa, Ilves pronssia ja Lahtikin pääsee europeleihin – Päivän Lehti". www.paivanlehti.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 2023-01-02.