The 2008 season of Veikkausliiga was the 78th season of top-tier football in Finland. It started on 27 April 2008 and ended on 26 October 2008. The defending champions were Tampere United.
Promotion and relegation AC Oulu finished at the bottom of the 2007 season and therefore were relegated to Ykkönen. Their place was taken by Ykkönen champions KuPS. 13th placed Veikkausliiga team FC Viikingit and Ykkönen runners-up RoPS competed in a two-legged relegation play-offs for one spot in 2008 Veikkausliiga. RoPS won 2–1 on aggregate and therefore were promoted to Veikkausliiga.
Overview
ClubLocationStadium CapacityManagerFC HakaValkeakoskiTehtaan kenttä3,516 Olli HuttunenHJKHelsinkiFinnair Stadium10,770 Antti MuurinenFC HonkaEspooTapiolan Urheilupuisto6,000 Mika LehkosuoFC InterTurkuVeritas Stadion10,000 Job DragtsmaFF JaroJakobstadJakobstads Centralplan5,000 Mika LaurikainenFC KooTeePeeKotkaArto Tolsa Areena4,780 Tommi KautonenKuPSKuopioMagnum Areena3,500 Kai NyyssönenFC LahtiLahtiLahden Stadion15,000 Ilkka MäkeläIFK MariehamnMariehamnWiklöf Holding Arena1,600 Pekka LyyskiMYPAAnjalankoskiSaviniemi4,067 Janne LindbergRoPSRovaniemiKeskuskenttä4,000 Valeri BondarenkoTampere UnitedTampereRatina Stadion17,000 Ari HjelmTPSTurkuVeritas Stadion10,000 John AllenVPSVaasaHietalahti Stadium4,600 Tomi Kärkkäinen
League table
Relegation play-offs KuPS and Ykkönen runners-up FC Viikingit competed in a two-legged play-offs for one spot in Veikkausliiga 2009. KuPS won 2–1 on aggregate and thereby retained their league spot for 2009.
Results
Top goalscorers Source:
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Aleksandr KokkoHonka13 Henri MynttiTampere United133 Mikko HyyrynenJaro11 Toni LehtinenHaka11 Mikko PaatelainenTPS11 RafaelLahti118 Jarno ParikkaHJK9 Hermanni VuorinenHonka910 Tarmo NeemeloMYPA8 Mika OjalaInter Turku8 Paulus RoihaHJK8
Annual awards Source: Veikkausliigan parhaat kaudella 2008 nimetty
Players' Association's awards Player of the Year: Dominic Chatto (Inter Turku) Young player of the Year: Aleksandr Kokko (Honka) Referee of the Year: Tero Nieminen
Veikkausliiga's awards Goalkeeper of the Year: Patrick Bantamoi (Inter Turku) Defender of the Year: Jos Hooiveld (Inter Turku) Midfielder of the Year: Mika Ojala (Inter Turku) Attacker of the Year: Aleksandr Kokko (Honka)
Attendances
No. Club Average 1 HJK 4,516 2 TPS 4,501 3 Inter Turku 4,432 4 Honka 3,156 5 Tampere 2,924 6 Lahti 2,532 7 VPS 2,263 8 Jaro 2,131 9 KuPS 1,859 10 RoPS 1,843 11 KooTeePee 1,773 12 Haka 1,717 13 Mariehamn 1,603 14 MyPa 1,574 Source:
References
External links Official website soccerassociation.com