The 2009 Veikkausliiga was the 79th season of top-tier football in Finland. It began on 18 April 2009 and ended on 17 October 2009. Inter Turku were the defending champions.
The championship was won by HJK Helsinki, who came out on top of a three-team race which also involved Honka Espoo and TPS Turku. On the bottom end of the table, RoPS were relegated to the Ykkönen while JJK will have to compete in a two-legged relegation play-off.
Promotion and relegation KooTeePee finished at the bottom of the 2008 season and were relegated to Ykkönen. Their place was taken by Ykkönen champions JJK. 13th placed Veikkausliiga team KuPS and Ykkönen runners-up competed in a two-legged relegation play-offs for one spot in 2009 Veikkausliiga. KuPS won 2–1 on aggregate and thereby retained their league position.
Overview
ClubLocationStadium CapacityManagerFC HakaValkeakoskiTehtaan kenttä3,516 Olli HuttunenHJKHelsinkiFinnair Stadium10,770 Antti MuurinenFC HonkaEspooTapiolan Urheilupuisto6,000 Mika LehkosuoFC InterTurkuVeritas Stadion9,372 Job DragtsmaFF JaroJakobstadJakobstads Centralplan5,000 Mika LaurikainenJJKJyväskyläHarjun stadion3,000 Ville PrihaKuPSKuopioMagnum Areena3,500 Kai NyyssönenFC LahtiLahtiLahden Stadion14,465 Ilkka MäkeläIFK MariehamnMariehamnWiklöf Holding Arena1,600 Pekka LyyskiMYPAMyllykoski, KouvolaSaviniemi4,167 Janne LindbergRoPSRovaniemiKeskuskenttä3,400 Mika LumijärviTampere UnitedTampereRatina Stadion17,000 Ari HjelmTPSTurkuVeritas Stadion9,372 Pasi RautiainenVPSVaasaHietalahti Stadium4,600 Petri Vuorinen
Managerial changes
Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Replaced by Date of appointment Position in table VPS Tomi Kärkkäinen Resigned 15 May 2009 Petri Vuorinen 15 May 2009 14th RoPS Valeri Bondarenko Sacked 27 May 2009 Mika Lumijärvi Zeddy Saileti 27 May 2009 14th FF Jaro Mika Laurikainen Sacked 18 August 2009 Alexei Eremenko Sr. 18 August 2009 Haka Olli Huttunen Sacked 7 September 2009 Sami Ristilä 7 September 2009 5th RoPS Mika Lumijärvi Sacked 7 October 2009 Zeddy Saileti Jorma Turpeenniemi 7 October 2009 14th
League table
Relegation play-offs JJK as 13th placed team of 2009 Veikkausliiga and KPV as runners-up of the 2009 Ykkönen competed in a two-legged play-offs for one spot in the 2010 Veikkausliiga. JJK won the play-offs by 5–3 and remained in Veikkausliiga.
Results
Statistics
Top goalscorers Source: veikkausliiga.com
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Hermanni VuorinenHonka162 Jami PuustinenHonka123 Timo FuruholmInter Turku114 Wayne BrownTPS9 Mikko PaatelainenTPS9 Babatunde WusuTPS98 Tamas GruborovicsIFK Mariehamn8 Juho MäkeläHJK8 Drilon ShalaLahti8 Dawda BahHJK8 Maxim VotinovMYPA8 Nam Ik-KyungJJK8
Top assistants Source: veikkausliiga.com
RankPlayerClubAssists1 Sebastian SorsaHJK112 Nicholas OtaruHonka93 Wayne BrownTPS8 Sebastian StrandvallHaka8 Mikko InnanenHaka86 Dawda BahHJK7 Mika OjalaInter Turku7 Babatunde WusuTPS79 Mikko HyyrynenJaro6 Mikko ManninenTPS6 Severi PaajanenInter Turku6 Demba SavageHonka6
Monthly awards MonthCoach of the MonthPlayer of the MonthAprilVuorisesta Veikkausliigan huhtikuun pelaaja Pekka Lyyski (IFK Mariehamn) Hermanni Vuorinen (Honka)MayToukokuun Kuukauden joukkue nimetty Olli Huttunen (Haka) Sebastian Strandvall (Haka)JuneJens Nygårdista kesäkuun Kuukauden pelaaja Mika Laurikainen (Jaro) Jens Nygård (VPS)July TPS:n Lehtovaarasta Kuukauden pelaaja heinäkuussa Pasi Rautiainen (TPS) Jukka Lehtovaara (TPS)
Attendances
No. Club Average 1 TPS 4,904 2 HJK 3,661 3 JJK 3,238 4 VPS 2,415 5 Inter Turku 2,395 6 Tampere 2,257 7 Honka 2,233 8 Lahti 2,082 9 Haka 2,001 10 KuPS 1,837 11 Mariehamn 1,824 12 Jaro 1,650 13 RoPS 1,587 14 MyPa 1,360Source:
References
External links Official site uefa.com