# 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. HJK Helsinki were the defending champions and successfully defended their title.

## 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

| Club | Location | Stadium | Capacity | Manager | Captain |
| FC Honka | Espoo | Tapiolan Urheilupuisto | 6,000 | Mika Lehkosuo | Tapio Heikkilä |
| FC Inter | Turku | Veritas Stadion$^1$ | 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 Stadion$^1$ | 10,000 | Marko Rajamäki | Toni Kolehmainen |
| VPS | Vaasa | Hietalahti Stadium | 4,600 | Olli Huttunen | Sebastian Strandvall |
$^1$ Paavo Nurmi Stadion until June 2012.

### 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 | Pre-season |
| Haka | Sami Ristilä | Sacked | 23 August 2012 | Asko Jussila | 23 August 2012 | 11th |
| Haka | Asko Jussila | Resigned | 10 September 2012 | 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 |
| 3 | TPS | 33 | 16 | 6 | 11 | 55 | 33 | +22 | 54 | Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round |
| 4 | IFK Mariehamn | 33 | 13 | 12 | 8 | 50 | 43 | +7 | 51 | Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round |
| 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 |
| 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 |
* ↑ IFK Mariehamn qualified for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League via Fair Play rankings.
* ↑ FC Honka qualified for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League by winning the 2012 Finnish Cup.

## 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 |
| 5 | Mika Ojala | FC Inter | 12 |
| 5 | Demba Savage | HJK | 12 |
| 8 | Joel Pohjanpalo | HJK | 11 |
| 8 | Aleksi Ristola | TPS | 11 |
| 10 | Mikko Innanen | JJK | 10 |
| 10 | Juho Mäkelä | HJK | 10 |
| 10 | Tim Väyrynen | FC Honka | 10 |
| 10 | Babatunde Wusu | JJK | 10 |
| 14 | Petteri Forsell | IFK Mariehamn | 9 |
| 15 | Dennis Okaru | TPS | 8 |
| 15 | Jarno Parikka | VPS | 8 |
| 15 | Akseli Pelvas | HJK | 8 |
| 15 | Shane Robinson | Haka | 8 |
| 15 | Jussi Vasara | FC Honka | 8 |
| 15 | Mika Ääritalo | TPS | 8 |
| 21 | 5 players | 5 players | 7 |
| 26 | 4 players | 4 players | 6 |
| 30 | 8 players | 8 players | 5 |
| 38 | 14 players | 14 players | 4 |
| 52 | 11 players | 11 players | 3 |
| 63 | 27 players | 27 players | 2 |
| 90 | 65 players | 65 players | 1 |

## Monthly awards

| Month | Coach of the Month | Player of the Month |
| April | Toni Korkeakunnas (MYPA) | Magnus Bahne (FC Inter) |
| May | Pekka Lyyski (IFK Mariehamn) | Tamás Gruborovics (JJK) |
| June | Alexei Eremenko Sr. (FF Jaro) | Sampo Koskinen (FC Honka) |
| July | Marko Rajamäki (TPS) | Petteri Forsell (IFK Mariehamn) |
| August | Toni Korkeakunnas (MYPA) | Pekka Sihvola (MYPA) |
| September | Tommi Kautonen (FC Lahti) | Irakli Sirbiladze (FC Inter) |
| October | 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) |