2002 Veikkausliiga

Veikkausliiga

Season	2002
Premiers	HJK Helsinki
Top goalscorer	Mika Kottila, HJK Helsinki (18)
← 2001 2003 →

The 2002 season was the 72nd completed season of Finnish Football League Championship, known as the Veikkausliiga. At the same time it was the 13th season of the Veikkausliiga. This season 3 teams could promote from the 2nd division and only one would releagate, because the Veikkausliiga would extend its number of participating teams from 12 to 14, starting the 2003 season.

Overview

The Veikkausliiga is administered by the Finnish Football Association and the competition's 2002 season was contested by 12 teams. Following the Preliminary Stage, the higher 8 teams progressed to the Championship Group while the lower 4 teams competed in the Promotion/Relegation Group with the higher 4 teams from the Ykkönen. HJK Helsinki won the championship and qualified for the UEFA Champions League 2003-04 qualification round, while the second and third placed teams qualified for the first qualification round of the UEFA Cup 2003-04. The fourth placed team qualified for the UEFA Intertoto Cup 2002, while VPS Vaasa were relegated to the Ykkönen.^[1]

Participating clubs

In 2002 there were 12 participants in the Veikkausliiga:

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

Inter Turku Jaro Pietarsaari - Promoted from Ykkönen KuPS Kuopio MyPa 47 Anjalankoski Tampere United VPS Vaasa

^[2]

League standings

HJK Helsinki

Jazz

Lahti

Haka

Inter

KuPS

MyPa

Tampere United

VPS

FC Hämeenlinna

Allianssi Vantaa

Jaro

Location of teams in 2002 Veikkausliiga

Preliminary stage

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
1	HJK Helsinki	22	15	3	4	36	16	48
2	MyPa Anjalankoski	22	12	7	3	43	20	43
3	Haka Valkeakoski	22	11	5	6	31	18	38
4	Allianssi Vantaa	22	10	4	8	35	36	34
5	FC Inter Turku	22	8	8	6	28	17	32
6	Tampere United	22	7	11	4	23	15	32
7	FC Lahti	22	9	5	8	23	26	32
8	Jaro Jakobstad	22	7	5	10	23	36	26
9	KuPS Kuopio	22	6	6	10	26	30	24
10	FC Hämeenlinna	22	3	9	10	23	34	18
11	VPS Vaasa	22	4	5	13	21	39	17
12	FC Jazz Pori	22	4	4	14	17	42	16

^[2]

Championship group

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
1	HJK Helsinki (C)	29	20	5	4	51	21	65
2	MyPa Anjalankoski	29	17	9	3	57	25	60
3	Haka Valkeakoski	29	15	7	7	51	30	52
4	Allianssi Vantaa	29	12	5	12	39	44	41
5	Tampere United	29	8	15	6	31	24	39
6	FC Inter Turku	29	9	9	11	33	29	36
7	Jaro Jakobstad	29	10	6	13	34	46	36
8	FC Lahti	29	9	6	14	25	44	33

^[2]

Relegation group

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
1	KuPS Kuopio	7	4	1	2	14	4	16 (3)
2	TPS Turku (P)	7	4	2	1	10	9	15 (1)
3	FC Hämeenlinna	7	3	0	4	8	8	11 (2)
4	FC Jokerit (P)	7	3	1	3	13	13	10 (0)
5	FC Jazz Pori	7	2	3	2	6	5	9 (0)
6	FC KooTeePee (P)	7	2	2	3	8	11	9 (1)
7	VPS Vaasa (R)	7	2	2	3	6	12	9 (1)
8	TP-47	7	2	1	4	6	9	7 (0)

^[2]

Leading scorers

Rank	Player		Club	Goals
1	Mika Kottila		HJK Helsinki	18
2	Valeri Popovits		Haka Valkeakoski	17
3	Petteri Kaijasilta		Allianssi Vantaa	13
3	Saku Puhakainen		MyPa 47 Anjalankoski	13
5	Richard Teberio		Inter Turku	11

^[3]

Footnotes

1. "Finland 2002". RSSSF Archive. 2002. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
2. "Finland - List of League First Level Tables". RSSSF Archive. 2002. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
3. "Finland - List of Topscorers (Mestaruussarja/Veikkausliiga)". RSSSF Archive. 2001. Retrieved 2012-01-05.

References

• Finland - List of final tables (RSSSF)