The 2011 Veikkausliiga was the 81st season of top-tier football in Finland. It began on 2 May 2011 and ended on 29 October 2011. HJK were the defending champions and successfully defended their title.
The pre-season was severely affected by license revocations to two teams, which eventually resulted in a later than originally scheduled begin date and an increase of scheduled matches from 26 to 33 per team.
Teams The league was originally supposed to have 14 teams, but AC Oulu was refused a license due to club's bad economic situation and Tampere United was excluded from every official competition of Football Association of Finland due to breaking the rules of the association, and the league will therefore be played with only 12 teams. AC Oulu was, however, obtained a license for Ykkönen, where it will play this season.
FC Lahti were relegated to Ykkönen after finishing at the bottom of the 2010 season. Their place was taken by Ykkönen champions RoPS. 13th-placed Veikkausliiga team JJK and Ykkönen runners-up FC Viikingit competed in a two-legged relegation play-offs for one spot in this season. JJK won 3–1 on aggregate and thereby retained their league position once again.
Team summaries
ClubLocationStadiumCapacityManagerCaptainFC HonkaEspooTapiolan Urheilupuisto6,000 Mika Lehkosuo Tomi MaanojaFC InterTurkuVeritas Stadion10,000 Job Dragtsma Henri LehtonenFF JaroJakobstadJakobstads Centralplan5,000/ Alexei Eremenko Sr. Heikki AhoHakaValkeakoskiTehtaan kenttä3,516 Sami Ristilä Regillio NooitmeerHJKHelsinkiSonera Stadium10,770 Antti Muurinen Ville WallénJJKJyväskyläHarjun stadion3,000 Kari Martonen Mikko HyyrynenKuPSKuopioKuopion keskuskenttä5,000 Esa Pekonen Pietari HolopainenIFK MariehamnMariehamnWiklöf Holding Arena4,000 Pekka Lyyski Allan OlesenMYPAMyllykoski, KouvolaSaviniemi4,167 Toni Korkeakunnas Tuomas AhoRoPSRovaniemiRovaniemen keskuskenttä4,000 Matti Hiukka Tuomo KönönenTPSTurkuVeritas Stadion10,000 Marko Rajamäki Jarno HeinikangasVPSVaasaHietalahti Stadium4,600 Petri Vuorinen Tero Koskela
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyIncoming managerDate of appointmentTableVPS Tommi PikkarainenResigned28 July 2011 Petri Vuorinen28 July 201111thRoPS John AllenSacked8 August 2011 Matti Hiukka8 August 201112th
League table
Results As a consequence of the decreased number of teams immediately prior to the start of the season, the schedule for this season had to be significantly altered. Teams will now play each other a third time after a regular double-round robin schedule; each team will hence play a total of 33 matches. The schedule for the additional round of matches was determined by the final positions of the 2010 season, with the best six teams being assigned an extra home match in the process.
Matches 1–22
Matches 23–33
Statistics Updated to games played on 29 October 2011.
Top scorers Source: veikkausliiga.com
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Timo FuruholmFC Inter222 Tamás GruborovicsJJK16 Mika OjalaFC Inter16 Akseli PelvasHJK165 Henri LehtonenFC Inter15 Berat SadikHJK15 Demba SavageFC Honka158 Babatunde WusuJJK149 Papa NiangFF Jaro11 Teemu PukkiHJK11 Ilja VenäläinenKuPS11 Mika ÄäritaloTPS1113 José Manuel RiveraRoPS1014 DuduFC Honka9 Irakli SirbiladzeFF Jaro9 Olajide WilliamsKuPS9173 players8205 players72512 players6376 players5439 players45220 players37232 players210458 players1
Monthly awards MonthCoach of the MonthPlayer of the MonthMayFC Interin Timo Furuholm Veikkausliigan toukokuun pelaaja Job Dragtsma (FC Inter) Timo Furuholm (FC Inter)JuneKuukauden valmentaja ja pelaaja kohtaavat perjantaina Antti Muurinen (HJK) Mika Ojala (FC Inter)JulyOjalalle toinen titteli peräkkäin Toni Korkeakunnas (MYPA) Mika Ojala (FC Inter)AugustSampsa Timoskasta Veikkausliigan elokuun pelaaja Sami Ristilä (Haka) Sampsa Timoska (MYPA)SeptemberAlexander Ringistä syyskuun pelaaja Kari Martonen (JJK) Alexander Ring (HJK)OctoberHJK:n Akseli Pelvas lokakuun pelaaja Mika Lehkosuo (FC Honka) Akseli Pelvas (HJK)
Players of the year Source:
PositionPlayerBest Goalkeeper Ville Wallén (HJK)Best Defender Mathias Lindström (HJK)Best Midfielder Mika Ojala (FC Inter)Best Striker Timo Furuholm (FC Inter)
Attendances
No. Club Average 1 HJK 3,610 2 TPS 3,596 3 JJK 3,512 4 Inter Turku 2,224 5 VPS 2,112 6 KuPS 2,035 7 Honka 1,954 8 Jaro 1,473 9 Mariehamn 1,416 10 RoPS 1,412 11 Haka 1,321 12 MyPa 1,122Source:
References
External links Official site uefa.com