2018 Veikkausliiga

The 2018 Veikkausliiga was the 88th season of top-tier football in Finland. HJK were the defending champions.

Veikkausliiga

Season	2018
Champions	HJK 29th title
Relegated	TPS PS Kemi
Champions League	HJK
Europa League	RoPS KuPS Inter Turku
Matches played	198
Goals scored	490 (2.47 per match)
Top goalscorer	Klauss (21)
← 2017 2019 →

Fixtures for the 2018 season were announced on 17 January 2017. The season started on 7 April 2018 and ended on 27 October 2018.^[1]

Teams

JJK were relegated to Ykkönen after finishing at the bottom of the 2017 season. Their place was taken by Ykkönen champions TPS.

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

Stadia and locations

Ilves

HJK

FC Honka

SJK

KuPS

Mariehamn

Lahti

Inter
TPS

PS Kemi

VPS

RoPS

Location of teams in 2018 Veikkausliiga

Club	Location	Stadium	Turf	Capacity
FC Honka	Espoo	Tapiolan Urheilupuisto	Natural	6,000
FC Inter	Turku	Veritas Stadion	Natural	10,000
FC Lahti	Lahti	Lahden Stadion	Natural	15,000
HJK	Helsinki	Telia 5G -areena	Artificial	10,770
IFK Mariehamn	Mariehamn	Wiklöf Holding Arena	Natural	4,000
Ilves	Tampere	Tammelan Stadion	Natural	5,040
KuPS	Kuopio	Savon Sanomat Areena	Artificial	5,000
PS Kemi	Kemi	Sauvosaaren Urheilupuisto	Natural	4,500
RoPS	Rovaniemi	Rovaniemen keskuskenttä	Artificial	4,000
SJK	Seinäjoki	OmaSP Stadion	Artificial	6,000
TPS	Turku	Veritas Stadion	Natural	10,000
VPS	Vaasa	Elisa Stadion	Artificial	6,000

Personnel and kits

Club	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Sponsors
FC Honka	Erik Jansson	Tommi Saarinen	Puma
FC Inter	John Allen	Timo Furuholm	Nike	Alfons Håkans
FC Lahti	Toni Korkeakunnas	Mikko Hauhia	Umbro	Halton Lahti Energia Prima Power
HJK	Mika Lehkosuo	Rafinha	Adidas	Apu
IFK Mariehamn	Peter Lundberg	Kristian Kojola	Puma	Hotell Arkipelag
Ilves	Pontus Augustinsson	Mika Hilander	Adidas	LähiTapiola Pihlajalinna Kiilto
KuPS	Jani Honkavaara	Petteri Pennanen	Puma	LähiTapiola
PS Kemi		Julián Guevara	Craft	Various
RoPS	Toni Koskela	Antti Okkonen	Puma
SJK	Alexei Eremenko Sr.	Mihkel Aksalu	Adidas	LähiTapiola Prima Power Elisa
TPS	Tuomas Pekkarinen	Sami Rähmönen	Puma	OP Turun Seutu Silja Line LähiTapiola
VPS	Petri Vuorinen	Sebastian Strandvall	Puma	Various

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Incoming manager	Date of appointment	Table
RoPS	Juha Malinen	Signed by Finland U19	31 October 2017	Toni Koskela	1 November 2017 [2]	Pre-season
SJK	Brian Page Toni Lehtinen	End of caretaker spell	31 October 2017	Tommi Kautonen	1 November 2017 [3]
SJK	Tommi Kautonen	Sacked	21 May 2018	Alexei Eremenko Sr.	22 May 2018 [4]	9th
FC Inter	Fabrizio Piccareta	Resigned	9 June 2018	John Allen	10 June 2018 [5]	8th
PS Kemi	Jari Åhman	Sacked	30 June 2018	David Hannah	1 July 2018 [6]	12th

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	HJK (C)	33	24	6	3	61	19	+42	78	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round[a]
2	RoPS	33	18	8	7	42	25	+17	62	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
3	KuPS	33	17	7	9	56	37	+19	58
4	Honka	33	15	13	5	51	33	+18	58
5	Ilves	33	14	7	12	45	41	+4	49
6	VPS	33	10	11	12	37	43	−6	41
7	Inter Turku	33	10	10	13	37	44	−7	40	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round[b]
8	Lahti	33	9	13	11	30	38	−8	40
9	SJK	33	8	8	17	28	37	−9	32
10	IFK Mariehamn	33	8	7	18	37	59	−22	31
11	TPS (R)	33	7	8	18	37	55	−18	29	Qualification for the relegation play-offs
12	PS Kemi Kings (R)	33	6	6	21	29	59	−30	24	Relegation to the Ykkönen

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. HJK qualified for the Champions League first qualifying round
2. Inter Turku qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round by winning the 2017-18 Finnish Cup

Results

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.

Matches 1–22 Home \ Away HJK HON ILV INT KPS LAH MAR PSK RPS SJK TPS VPS HJK — 3–2 3–1 3–0 1–2 1–2 2–0 2–0 2–2 4–0 2–1 5–0 Honka 1–2 — 4–1 2–2 2–1 0–0 1–1 2–1 2–2 3–1 2–0 0–1 Ilves 0–0 3–3 — 1–1 2–1 0–0 1–2 2–0 1–0 1–1 2–0 0–0 Inter 0–0 2–3 0–1 — 0–1 2–0 3–0 1–0 3–3 2–0 1–2 1–3 KuPS 2–2 1–1 3–1 5–1 — 1–1 2–1 2–3 0–1 1–1 3–2 1–2 Lahti 2–1 1–1 2–0 1–2 1–0 — 2–0 1–1 0–0 1–0 3–2 1–1 IFK Mariehamn 0–1 1–2 2–0 2–3 1–4 1–2 — 2–1 1–3 1–0 3–2 2–2 PS Kemi Kings 1–2 1–1 0–2 2–4 3–2 0–0 2–3 — 0–1 1–0 2–2 0–1 RoPs 1–2 1–2 2–0 0–1 2–0 2–0 2–0 3–0 — 1–0 0–0 1–0 SJK 0–1 2–0 2–3 0–1 1–3 1–0 1–1 0–1 2–1 — 4–0 0–0 TPS 0–1 0–0 1–3 1–1 0–0 1–1 2–0 3–2 0–0 0–2 — 0–1 VPS 1–2 1–1 1–1 2–0 0–2 2–2 4–1 3–1 0–1 1–1 2–0 — Source: Veikkausliiga (in Finnish) Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 23–33 Home \ Away HJK HON ILV INT KPS LAH MAR PSK RPS SJK TPS VPS HJK — – – 3–0 – – 2–0 0–0 3–0 1–0 – 1–0 Honka 0–0 — – – – 2–0 – 2–1 – – 3–0 3–1 Ilves 1–2 0–1 — 1–0 – 0–1 – 4–0 – – 2–0 – Inter – 0–2 – — 0–1 – 1–1 – 0–0 – – 1–1 KuPS 0–1 1–1 2–0 – — 2–1 – 3–1 – – 2–1 – Lahti 0–2 – – 0–0 – — – 1–2 1–2 – 2–5 1–1 IFK Mariehamn – 0–0 3–6 – 1–2 3–0 — – – 1–0 2–2 – PS Kemi Kings – – – 0–2 – – 2–0 — 0–2 0–0 – 0–2 RoPs – 2–1 1–0 – 1–1 – 1–0 – — 0–1 – – SJK – 0–1 2–3 2–2 1–2 0–0 – – – — 1–0 – TPS 0–4 – – 1–0 – – – 4–1 1–2 – — 4–1 VPS – – 1–2 – 0–3 – 1–1 – 1–2 0–2 – — Source: Veikkausliiga (in Finnish) Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of match played 27 October 2018

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Klauss	HJK	21
2	Rasmus Karjalainen	KuPS	17
3	Macoumba Kandji	Honka	16
4	Borjas Martín	Honka	12
	Petteri Pennanen	KuPS
6	Aleksei Kangaskolkka	IFK Mariehamn	10
	Sebastian Strandvall	VPS
8	Timo Furuholm	Inter Turku	9
	Marius Noubissi	Ilves
10	Mika Ääritalo	TPS	8
	Benjamin Källman	Inter Turku
	Lassi Lappalainen	RoPS

Awards

Annual awards

Award[7]	Winner	Club
Player of the Year	Klauss	HJK
Goalkeeper of the Year	Antonio Reguero	RoPS
Defender of the Year	Faith Obilor	HJK
Midfielder of the Year	Petteri Pennanen	KuPS
Striker of the Year	Klauss	HJK
Breakthrough of the Year	Klauss	HJK
Coach of the Year	Toni Koskela	RoPS

Team of the Year

Reguero Obilor Aalto Väisänen Taiwo Dahlström Martín Pennanen Klauss Kandji Strandvall

Team of the Year[8]
Goalkeeper	Antonio Reguero (RoPs)
Defence	Henri Aalto (Honka)	Faith Obilor (HJK)	Leo Väisänen (RoPs)	Taye Taiwo (RoPs)
Midfield	Sebastian Strandvall (VPS)	Sebastian Dahlström (HJK)	Borjas Martin (Honka)	Petteri Pennanen (KuPs)
Attack	Klauss (HJK)	Macoumba Kandji (Honka)