According to club legends, the men’s Finnish football championship would be of great importance to Kuopio and Tampere.
Emma Hyuppa,
Riku Salminen
will follow the final round of the Veikkausliiga on Saturday 19.10. The match between KuPS and HJK can be seen live on TV2, Areena and the app from 17:40.
In the final round of the football Veikkausliiga on Saturday, it will be clear whether Kuopio’s Palloseura or Tampere’s Ilves will celebrate the Finnish championship. The Helsinki Football Club is sure to win bronze.
KuPS leads the series by two points to second place Ilves. The decision of the championship is therefore in the hands of the people of Kuopio: a victory over HJK in Saturday’s final round would start the home team’s celebrations in Kuopio.
In order to win the championship, Ilves would need a victory over SJK, besides which KuPS would not be allowed to win over HJK.
There is also a large financial stake in the championship fight, as the team that wins the Veikkausliiga gets a place in the Champions League qualifiers. The European football association Uefa pays the club around one million euros just for qualifying.
– The financial contribution of the championship comes purely through the Euro competitions. There is a pot of around one million euros for the champion, and those millions start to run rapidly upwards if there is success in the Euro competitions. If you don’t manage there at all, at least a million will come, CEO of Veikkausliiga Timo Marjamaa tells.
The Veikkausliiga does not distribute prize money to the clubs precisely because the amounts paid by UEFA are so significant.
41 years have already passed since Ilves’ only Finnish championship. KuPS’s previous championship celebrations are more recent in memory, but in five years, according to Marjamaa, UEFA’s prize money has clearly increased.
For the second place in the Veikkausliiga, the team receives a place in the Conference League qualifiers and a pot of hundreds of thousands of euros from UEFA.
Since KuPS has won the Finnish Cup this season, it would receive a good half a million euros from UEFA for the second place in the Veikkausliiga. For Ilves, second place in the Veikkausliiga would mean a bonus of 325,000 euros.
Club legends follow
The previous championships in Kuopio and Tampere have been “big things”, says the KuPS legend Olavi Rissanen and played in Ilves’ 1983 champion team Ari Hjelm.
During the successful years of KuPS, led by Rissanen, 77, in the 1970s, football seemed to be the number one sport in the city and, according to Rissanen, there were a lot of spectators at home matches.
In Tampere, however, it has been difficult to shake the popularity of ice hockey, but according to Hjelm, the success in the 1980s cemented the position of football in the city.
– Of course, this is a discus city and there are many people here with medals around their necks. It was great to be part of the group that has gold necklaces around its neck. Even then, the championship was a big deal for Ilves. Soccer is usually the second sport in big cities, and back then, hockey teams were also challenged, Hjelm recalls at the Tammela stadium.
Rissanen has watched KuPS’ performances this season with satisfaction.
– Even today, the championship would be a big and important thing for the city. The coaching management is wise when they get good players, and there is also good junior work in the background, says Rissanen, who has scored 185 main league goals in his career.
Victory in the final round is not a given for either team. For example, Ilves has not managed to beat SJK this season.
– I believe that Ilves will manage its own game. The decisive thing is how the nerves hold up. The players must have high emotions. But it’s easier for Ilves to go into this game, because if it doesn’t win this game, it won’t win the championship, says Hjelm.
In recent years, Finnish championships have come to Tampere in, for example, ice hockey, baseball and floorball.
– The whole sport is on the rise in this city. A big thank you to the city for investing a lot in all sports and the framework is top-notch, Hjelm praises.
will follow the final round of the Veikkausliiga on Saturday 19.10. The match between KuPS and HJK can be seen live on TV2, Areena and the app from 17:40.
KuPS will be champions if they beat HJK in Kuopio.
Ilves is champion if it beats SJK at home and KuPS doesn’t beat HJK.
EIF is a sure relegator, but who will qualify for the league, FC Lahti or IFK Mariehamn?
The solutions of European places:
The winner of the Veikkausliiga will qualify for the Champions League.
Normally, the runner-up of the Veikkausliiga, the winner of the Suomen Cup and the winner of the Euro finals qualify for the Conference League qualifiers.
With the victory in the Finnish Cup, KuPS has already secured at least a place in the Conference League qualification, so the Veikkausliiga’s third place, HJK, will also advance to the Conference League qualification next season.
Thus, at the end of the season, the teams finishing in places 4–8 play for the last place in the tournament for the Conference League qualification.
Haka will move up to fourth place over SJK and secure a place in the final of the Euro final tournament if it wins VPS and SJK loses to Ilves.
You can read more about the system from this link.