2021 Veikkausliiga

Veikkausliiga
Season	2021
Champions	HJK
Relegated	KTP
Matches played	162
Goals scored	408 (2.52 per match)
Top goalscorer	Benjamin Källman; Ariel Ngueukam; (14 goals each)
Biggest home win	KuPS 4–0 KTP; (15 August 2021)
Biggest away win	HIFK 1–5 KuPS; (22 August 2021)
Highest scoring	HJK 4–2 Honka; (24 April 2021); Lahti 2–4 KuPS; (11 May 2021); HIFK 1–5 KuPS; (22 August 2021)
Longest winning run	9 matches; HJK
Longest unbeaten run	12 matches; Lahti
Longest winless run	13 matches; KTP
Longest losing run	7 matches; Mariehamn
	← 2020 2022 →

The 2021 Veikkausliiga was the 91st season of top-tier football in Finland. HJK were the defending champions and successfully defended their title.

Teams

RoPS (relegated after eight years in the top flight) were relegated to Ykkönen after finishing at the bottom of the 2020 season. Their place was taken by Ykkönen champions AC Oulu (promoted after a ten-year absence).

TPS (relegated after one year in the top flight) as 11th-placed team lost their Veikkausliiga spot after losing to second-placed Ykkönen team KTP (promoted after a five-year absence) in a relegation/promotion playoff.

Stadia and locations

Location of teams in 2021 Veikkausliiga

Club	Location	Stadium	Turf	Capacity
AC Oulu	Oulu	Raatti Stadion	Natural	4,392
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	7,465
HIFK	Helsinki	Bolt Arena	Artificial	10,770
HJK	Helsinki	Bolt Arena	Artificial	10,770
IFK Mariehamn	Mariehamn	Wiklöf Holding Arena	Artificial	4,000
Ilves	Tampere	Tampere Stadium	Natural	16,800
KTP	Kotka	Arto Tolsa Areena	Artificial	4,780
KuPS	Kuopio	Savon Sanomat Areena	Artificial	5,000
SJK	Seinäjoki	OmaSP Stadion	Artificial	6,000

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Manager	Captain	Manufacturer	Shirt sponsor(s)
AC Oulu	Jyrki Ahola	Lassi Nurmos	Craft	Go On Oulu / Codemate / Oulun Energia
FC Haka	Teemu Tainio	Jacob Bushue	Puma	Volkswagen
FC Honka	Vesa Vasara	Duarte Tammilehto	Puma	Volkswagen
FC Inter	José Riveiro	Timo Furuholm	Nike	Alfons Håkans
FC Lahti	Ilir Zeneli	Kari Arkivuo	Umbro	Halton / Oomi / Green Lahti
HIFK	Joaquín Gómez	Sakari Mattila	Puma	Aktia Bank
HJK	Toni Koskela	Daniel O'Shaughnessy	Adidas	Apu
IFK Mariehamn	Lukas Syberyjski	Robin Buwalda	Puma	Åland / Arkipelag
Ilves	Toni Kallio	Tuure Siira	Adidas	Pohjola Rakennus / Avant Tecno / Pihlajalinna / NYQS Oy
KTP	Teemu Kankkunen	David Ramadingaye	Puma	Kotkamills Oy / Steveco Oy / Hartwall
KuPS	Simo Valakari	Nana Boateng	Puma	Pohjola Sairaala (home) / LähiTapiola (away)
SJK	Jani Honkavaara	Mehmet Hetemaj	Adidas	LähiTapiola / Oma Säästöpankki / Elisa

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	KuPS	22	15	4	3	38	14	+24	49	Qualification for the Championship round
2	HJK	22	15	4	3	32	12	+20	49
3	Inter Turku	22	12	3	7	36	22	+14	39
4	SJK	22	11	4	7	29	24	+5	37
5	HIFK	22	9	6	7	23	23	0	33
6	Ilves	22	10	3	9	21	23	−2	33
7	Lahti	22	8	8	6	27	25	+2	32	Qualification for the Relegation round
8	Honka	22	7	5	10	28	29	−1	26
9	Haka	22	7	3	12	21	26	−5	24
10	Mariehamn	22	7	2	13	20	32	−12	23
11	Oulu	22	5	3	14	17	35	−18	18
12	KTP	22	1	5	16	18	45	−27	8

Source: Flashscore
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).

Results

Home \ Away	HAK	HFK	HJK	HON	ILV	INT	KPS	KTP	LAH	MAR	OUL	SJK
Haka	—	2–0	1–2	1–1	0–1	1–0	0–1	0–3	1–1	1–2	0–1	4–0
HIFK	2–0	—	0–1	1–0	1–1	1–4	1–5	2–2	0–1	0–3	3–1	1–0
HJK	2–0	0–2	—	4–2	2–1	0–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–0	3–1	0–0
Honka	2–1	0–3	0–0	—	4–1	1–2	0–1	3–1	1–1	0–2	1–0	0–1
Ilves	1–0	1–0	0–3	0–0	—	2–1	3–2	2–0	1–0	2–0	1–0	0–1
Inter Turku	2–1	0–1	1–3	2–2	2–0	—	1–0	2–1	1–1	3–0	4–0	2–0
KuPS	1–2	0–0	0–0	2–1	1–0	1–0	—	4–0	2–2	2–0	2–0	3–0
KTP	0–0	0–2	0–1	1–3	1–1	1–3	1–2	—	1–2	1–3	1–3	0–1
Lahti	0–2	0–0	0–1	1–0	3–1	2–1	2–4	3–0	—	1–1	0–0	2–1
Mariehamn	0–3	0–0	0–1	1–3	1–0	0–2	0–1	4–2	0–3	—	3–1	0–1
Oulu	0–1	1–2	2–1	0–2	0–2	2–0	0–2	1–1	1–1	1–0	—	0–2
SJK	4–0	1–1	0–2	3–2	1–0	2–2	0–1	1–1	4–1	3–0	3–2	—

Source: Flashscore
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Championship round

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	HJK	KPS	SJK	INT	ILV	HFK
1	HJK (C)	27	18	5	4	41	19	+22	59	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round	—	—	2–3	2–1	—	1–0
2	KuPS	27	17	7	3	46	20	+26	58	Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round	1–1	—	—	—	2–1	0–0
3	SJK	27	14	6	7	45	34	+11	48		—	2–2	—	—	4–2	—
4	Inter Turku	27	14	3	10	45	32	+13	45		—	2–3	2–5	—	—	2–0
5	Ilves	27	11	3	13	29	34	−5	36		2–3	—	—	0–2	—	—
6	HIFK	27	9	8	10	25	31	−6	35		—	—	2–2	—	0–3	—

Source: 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

Relegation round

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	LAH	HAK	HON	MAR	OUL	KTP
7	Lahti	27	10	10	7	35	30	+5	40		—	—	2–3	—	0–0	2–1
8	Haka	27	10	5	12	30	29	+1	35		1–1	—	—	2–0	0–0	—
9	Honka	27	9	6	12	38	37	+1	33		—	0–2	—	1–1	6–1	—
10	Mariehamn	27	9	3	15	28	40	−12	30		0–3	—	—	—	—	5–1
11	Oulu (O)	27	6	5	16	21	44	−23	23	Qualification for the relegation play-offs	—	—	—	1–2	—	2–1
12	KTP (R)	27	2	5	20	25	58	−33	11	Relegation to Ykkönen	—	2–4	2–0	—	—	—

Source: 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).
(O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated

Relegation play-offs

First leg

3 November 2021

17:30 EET (UTC+2)

RoPS	2–1	Oulu
Roiha 35' Roffelsen 90'+5'	Report	Salanović 31' (pen.)

Rovaniemen keskuskenttä, Rovaniemi

Attendance: 1,640

Referee: Oliver Reitala

Second leg

7 November 2021

14:00 EET (UTC+2)

Oulu	2–0	RoPS
Opara 45'+2' Saira 50'	Report	Acheampong 28'

Raatti Stadium, Oulu

Attendance: 2,738

Referee: Joni Hyytiä

Statistics

Top goalscorers

As of 1 November 2021^[1]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Benjamin Källman	Inter Turku	14
1	Ariel Ngueukam	SJK	14
3	Tim Väyrynen	KuPS	9
4	Jake Jervis	SJK	8
	Urho Nissilä	KuPS
	Darren Smith	FC Honka
7	Geoffrey Chinedu	Lahti	7
	Timo Furuholm	Inter Turku
	Denys Oliynyk	SJK
	/ Altin Zeqiri	Lahti

Awards

Annual awards

Award^[2]	Winner	Club
Player of the Year	Urho Nissilä	KuPS
Goalkeeper of the Year	Johannes Kreidl	KuPS
Defender of the Year	Daniel O'Shaughnessy	HJK
Midfielder of the Year	Urho Nissilä	KuPS
Striker of the Year	Benjamin Källman	Inter Turku
Breakthrough of the Year	Pyry Hannola	SJK
Coach of the Year	Simo Valakari	KuPS

Team of the Year

Team of the Year^[3]
Goalkeeper	Johannes Kreidl (KuPS)
Defence	Macario Hing-Glover (HIFK)	Diogo Tomas (KuPS)	Daniel O'Shaughnessy (HJK)	Luis Carlos Murillo (HJK)
Midfield	Riku Riski (HJK)	Jair (HJK)	Urho Nissilä (KuPS)	Peteri Forsell (Inter Turku)
Attack	Benjamin Källman (Inter Turku)	Tim Väyrynen (KuPS)

References

^ Veikkausliiga.com
^ Liimatta, Ville (2021-12-03). "Tässä suomalaisen jalkapallon vuoden 2021 parhaat - katso kaikki Captain's Ball -gaalassa palkitut". SuomiFutis (in Finnish). Retrieved 2023-01-02.
^ "Perinteinen Koplajoukkue nimetty Veikkausliigakauden 2021 osalta". www.veikkausliiga.com (in Finnish). Retrieved 2023-01-02.

External links

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[1] Veikkausliiga.com

[2] Liimatta, Ville (2021-12-03). "Tässä suomalaisen jalkapallon vuoden 2021 parhaat - katso kaikki Captain's Ball -gaalassa palkitut". SuomiFutis (in Finnish). Retrieved 2023-01-02.

[3] "Perinteinen Koplajoukkue nimetty Veikkausliigakauden 2021 osalta". www.veikkausliiga.com (in Finnish). Retrieved 2023-01-02.

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