Finland. Ranked 22nd. Rather strange high ranking, for compared to Turkey, Denmark, even Cyprus, Finnish football was lagging behind – but strong European performance of particularly Kuusysi in recent years elevated Finland above countries with recognized improvement of the game. The championship formula: 2 points for a win. Second Division played regular championship. The winner was directly promoted and the second best went to promotion/relegation against the 11th in the top league. Two-phased championship of First Division – after the regular phase the league went to second phased: the top 6 played round-robin round for the title carrying their records from the first phase. The bottom 6 played for avoiding relegation carrying their first phase records. Thus, every top league team played 27 games in total. The last was directly relegated and the 11th went to promotion/relegation play-off.
Second Division. 12 teams played regular championship. The last 3 were relegated to Third Division. The interesting thing was the top of the league – 4 teams fought for the top 2 places. Three of them finished with 29 points each. Goal-difference eliminated PPT (Pori), but… goal-difference was not decisive factor for the other two and they went for second place play-off: a bit strange since goal-difference was taken into account to determine 4th place, but not the 2nd. Koparit (Kuopio) had a goal worse goal-difference than Kumu (Kuusankoski) – and justice prevailed in the play-off: Koparit lost 2-4.
Kumu took 2nd place as they should and went to the promotion/relegation play-off.
KPV (Kokkola) won the Second Division championship with 33 points: 13 wins, 7 ties, 2 lost games, 43-18 goal-difference. Clearly the best team this year and rightfully promoted back to top flight.
First Division. The relegation group consisted of the bottom 6 in the first phase and since records were carried over nothing unusual happened. Jaro (Pietarsaari) was last with 11 points. KePS (Kemi) was 11th all the was, finishing with 14 points. Like Jaro, they were wau weaker than the rest of the league, but 11th place gave them a chance to survive – if winning the promotion/relegation play off. Alas, they lost to Kumu 0-2 and 1-0. Thus, KePS was relegated and Kumu (Kuusankoski) happily promoted to First Division. Great success for Kumu,which did not play top league football before.
Up the relegation group were teams already safe: MP Mikkeli – 4th with 22 points,
OTP (Oulu) – 3rd with 22 points.
Reipas (Lahti) 2nd with 29 points and KuPS (Kuopio) 1st with 29 points. KuPS had so-so league presence, but they full of joy at the end of the season.
The championship group was a battle between 2 teams – they finished with equal points the first phase and the second round was thrilling. The other teams more or less went just through the morions, having no chance to surprise the leaders.
Ilves (Tampere) finished 6th with 26 points. Standing from left: Mark Dziadulewicz, Seppo Nikkil?, Petri Ojala, Juha Riippa, Marek Czakon, Miika Juntunen.Front row: Tero Kemppainen, Ilpo Talvio, Mika Malinen, Arto Uimonen, Mika Aaltonen.
HJK (Helsinki) – 5th with 29 points.
Haka (Valkeakoski) – 4th with 30 points.
RoPS (Rovaniemi) – 3rd with 34 points. Second row: Petteri Karila, Miika Tolvanen, Hannu Ollila, Arto Autti, Ari Matinlassi, Jari Europaeus, Petri Nieminen. Crouching: Jarmo Ilola, Pasi Tauriainen, Markku Kallio, Ari Tegelberg, Matti Vikman.
The battle for the title was decided in the final phase – Kuusysi and TPS (Turku) came to it with 32 points each earned in the first phase. Kuusysi had 2-goals better goal-difference,so they won the opening phase, but that was nothing. Eventually, Kuusysi pulled ahead in the last 5 games and TPS (Turku) ended 2nd with 39 points.
Kuusysi (Lahti) dramatically won the championship with 41 points from 17 wins, 7 ties and 3 losses. 51-23 goal-difference. One more strong season for the leading at that time Finnish club. They won their 4th title.
KuPs and Haka met at the Cup final. Both teams were eager to win the trophy, but Haka (Valekeakoski) was outscored 2-3.
KuPS (Kuopio) were the happy winners and received the coveted Cup. Standing from left: Kari Tissari, Jukka Turunen, Heikki Turunen, Tuomo Hyv?rinen, Jukka Mykk?nen, Janne Savolainen, Markus R?s?nen, Yrj? Happonen. Front row: Vesa Martiskainen, Timo Vesterinen, Harri Nyyss?nen, Jyrki Rovio, Hannu Turunen, Kari Niskanen.
Great success for one of the lesser clubs. This was their 2nd Cup.