Finland ranked 31st at the end of 1981 – of course, the Fins were among the eternal outsiders of Europe, but now they were outpaced by countries like Luxembourg and Cyprus, which have been lower. Not a good period for Finnish football, one may think.
The championship was a complicated affair by now, consisting of two stages – regular season and according to the final standings, the top 8 proceeded to the championship round with their points halved. The rear 4 moved to promotion/relegation tournament with the top 4 teams of the regular Second Division season. Sepsi-78 Seinäjoki, RoPS Rovaniemi, MP Mikkeli, and MiPK Mikkeli were the lowest 1st division teams. Kuusysi Lahti, Elo Kuopio, KPV Kokkola, and Honka Espoo were the 2nd division hopefuls. The rules stipulated that, according to final league position, every team got bonus points – the highest placed teams got 4, and the lowest placed – 1. The final tournament was 1-leg round robin and the top 4 teams at the end were going to play in the First Division the next season. This year second division outplayed the lowly first division members: Kuusysi topped the group, followed by Elo and KPV was third. Only Sepsi-78 managed to keep first division place by finishing 4th.
KPT Kuopio won the preliminary stage of First Division and their prospects looked great at this point – they lost only matches, scored freely, and kept tight defense. HJK Helsinki was 2nd with 28 points and TPS Turku – also with 28 points – was 3rd. But halved points eliminated the 3 points-lead KPT had at the end of the preliminary stage. In the Championship Group HJK stepped on the pedal and added 11 points to their starting 14. KPT managed only 7 points, which, added to their initial 16 was not enough for the title. Haka Valkeakoski benefited by the rounding rule – to the higher number – and good performance at the final stage gave them 9 more. TPS dropped 4th at this level. Haka ended with bronze medals and KPT with silver.
The new champions were HJK Helsinki – nothing surprising about that.
The Cup opposed HJK to the up and coming Kuusysi, so far in the second division. Kuusysi was just emerging, not really up to a big challenge and they lost 0-4.
HJK Helsinki triumphed with a double.