The football Veikkausliiga season culminated on Saturday evening in the titillating final round. KuPS won the seventh SM gold in its history when it defeated HJK 1–0 its captain Petteri Pennanen on the finish line. KuPS is a double champion for the first time in its history, because it also won the Finnish Cup.
Ilves did their own thing and knocked out SJK in Tammela 4–0. Ilves, who took silver medals, had a bronze medal in the 2017 season. Ilves has one championship, from 1983.
KuPS had ousted HJK from the championship trophy in 2019, and now HJK’s championship streak was broken when it had to settle for bronze.
EIF was relegated and FC Lahti had to qualify, where they will face Pietarsaari Jaro. KTP entered the Veikkausliiga as champion of the First Division.
Even though the season still continues with the final Euro tournament and qualifying matches, it is appropriate to summarize why Veikkausliiga got such a trio of medals.
KuPS built a huge surprise
Perhaps two names from KuPS came to mind the most.
The British newspaper The Guardian published its traditional list of the most talented players in the world, and the 17-year-old from KuPS was selected Matias Siltanen. Last time there was a Finn on the list, Kairinen tooin 2015.
Representatives of foreign clubs have come to watch Siltanen play. Despite his young age, Siltanen rhythmed the playing of KuPS intelligently and reliably.
In the same year as Siltanen was born, 2007, he made his debut in the KuPS representative team Petteri Pennanen. In that season, KuPS won Ykkönen.
Pennanen, 34, was his team’s top scorer in the league this season with seven goals and three assists. He decided the final of the Finnish Cup with his two hits.
The head coach Jani Honkavaara praised Penna from earth to heaven:
– From the beginning, he has been my second coach on that field. He is the captain of captains to me. He doesn’t even realize how important he is to me and to KuPS as a whole.
Because KuPS, which made heavy financial losses, left its owner Ari Lahten to the austerity measures outlined, KuPS’s material was thinner and, in the opinion of many, clearly weaker than in the 2019 championship year.
Honkavaara admitted that he would not have really believed in such a success during the winter season. However, Honkavaara’s clear and well-coached way of playing bore fruit, and the championship was celebrated with a group led by young people and their own fosters.
Now Honkavaara is leaving Kuopio for the second time, again as champion, and will focus on the national team in the future.
Sports expert Henri Aalton according to him, part of the reason for the success of KuPS was the plowing of HJK, but Aalto did not want to emphasize this too much.
– KuPS played their players correctly throughout the season. They have a consistently high-quality crew that also has a special level of individual expertise. KuPS’s style of play has supported the players’ strengths. They have maintained their quality level in everyday life and training, Aalto underlined.
In addition, KuPS was spared from injuries. The central axis of the team since the goalkeeper Johannes Kreidli was rock hard. When star players left after last season, many young people, such as the 20-year-old topper Samuli Miettinengrew into responsible roles.
Lynx’s dramatic renewal
Sports expert Antti Pohjan according to Tampere, the financial and sporting aspects are now in order. When there have been chips, it has been possible to make purchases according to the way of playing.
– Ilves has renewed itself in many ways. The alliance with Ilves of the ice hockey SM league has been an ingenious solution, which has brought a lot of know-how from the puck side to e.g. marketing, but also a financial backbone.
When Ilves-Hockey Oy unexpectedly became the main owner of Ilves Edustus Oy, which runs football operations, it also caused surprise. After all, Ilves Edustus had made losses before that, and HJK had not been able to make operating profits anyway.
The head coach with a HJK background can be found behind the rise in terms of play Joonas Rantanena sports director with a HJK background Miika Takkula and the second coach with a KuPS background Pasi Tuutti.
Having moved to the new Tammela stadium, renewed its management team and rejuvenated its players, Ilves set out to build a long-term rise to become a championship candidate. Before the start of the season, the goal was stated to be a medal, but the season was an even more gigantic success in terms of success, finances and image.
– Takkula as sports director and Rantanen and the other coaches have done a clear job for a long time. They have trusted that this way of playing is the thing and acquired reinforcements according to it, explained Pohja.
– Ilves has been ahead of schedule due to HJK’s plowing this season. However, it is easy to say that Ilves’ success this season was no fluke. The lynx has come to the top to stay.
In terms of the Veikkausliiga, Ilves’ actions are significant, because in recent years only KuPS has been able to threaten HJK’s number one position, and not even financially. In Tammela, the beautiful strategy speeches have been put into practice based on this season.
The audience average rose from 2,742 pairs of eyes in the regular season to 5,689. In the European games, Ilves made a splash by knocking out Austria Wien.
HJK lighting
“We got what we deserved,” stated the CEO Aki Riihilahti.
HJK’s season famously went wrong last fall. In the end, he was hired as a head coach without the mandatory Uefa Pro license Ferran Sibila and sports director Vesa Mäki got a shoe.
We ended up in a situation where the head coach was again Toni Korkeakunnaswho admitted at the end of the season that he was frustrated with the role of fireman.
– It goes without saying that next season we will see a completely different level of HJK, when we get to build the team in peace. It would be nice to experience it, Korkeakunnas emphasized.
The director of sports is Helsingin Sanomat by coming from VPS Petri Vuorinenso it remains to be seen if Korkeakunnas will be disappointed in the coach’s game for the second autumn in a row.
Urheilu’s experts predicted before the start of the season that HJK would win the Veikkausliiga championship. HJK was not able to develop during the season, the turnover of the players was huge and the end of the season was a pancake.
– It was surprising that HJK was not able to develop game-wise during the season. The complete meltdown in the Championship after the regular season was also surprising, when the team did not win any of its last games, Aalto summed up.
According to Pohja, returning to the surface of the earth is only good for HJK, which operates with a big budget.
– Compared to expectations, HJK played a minor winning season. After four consecutive championships, HJK now has to evaluate its own actions much more precisely. They have to retreat to their own bunker and think about how to regain the lost position.