2020 Veikkausliiga

The 2020 Veikkausliiga was the ninetieth season of top-tier football in Finland with KuPS being the defending champions.[2]

Veikkausliiga
Season2020
ChampionsHJK
RelegatedRoPS, TPS
Champions LeagueHJK
Europa Conference LeagueKuPS
Inter Turku
FC Honka
Matches played132
Goals scored296 (2.24 per match)
Top goalscorerAlbion Ademi
Roope Riski
(12 each)[1]
Biggest home win
HJK 6–1 IFK Mariehamn
(30 August 2020)[1]
Biggest away winFC Lahti 0–4 HJK
(1 July 2020)[1]
Highest scoringIlves 4–3 IFK Mariehamn
(1 July 2020)
HJK 6–1 IFK Mariehamn
(30 August 2020)
HIFK 4–3 HJK
(10 September 2020)[1]
Longest winning run7 matches
KuPS[1]
Longest unbeaten run10 matches
HJK[1]
Longest winless run16 matches
RoPS[1]
Longest losing run12 matches
RoPS[1]
← 2019
2021 →

New league format

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 Conference League qualification place goes to the winner of that final series.[3]

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

VPS were relegated to Ykkönen after finishing at the bottom of the 2019 season. Their place was taken by Ykkönen champions FC Haka.

KPV as 11th-placed team lost their Veikkausliiga spot after losing to second-placed Ykkönen team TPS in a relegation/promotion playoff.

Stadiums and locations
Location of teams in 2020 Veikkausliiga
Club Location Stadium Turf Capacity
FC Haka Valkeakoski Tehtaan kenttä Artificial 3,516
FC Honka Espoo Tapiolan Urheilupuisto Natural 6,000
FC Inter Turku Veritas Stadion Natural 10,000
FC Lahti Lahti Lahden Stadion Natural 15,000
HIFK Helsinki Bolt Arena Artificial 10,770
HJK Helsinki Bolt Arena Artificial 10,770
IFK Mariehamn Mariehamn Wiklöf Holding Arena Artificial[4] 4,000
Ilves Tampere Tammelan Stadion Natural 5,040
KuPS Kuopio Savon Sanomat Areena Artificial 5,000
RoPS Rovaniemi Rovaniemen keskuskenttä Artificial 4,000
SJK Seinäjoki OmaSP Stadion Artificial 6,000
TPS Turku Veritas Stadion[5] Natural 10,000

League table

On 28 October 2020, it was decided to cancel the championship and relegation round due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland, and the regular season standings after 22 rounds would be considered final.[6]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 HJK (C) 22 14 6 2 53 17 +36 48 Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2 Inter Turku 22 12 5 5 36 17 +19 41 Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round
3 KuPS 22 12 5 5 39 26 +13 41
4 FC Honka 22 9 10 3 26 17 +9 37
5 Ilves 22 10 6 6 37 29 +8 36
6 FC Lahti 22 8 8 6 33 30 +3 32
7 SJK 22 8 5 9 27 29 −2 29
8 HIFK 22 8 4 10 29 33 −4 28
9 IFK Mariehamn 22 6 5 11 29 43 −14 23
10 FC Haka 22 5 7 10 25 41 −16 22
11 TPS (R) 22 6 3 13 23 39 −16 21 Qualification for the relegation play-offs
12 RoPS (R) 22 1 2 19 15 51 −36 5 Relegation to the Ykkönen
Source: ,
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) Champion; (R) Relegated.

Results
Home \ Away HAK HON INT LAH HFK HJK MAR ILV KPS RPS SJK TPS
FC Haka — 1–1 0–2 2–2 0–2 1–4 0–1 0–2 2–4 0–2 1–4 2–1
FC Honka 1–2 — 1–1 2–1 0–1 0–0 1–0 3–2 1–1 1–0 0–0 3–1
Inter Turku 2–0 0–0 — 3–0 3–2 1–0 2–1 5–1 2–0 3–1 0–1 3–0
FC Lahti 0–0 0–0 2–2 — 2–1 0–4 3–1 3–2 1–2 3–0 0–0 1–1
HIFK 0–1 1–1 0–0 0–3 — 4–3 2–2 1–2 0–3 1–0 2–1 2–0
HJK 3–1 1–1 1–1 1–1 3–0 — 6–1 2–0 2–2 4–0 2–0 2–2
IFK Mariehamn 2–2 0–0 2–0 2–2 0–3 0–5 — 0–2 0–2 4–0 3–2 1–0
Ilves 1–1 4–1 0–2 3–1 2–2 1–2 4–3 — 0–0 1–0 0–0 4–0
KuPS 2–3 0–2 1–0 3–0 3–2 0–3 2–1 1–1 — 3–0 2–1 3–1
RoPS 2–2 1–3 0–2 0–4 0–1 0–1 2–3 1–1 0–2 — 2–3 2–3
SJK 1–1 0–2 3–2 0–1 3–2 1–2 1–2 1–3 1–1 2–1 — 1–0
TPS 2–3 0–2 1–0 1–3 1–0 0–2 1–1 0–1 3–2 4–1 1–0 —
Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

European competition

Five teams would originally play for a spot in the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League first qualifying round, but this was cancelled and the spot would be awarded based on regular season position.

Relegation play-offs
KTP0–0TPS
Attendance: 1315
TPS1–1KTP
Muzaci  58' Mäkijärvi  83'
Attendance: 2469
Referee: Dennis Antamo

1–1 on aggregate. KTP won on away goals.

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of 4 November 2020[7]

Rank Player Club Goals
1 Roope Riski HJK 16
2 Albion Ademi IFK Mariehamn 14
3 Timo Furuholm Inter Turku 10
4 Jasin-Amin Assehnoun FC Lahti 9
Tim Väyrynen HJK
6 Lauri Ala-Myllymäki Ilves 7
Jean Marie Dongou FC Honka
Naatan Skyttä Ilves
Aniekpeno Udo KuPS
10 Dimitry Imbongo FC Lahti 6
Ilmari Niskanen KuPS
Salomo Ojala FC Haka

References
  1. "Summary: Veikkausliiga 2020 Regular Season". Soccerway. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  2. http://www.veikkausliiga.com/tilastot/2019/veikkausliiga/joukkueet/
  3. "Sarjajärjestelmä" (in Finnish). Veikkausliiga.com. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  4. Wiklöf Holding Arenan uuden kentän rakennus etenee aikataulussa
  5. Veikkausliiga - FC TPS
  6. "Veikkausliiga päättyy runkosarjaan" [The Veikkausliiga ends in the regular season] (in Finnish). Veikkausliiga. 29 October 2020.
  7. "PLAYERS: Topscorers". Soccerway. 15 October 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
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