So 13.4. super sexy and interesting finnish league, Veikkausliiga,will start and the struggle for the Finnish championship may begin. First time for it was played in 1908, so football has quite long traditions in Finland. Finland was even accepted to FIFA the same year, before England
Here are short introductions of the teams who will play this season, they arent in any particular order.
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loginHJK (Helsinki): Four championships in a row, and stable economy. Got some nice old national team players for this season, Mikael Forssell and Teemu Tainio. Nice mix of
experienced players and younger talents, like Joel Pohjanpalo and Rasmus Schüller. Defence line could be better. The goal is again championship and maybe group-stage in Europe
League if there's some luck in the qualification. Biggest attendances last year (average 3757).
Stadium: Sonera stadium (capaticity 10 770)
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loginHonka (Espoo): Was a top club before, but lack of money and spectators have made the team weaker. They have sold their most important players to HJK to get at least some money
and had to let some go because of unpaid salaries. Now the average age of the team is just over 20. One big surprise signing, Abdoulaye Méïté who has nearly 50 caps for Ivory
coast, but one defender doesn't make any significant difference. Plays in Europe league qualifications.
"Stadium": Tapiolan urheilupuisto (4 500) (not really a stadium, just some temporary stands around the pitch)
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loginRoPS (Rovaniemi): Traditional club from Lappland, usually switching between the 1st and the 2nd league, last year they won the 2nd league, and maybe have difficulty not to be
last now. New signing Antti Okkonen will help in theis struggle.
Stadium: Rovaniemen keskuskenttä (2 400)
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loginInter (Turku): Have been a top team for a few years now, but this pre-season has been very difficult, has lost to quite weak opponents and barely won estonian Nomme Kalju.
Lost their key player, Mika Ojala for Swedish Häcken. They have some quality players in the opening eleven, but the bench is really weak. Interesting to see if they will do
better than in the pre-season. Last seasons best scorer, Irakli Sirbiladze playes there. Plays in Europe league qualifications.
Stadium: Veritas stadium (8 072)
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loginTPS (Turku): Strong, balanced and traditional team, maybe the best goalkeepers in the league, Henrik Moisander and Jukka Lehtovaara. Got back Wayne Brown from England who did
well there few years ago. I don't really appreciate their coach and neither do many of their supporters afaik. Probably will be 2nd or 3rd this season. The second highest
attendance last year, 3043. Plays in Europe league qualifications.
Stadium: Veritas stadium (8 072)
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loginVPS (Vaasa): Traditionally seen as the most boring team in the league, a bit boring players, no scandals, alway in the mid-table etc. National team goalkeeper Henri Sillanpää
returned for this season. Seems to be mid-table material again.
Stadium: Hietalahden jalkapallostadion (4 250)
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loginMyPa (Myllykoski/Kouvola): Team from a small town, supported by the local paper factory. Does quite well for a team from such a small place, was 7th last year. Lots of young
players from the big citys, who couldn't make it in their "own" teams first squad yet. Forward Pekka Sihvola scored 14 goals last season.
Stadium: Saviniemi (4 167)
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loginJaro (Pietarsaari): Also from a small town from the Swedish-speaking area. Player material is quite weak, high odds that they will have to struggle to play in the first league
next year. Big midfielder talent Simon Skrabb.
Stadium: Pietarsaaren keskuskenttä (3 000)
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loginIFK Mariehamn (Maarianhamina): From Åland, island between Finland and Sweden. An interesting team with a national team player Petteri Forsell, who is on loan from Bursaspor.
Lots of foreign players, especially from Sweden. Could have use for better forward, last years best scorer ALeksei Kangaskolkka left for Swedish 2nd division. Hard to know
what to expect of them, because I don't know these new foreigners, pre-season was dissappointment. Plays in Europe league qualifications.
Stadium: Wiklöf Holding Arena (1 637)
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loginLahti (Lahti): Average team with average players, maybe the best is Jonki Kauko who surprisingly joined from Inter, even if he was rumoured to move abroad to 2nd Bundesliga.
Fairly new club, forged from old traditional clubs. Stadium is horrible and it is meant for skiing competitions, luckuily they are allowed to play few games in football
stadium that is not suitable for todays needs.
Stadium: Lahden hiihtostadium (7 465)
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loginKuPS (Kuopio): Their new signings have made expections to them very high, they got two ex-HJK players, Rami Hakanpää and Dawda Bah, also Jussi Kujala who played in Holland for
some time. Also few young more or less promising talents.
Stadium: SS-Arena (4 000) (no chocolate chip cookie)
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loginJJK (Jyväskylä): Last year was a dissappointment, key player Jani Virtanen was in bad shape and really fat, maybe he has done some excersice this year. Otherwise mostle
average skilled players, young forward Eero Markkanen is expected to score a lot, last year 7 goals in 14 matches.
Stadium: Harjun stadion (3 000)
Table 2012:
1 HJK 33 19 7 7 63 33 +30 64
2 FC Inter 33 17 7 9 57 42 +15 58
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
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 33 9 5 19 32 57 −25 32
Some pictures:
Derby in Turku gets the best attendances
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loginKuPS supporters from the Finnish cup -final
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loginBig talent Joel Pohjanpalo scored a hattrick in 3 minutes
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loginHonka's stadium yesterday
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