The Veikkausliiga is the somewhat unpronounceable (unless you’re Finnish) name of the top tier of domestic football in Finland. Veikkaus, the Finnish national betting body, sponsor the league, hence the name. Organised football in Finland really dates back to around 1908, but the Veikkausliiga only came into existence in 1990 and contains 12 clubs battling it out for supremacy in Finnish football.
Due to the long, hard winters in Finland, the Veikkausliiga runs on a different calendar to many top European leagues and the 2015 season is complete, with SJK winning the title ahead of RoPS Rovaniemi and HJK Helsinki, in what was a really exciting Veikkausliiga battle.
In this article we look ahead to the 2016 season and assess who will triumph in the outright winner betting, offering up our predictions and betting tips, as well as live odds comparison. The former will help you pick your bets whilst the latter will ensure that whatever you decide to bet on you will always get the best betting odds and the biggest value.
Normally the Veikkausliiga season gets underway in April, with the outright winners crowned at the end of October, so we’ve got plenty of time to assess the teams. That said, getting your Veikkausliiga bets on early can offer some good ante post value and looking at the current outright winner market it’s clear that the bookies fancy this to be a two-horse race between HJK Helsinki and SJK.
Helsinki are priced at 10/11 with Unibet and currently lead the way in the outright betting, with Seinäjoen JK (SJK) not far behind at odds of 7/5. Beyond those two we have RoPS Rovaniemi at 14/1 with 10Bet and if you’re really looking for an outsider Lahti are the fourth favourites in the outright winner market at huge odds of 20/1, with the rest 60/1 bar.
As said, the 2015 Veikkausliiga was hugely exciting and few could have predicted at the start of the season what a tight, tense battle we would have. SJK finished the campaign on 60 points, with RoPS Rovaniemi on 59 and HJK Helsinki on 58. The eventual champions were down in third with 10 games to go but seven wins and two draws saw them storm to the Veikkausliiga title.
In contrast RoPS Rovaniemi looked to be on course for the title with just three games left but a crucial defeat to IFK Mariehamn (who finished sixth) saw them usurped. HJK, perhaps even more disappointingly, led the way in the Veikkausliiga for the vast majority of the campaign but a sticky patch in the final quarter of the campaign undid them. Three points from seven games saw them slip from first to third and even four wins out of four at the end wasn’t enough as SJK held on for glory.
Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi, to use their full name, are the most successful club in Finnish football, with 27 titles to their name and they are also the biggest and richest side too. Despite their uncharacteristic slip last term, they are rightful favourites in 2016 and whilst we predict a tough battle between them and the other two contenders, HJK just have to be our main betting tip in the outright winner market of the 2016 Veikkausliiga. In 2014 they romped to the title by a massive 13 points, winning by 12 points a year earlier. Had they maintained any sort of decent form in the final quarter of last season they would have been celebrating yet another Veikkausliiga title and whilst SJK are certainly a team on the rise, we predict normal service will be resumed in 2016.