# 2021 Veikkausliiga

The 2021 Veikkausliiga was the 91st season of top-tier football in Finland. HJK were the defending champions and successfully defended their title.

## Teams

RoPS (relegated after eight years in the top flight) were relegated to Ykkönen after finishing at the bottom of the 2020 season. Their place was taken by Ykkönen champions AC Oulu (promoted after a ten-year absence).
TPS (relegated after one year in the top flight) as 11th-placed team lost their Veikkausliiga spot after losing to second-placed Ykkönen team KTP (promoted after a five-year absence) in a relegation/promotion playoff.

### Stadia and locations

| Club | Location | Stadium | Turf | Capacity |
| AC Oulu | Oulu | Raatti Stadion | Natural | 4,392 |
| FC Haka | Valkeakoski | Tehtaan kenttä | Artificial | 3,516 |
| FC Honka | Espoo | Tapiolan Urheilupuisto | Natural | 6,000 |
| FC Inter | Turku | Veritas Stadion | Natural | 9,372 |
| FC Lahti | Lahti | Lahden Stadion | Natural | 7,465 |
| HIFK | Helsinki | Bolt Arena | Artificial | 10,770 |
| HJK | Helsinki | Bolt Arena | Artificial | 10,770 |
| IFK Mariehamn | Mariehamn | Wiklöf Holding Arena | Artificial | 4,000 |
| Ilves | Tampere | Tampere Stadium | Natural | 16,800 |
| KTP | Kotka | Arto Tolsa Areena | Artificial | 4,780 |
| KuPS | Kuopio | Savon Sanomat Areena | Artificial | 5,000 |
| SJK | Seinäjoki | OmaSP Stadion | Artificial | 6,000 |

### Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| Team | Manager | Captain | Manufacturer | Shirt sponsor(s) |
| AC Oulu | Jyrki Ahola | Lassi Nurmos | Craft | Go On Oulu / Codemate / Oulun Energia |
| FC Haka | Teemu Tainio | Jacob Bushue | Puma | Volkswagen |
| FC Honka | Vesa Vasara | Duarte Tammilehto | Puma | Volkswagen |
| FC Inter | José Riveiro | Timo Furuholm | Nike | Alfons Håkans |
| FC Lahti | Ilir Zeneli | Kari Arkivuo | Umbro | Halton / Oomi / Green Lahti |
| HIFK | Joaquín Gómez | Sakari Mattila | Puma | Aktia Bank |
| HJK | Toni Koskela | Daniel O'Shaughnessy | Adidas | Apu |
| IFK Mariehamn | Lukas Syberyjski | Robin Buwalda | Puma | Åland / Arkipelag |
| Ilves | Toni Kallio | Tuure Siira | Adidas | Pohjola Rakennus / Avant Tecno / Pihlajalinna / NYQS Oy |
| KTP | Teemu Kankkunen | David Ramadingaye | Puma | Kotkamills Oy / Steveco Oy / Hartwall |
| KuPS | Simo Valakari | Nana Boateng | Puma | Pohjola Sairaala (home) / LähiTapiola (away) |
| SJK | Jani Honkavaara | Mehmet Hetemaj | Adidas | LähiTapiola / Oma Säästöpankki / Elisa |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | KuPS | 22 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 38 | 14 | +24 | 49 | Qualification for the Championship round |
| 2 | HJK | 22 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 32 | 12 | +20 | 49 | Qualification for the Championship round |
| 3 | Inter Turku | 22 | 12 | 3 | 7 | 36 | 22 | +14 | 39 | Qualification for the Championship round |
| 4 | SJK | 22 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 29 | 24 | +5 | 37 | Qualification for the Championship round |
| 5 | HIFK | 22 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 23 | 23 | 0 | 33 | Qualification for the Championship round |
| 6 | Ilves | 22 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 21 | 23 | −2 | 33 | Qualification for the Championship round |
| 7 | Lahti | 22 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 27 | 25 | +2 | 32 | Qualification for the Relegation round |
| 8 | Honka | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 28 | 29 | −1 | 26 | Qualification for the Relegation round |
| 9 | Haka | 22 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 21 | 26 | −5 | 24 | Qualification for the Relegation round |
| 10 | Mariehamn | 22 | 7 | 2 | 13 | 20 | 32 | −12 | 23 | Qualification for the Relegation round |
| 11 | Oulu | 22 | 5 | 3 | 14 | 17 | 35 | −18 | 18 | Qualification for the Relegation round |
| 12 | KTP | 22 | 1 | 5 | 16 | 18 | 45 | −27 | 8 | Qualification for the Relegation round |

## Results

| Home \ Away | HAK | HFK | HJK | HON | ILV | INT | KPS | KTP | LAH | MAR | OUL | SJK |
| Haka | — | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 4–0 |
| HIFK | 2–0 | — | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 1–5 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 3–1 | 1–0 |
| HJK | 2–0 | 0–2 | — | 4–2 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 |
| Honka | 2–1 | 0–3 | 0–0 | — | 4–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 |
| Ilves | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 0–0 | — | 2–1 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 |
| Inter Turku | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 2–0 | — | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 4–0 | 2–0 |
| KuPS | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | — | 4–0 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 |
| KTP | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 1–2 | — | 1–2 | 1–3 | 1–3 | 0–1 |
| Lahti | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–4 | 3–0 | — | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 |
| Mariehamn | 0–3 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 4–2 | 0–3 | — | 3–1 | 0–1 |
| Oulu | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | — | 0–2 |
| SJK | 4–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 3–0 | 3–2 | — |

## Championship round

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | HJK | KPS | SJK | INT | ILV | HFK |
| 1 | HJK (C) | 27 | 18 | 5 | 4 | 41 | 19 | +22 | 59 | Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round | — | — | 2–3 | 2–1 | — | 1–0 |
| 2 | KuPS | 27 | 17 | 7 | 3 | 46 | 20 | +26 | 58 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round | 1–1 | — | — | — | 2–1 | 0–0 |
| 3 | SJK | 27 | 14 | 6 | 7 | 45 | 34 | +11 | 48 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round | — | 2–2 | — | — | 4–2 | — |
| 4 | Inter Turku | 27 | 14 | 3 | 10 | 45 | 32 | +13 | 45 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round | — | 2–3 | 2–5 | — | — | 2–0 |
| 5 | Ilves | 27 | 11 | 3 | 13 | 29 | 34 | −5 | 36 | | 2–3 | — | — | 0–2 | — | — |
| 6 | HIFK | 27 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 25 | 31 | −6 | 35 | | — | — | 2–2 | — | 0–3 | — |

## Relegation round

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | LAH | HAK | HON | MAR | OUL | KTP |
| 7 | Lahti | 27 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 35 | 30 | +5 | 40 | | — | — | 2–3 | — | 0–0 | 2–1 |
| 8 | Haka | 27 | 10 | 5 | 12 | 30 | 29 | +1 | 35 | | 1–1 | — | — | 2–0 | 0–0 | — |
| 9 | Honka | 27 | 9 | 6 | 12 | 38 | 37 | +1 | 33 | | — | 0–2 | — | 1–1 | 6–1 | — |
| 10 | Mariehamn | 27 | 9 | 3 | 15 | 28 | 40 | −12 | 30 | | 0–3 | — | — | — | — | 5–1 |
| 11 | Oulu (O) | 27 | 6 | 5 | 16 | 21 | 44 | −23 | 23 | Qualification for the relegation play-offs | — | — | — | 1–2 | — | 2–1 |
| 12 | KTP (R) | 27 | 2 | 5 | 20 | 25 | 58 | −33 | 11 | Relegation to Ykkönen | — | 2–4 | 2–0 | — | — | — |

## Statistics
### Top goalscorers

    As of 1 November 2021
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Benjamin Källman | Inter Turku | 14 |
| 1 | Ariel Ngueukam | SJK | 14 |
| 3 | Tim Väyrynen | KuPS | 9 |
| 4 | Jake Jervis | SJK | 8 |
| 4 | Urho Nissilä | KuPS | 8 |
| 4 | Darren Smith | FC Honka | 8 |
| 7 | Geoffrey Chinedu | Lahti | 7 |
| 7 | Timo Furuholm | Inter Turku | 7 |
| 7 | Denys Oliynyk | SJK | 7 |
| 7 | / Altin Zeqiri | Lahti | 7 |

## Awards
### Annual awards

| Award | Winner | Club |
| Player of the Year | Urho Nissilä | KuPS |
| Goalkeeper of the Year | Johannes Kreidl | KuPS |
| Defender of the Year | Daniel O'Shaughnessy | HJK |
| Midfielder of the Year | Urho Nissilä | KuPS |
| Striker of the Year | Benjamin Källman | Inter Turku |
| Breakthrough of the Year | Pyry Hannola | SJK |
| Coach of the Year | Simo Valakari | KuPS |

### Team of the Year

Team of the Year :
| Goalkeeper | Johannes Kreidl (KuPS) | Johannes Kreidl (KuPS) | Johannes Kreidl (KuPS) | Johannes Kreidl (KuPS) |
| Defence | Macario Hing-Glover (HIFK) | Diogo Tomas (KuPS) | Daniel O'Shaughnessy (HJK) | Luis Carlos Murillo (HJK) |
| Midfield | Riku Riski (HJK) | Jair (HJK) | Urho Nissilä (KuPS) | Peteri Forsell (Inter Turku) |
| Attack | Benjamin Källman (Inter Turku) | Tim Väyrynen (KuPS) |