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

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

New league format

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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

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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

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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

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Regular season

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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

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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

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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
Referee: Mattias Gestranius
IFK Mariehamn0–0 (a.e.t.)HIFK
Report
Penalties
4–2
Referee: Mohammed Al-Emara
HJK1–2 (a.e.t.)IFK Mariehamn
Report
Referee: Antti Munukka

Bracket

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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

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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
Referee: Joni Hyytiä
FC Honka2-1IFK Mariehamn
Report
Referee: Petri Viljanen

Relegation play-offs

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TPS0–0KPV
Report
Attendance: 3,376
KPV0–3TPS
Report Ääritalo   44'
Jakonen   67'
Duah   90+2'
Attendance: 1,200
Referee: Ville Nevalainen

Season statistics

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Top scorers

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Final standings[3]

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

Awards

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Annual awards

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

Team of the Year

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

Felipe Aspegren (Ilves)

 

Babacar Diallo (KuPS)

 

Baba Mensah (Ilves)

 

Luis Carlos Murillo (HJK)

Midfield  

Niko Markkula (Inter Turku)

  Ville Saxman

(KuPS)

  Lauri Ala-Myllymäki (Ilves)  

Petteri Pennanen (KuPs)

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

References

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  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.