2012 Veikkausliiga

The 2012 Veikkausliiga is the 82nd season of top-tier football in Finland. It began on 15 April 2012 and ended on 27 October 2012.^[1] HJK Helsinki were the defending champions and successfully defended their title.

Veikkausliiga

Season	2012
Champions	HJK 9th Veikkausliiga title 25th Finnish title
Relegated	Haka
Champions League	HJK
Europa League	FC Honka Inter Turku TPS
Matches played	198
Goals scored	535 (2.7 per match)
Top goalscorer	Irakli Sirbiladze (17 goals)
Biggest home win	TPS 9–2 Haka (22 August)
Biggest away win	KuPS 0–6 FC Inter (22 July)
Highest scoring	TPS 9–2 Haka (22 August)
← 2011 2013 →

Teams

RoPS were relegated to Ykkönen after finishing at the bottom of the 2011 season. Their place was taken by Ykkönen champions FC Lahti.

Team summaries

MYPA

Honka

HJK

Jaro

JJK

KuPS

Mariehamn

Lahti

Inter
TPS

VPS

Haka

Location of teams in 2012 Veikkausliiga

Club	Location	Stadium	Capacity	Manager	Captain
FC Honka	Espoo	Tapiolan Urheilupuisto	6,000	Mika Lehkosuo	Tapio Heikkilä
FC Inter	Turku	Veritas Stadion1	10,000	Job Dragtsma	Henri Lehtonen
FC Lahti	Lahti	Lahden Stadion	15,000	Tommi Kautonen	Mikko Hauhia
FF Jaro	Jakobstad	Jakobstads Centralplan	5,000	Alexei Eremenko Sr.	Heikki Aho
Haka	Valkeakoski	Tehtaan kenttä	3,516	Juha Malinen	Shane Robinson
HJK	Helsinki	Sonera Stadium	10,770	Antti Muurinen	Ville Wallén
JJK	Jyväskylä	Harjun stadion	3,000	Kari Martonen	Janne Korhonen
KuPS	Kuopio	Savon Sanomat Areena	5,000	Esa Pekonen	Pyry Kärkkäinen
IFK Mariehamn	Mariehamn	Wiklöf Holding Arena	4,000	Pekka Lyyski	Jani Lyyski
MYPA	Myllykoski, Kouvola	Saviniemi	4,167	Toni Korkeakunnas	Tuomas Aho
TPS	Turku	Veritas Stadion1	10,000	Marko Rajamäki	Toni Kolehmainen
VPS	Vaasa	Hietalahti Stadium	4,600	Olli Huttunen	Sebastian Strandvall

¹ Paavo Nurmi Stadion until June 2012.^[2][3]

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Incoming manager	Date of appointment	Table
VPS	Petri Vuorinen	End of contract	n/a	Olli Huttunen	1 December 2011[4]	Pre-season
Haka	Sami Ristilä	Sacked	23 August 2012[5]	Asko Jussila	23 August 2012	11th
Haka	Asko Jussila	Resigned	10 September 2012[6]	Juha Malinen	10 September 2012	11th

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	HJK (C)	33	19	7	7	63	33	+30	64	Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round
2	FC Inter	33	17	7	9	57	42	+15	58	Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round[a]
3	TPS	33	16	6	11	55	33	+22	54
4	IFK Mariehamn	33	13	12	8	50	43	+7	51
5	FC Lahti	33	16	2	15	45	49	−4	50
6	MYPA	33	13	10	10	39	33	+6	49
7	FC Honka	33	12	7	14	37	38	−1	43	Qualification to Europa League second qualifying round[b]
8	VPS	33	12	7	14	36	38	−2	43
9	JJK	33	12	4	17	54	65	−11	40
10	KuPS	33	10	6	17	39	53	−14	36
11	FF Jaro	33	8	9	16	28	51	−23	33
12	Haka (R)	33	9	5	19	32	57	−25	32	Relegation to Ykkönen

Source: veikkausliiga.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. IFK Mariehamn qualified for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League via Fair Play rankings.^[7]
2. FC Honka qualified for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League by winning the 2012 Finnish Cup.

Results

Matches 1–22 Home \ Away HON INT LAH JAR HAK HJK JJK KPS MAR MYP TPS VPS FC Honka 2–1 3–2 2–0 2–2 1–0 0–2 1–0 2–2 2–1 0–2 1–1 FC Inter 2–1 2–0 1–1 4–1 2–0 2–1 2–1 0–3 2–0 3–3 1–1 FC Lahti 2–1 0–5 0–2 1–0 3–0 2–1 2–1 2–0 0–0 2–0 1–0 FF Jaro 0–1 0–1 0–2 1–0 2–2 0–3 1–0 0–3 1–0 0–1 0–0 Haka 2–1 0–2 0–3 4–1 0–1 3–1 0–2 0–2 3–1 1–0 0–1 HJK 3–0 2–1 2–0 4–1 1–0 2–0 2–0 3–1 1–1 0–0 3–3 JJK 0–1 0–0 2–1 1–1 1–4 0–3 1–5 5–2 0–3 2–1 0–2 KuPS 0–2 0–6 1–2 1–0 3–0 0–3 2–2 2–0 1–2 1–1 0–3 IFK Mariehamn 0–0 2–1 2–0 2–0 1–0 2–0 3–3 1–1 0–0 2–1 0–0 MYPA 0–0 4–0 3–1 2–0 3–1 1–0 0–1 1–1 2–1 1–1 1–0 TPS 2–1 4–1 4–0 2–3 2–0 3–1 2–3 3–0 1–1 0–1 1–0 VPS 2–0 0–2 2–1 1–1 2–1 1–0 2–0 0–1 1–2 2–0 1–3 Source: veikkausliiga.com Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 23–33 Home \ Away HON INT LAH JAR HAK HJK JJK KPS MAR MYP TPS VPS FC Honka 3–0 3–0 2–1 1–1 0–1 1–2 FC Inter 3–1 3–2 1–4 1–0 0–0 2–0 FC Lahti 3–2 4–3 0–1 3–1 1–0 FF Jaro 1–0 2–1 1–1 3–3 0–3 Haka 1–0 1–2 0–0 2–2 1–1 HJK 1–0 1–1 2–0 0–0 4–1 5–1 JJK 3–1 4–2 5–0 3–6 3–2 1–2 KuPS 1–0 1–1 2–3 2–0 1–3 2–1 IFK Mariehamn 1–1 2–2 2–0 2–2 1–0 MYPA 0–0 1–0 1–4 2–1 1–1 TPS 1–2 9–2 1–2 1–0 1–0 1–0 VPS 1–3 2–1 0–1 1–3 1–3 Source: veikkausliiga.com Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Statistics

Updated to games played on 27 October 2012.

Top scorers

Source: veikkausliiga.com (in Finnish)

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Irakli Sirbiladze	FC Inter	17
2	Aleksei Kangaskolkka	IFK Mariehamn	16
3	Steven Morrissey	VPS	15
4	Pekka Sihvola	MYPA	14
5	Tamás Gruborovics	JJK	12
	Mika Ojala	FC Inter	12
	Demba Savage	HJK	12
8	Joel Pohjanpalo	HJK	11
	Aleksi Ristola	TPS	11
10	Mikko Innanen	JJK	10
	Juho Mäkelä	HJK	10
	Tim Väyrynen	FC Honka	10
	Babatunde Wusu	JJK	10
14	Petteri Forsell	IFK Mariehamn	9
15	Dennis Okaru	TPS	8
	Jarno Parikka	VPS	8
	Akseli Pelvas	HJK	8
	Shane Robinson	Haka	8
	Jussi Vasara	FC Honka	8
	Mika Ääritalo	TPS	8
21	5 players		7
26	4 players		6
30	8 players		5
38	14 players		4
52	11 players		3
63	27 players		2
90	65 players		1

Monthly awards

Month	Coach of the Month	Player of the Month
April[8]	Toni Korkeakunnas (MYPA)	Magnus Bahne (FC Inter)
May[9]	Pekka Lyyski (IFK Mariehamn)	Tamás Gruborovics (JJK)
June[10]	Alexei Eremenko Sr. (FF Jaro)	Sampo Koskinen (FC Honka)
July[11]	Marko Rajamäki (TPS)	Petteri Forsell (IFK Mariehamn)
August[12]	Toni Korkeakunnas (MYPA)	Pekka Sihvola (MYPA)
September[13]	Tommi Kautonen (FC Lahti)	Irakli Sirbiladze (FC Inter)
October[14]	Antti Muurinen (HJK)	Rasmus Schüller (HJK)

Annual awards

Source: Pelipaikkojen parhaat 2012 nimetty (in Finnish)

Position	Player
Best Goalkeeper	Henrik Moisander (TPS)
Best Defender	Jarkko Hurme (TPS)
Best Midfielder	Mika Ojala (FC Inter)
Best Striker	Irakli Sirbiladze (FC Inter)
Best Manager	Toni Korkeakunnas (MYPA)

See also

• 2012 Finnish Cup
• 2012 Finnish League Cup
• 2012 Ykkönen
• 2012 Kakkonen