2003 Veikkausliiga

Veikkausliiga

Season	2003
Champions	HJK Helsinki
...
Top goalscorer	Saku Puhakainen, MyPa (14)
← 2002 2004 →

The 2003 season was the 73rd completed season of Finnish Football League Championship, known as the Veikkausliiga. At the same time it was the 14th season of the Veikkausliiga.

Overview

The Veikkausliiga is administered by the Finnish Football Association and the competition's 2003 season was contested by 14 teams. HJK Helsinki won the championship and qualified for the UEFA Champions League 2004-05 qualification round, while the second and sixth placed teams qualified for the first qualification round of the UEFA Cup 2004-05. The third and fourth placed teams qualified for the UEFA Intertoto Cup 2004, while FC KooTeePee and KuPS Kuopio were relegated to the Ykkönen.^[1]

Participating clubs

In 2003 there were 14 participants in the Veikkausliiga:

Allianssi Vantaa FC Jazz Pori FC Hämeenlinna FC KooTeePee - Promoted from Ykkönen FC Lahti Haka Valkeakoski HJK Helsinki

Inter Turku Jaro Pietarsaari Jokerit Helsinki - Promoted from Ykkönen KuPS Kuopio MyPa 47 Anjalankoski Tampere United TPS Turku - Promoted from Ykkönen

^[2]

League standings

HJK Helsinki
Jokerit

Jazz

Lahti

Haka

Inter
TPS

KuPS

MyPa

Tampere United

KooTeePee

FC Hämeenlinna

Allianssi Vantaa

Jaro

Location of teams in 2003 Veikkausliiga

Premier Division (Veikkausliiga) 2003

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
1	HJK Helsinki (C)	26	17	6	3	51	15	57
2	Haka Valkeakoski	26	16	5	5	54	16	53
3	Tampere United	26	14	5	7	39	21	47
4	MyPa Anjalankoski	26	13	4	9	46	29	43
5	FC Lahti	26	11	8	7	40	31	41
6	Allianssi Vantaa	26	10	6	10	43	44	36
7	FC Inter Turku	26	10	5	11	43	41	35
8	Jaro Jakobstad	26	9	8	9	36	38	35
9	TPS Turku	26	8	8	10	30	35	32
10	FC Jokerit	26	7	7	12	29	37	28
11	FC Hämeenlinna	26	7	7	12	25	48	28
12	FC Jazz Pori	26	7	7	12	31	55	28
13	FC KooTeePee (O) (R)	26	6	4	16	28	53	22
14	KuPS (R)	26	4	6	16	25	57	18

^[2]

Premier Division/Division One 2003, Promotion/Relegation Playoff

• RoPS Rovaniemi - KooTeePee Kotka 4-1
• KooTeePee Kotka - RoPS Rovaniemi 3-2

RoPS Rovaniemi promoted, KooTeePee Kotka relegated.^[2]

Leading scorers

Pos.	Player	Nat.	Club	Goals
1.	Saku Puhakainen		MyPa	14
2.	Juho Mäkelä		HJK	13
-	Gábor Szilágyi		FC KooTeePee	13
4.	Luciano Álvarez		FC Inter	12
-	Arístides Pertot		FC Inter	12
6.	Mika Kottila		HJK	11
-	Valeri Popovitš		FC Haka	11
8.	Ryan Botha		MyPa	10
-	Jari Niemi		Tampere Utd	10
-	Sami Ristilä		FC Haka	10

^[3]

Footnotes

1. "Finland 2003". RSSSF Archive. 2003. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
2. "Finland - List of League First Level Tables". RSSSF Archive. 2003. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
3. "Finland - List of Topscorers (Mestaruussarja/Veikkausliiga)". RSSSF Archive. 2003. Retrieved 2012-01-05.

References

• Finland - List of final tables (RSSSF)