Finland. The best season for Kuusysi (Lahti) and first trophy for RoPS (Rovaniemi) sums the season. One team was directly relegated from First Division and the winner of Second Division directly promoted. The next to last in the top league and the 2nd-best in the second level met in promotion/relegation play-off.
Most teams in the second division – called Division One now – were practically unheard of teams, too weak to reach even the modest top league of Finland. Teams like
Huima Äänekoski,which finished 8th in the 12-team league with 20 points. Happy tp escape relegation to third level too.
Up the table, there was dramatic race for second place – TPV Tampere and KontU Helsinki ended with equal points, 28, and TPV had superior goal-difference, but head-to-head record counted in such occasions and KontU clinched 2nd place, thus having a chance to get promoted, if prevailing in the promotion/relegation play-off.
Reipas (Lahti) comfortably won the championship with 33 points from 17 wins, 7 ties, and 2 losses. 40-20 goal-difference. Happy return to top flight for Reipas and also total triumph for the city of Lahti, which clubs championed Finland this year.
OTP Oulu was hopeless outsider in the Premier Division – last with 11 points and relegated.
KePS Kemi had intriguing season – expectedly, they were no force in the top league, but in the same time the team excelled in the Cup tournament. To a point, this may have been the best season of the club ever and never mind they finished 11th with 15 points. However, they succeeded in the promotion/relegation play-off, winning both legs against KontU Helsinki by a goal: 4-3 and 3-2. Considering how tiny and modest was KePS even in Finnish contest, avoiding relegation was a great success by itself – at least, one more season in the top league.
Nothing spectacular up the table.
Another 2 teams ended with 22 points each and above them 4 teams fought for the title – kind of. Three of them battled mostly for second place, tied with 30 points each at the end.
HJK Helsinki took bronze medals. They scored most goals in the championship – 42 – goal-difference placed them 3rd. Above RoPS Rovaniemi and bellow TPS Turku. HJK lost the least games in the league – only 2 – but tied too many games and that was their undoing.
On the surface, Kuusysi (Lahti) had tough time, for they won the title by only 2 points, but that could be misleading. Remember, the league was small and only 22 championship games were played – not much room for building large advance. The table does not tell the story right – Kuusysi had their greatest season ever. They not only kept rivals at bay in the domestic championship, but reached the 1/4 finals in the European Champions Cup, where they met Steaua (Bucharest) at its highest stength. Kuusysi extracted scoreless tie in Bucharest and lost by a single goal at home (actually played in Helsinki, for Kussysi’s stadium was too small) in the last minutes of the second leg. At the end of the year Kuusysi triumphed with their 3rd title after winning 13 games, tying 6, and losing just 3 games. 40-20 goal-difference and 32 points. Curiously, both league winners, both Lahti clubs, finished with exactly the same scoring records: 40-20.