2003 Veikkausliiga

The 2003 season was the 73rd completed season of Finnish Football League Championship, known as the Veikkausliiga. At the same time it was the 14th season of the Veikkausliiga.

Veikkausliiga

Season	2003
Champions	HJK Helsinki
Top goalscorer	Saku Puhakainen, MyPa (14)
← 2002 2004 →

Overview

The Veikkausliiga is administered by the Finnish Football Association and the competition's 2003 season was contested by 14 teams. HJK Helsinki won the championship and qualified for the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League qualification round, while the second and sixth placed teams qualified for the first qualification round of the 2004–05 UEFA Cup. The third and fourth placed teams qualified for the UEFA Intertoto Cup 2004, while FC KooTeePee and KuPS Kuopio were relegated to the Ykkönen.

Participating clubs

In 2003 there were 14 participants in the Veikkausliiga:

• Allianssi Vantaa
• FC Jazz Pori
• FC Hämeenlinna
• FC KooTeePee - Promoted from Ykkönen
• FC Lahti
• Haka Valkeakoski
• HJK Helsinki
• Inter Turku
• Jaro Pietarsaari
• FC Jokerit - Promoted from Ykkönen
• KuPS Kuopio
• MyPa 47 Anjalankoski
• Tampere United
• TPS Turku - Promoted from Ykkönen

League standings

HJK Helsinki
Jokerit

Jazz

Lahti

Haka

Inter
TPS

KuPS

MyPa

Tampere United

KooTeePee

FC Hämeenlinna

Allianssi Vantaa

Jaro

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Location of teams in 2003 Veikkausliiga

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	HJK Helsinki (C)	26	17	6	3	51	15	36	57	Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round
2	Haka Valkeakoski	26	16	5	5	54	16	38	53	Qualification to UEFA Cup first qualifying round
3	Tampere United	26	14	5	7	39	21	18	47	Qualification to Intertoto Cup first round
4	MyPa Anjalankoski	26	13	4	9	46	29	17	43
5	FC Lahti	26	11	8	7	40	31	9	41
6	Allianssi Vantaa	26	10	6	10	43	44	−1	36	Qualification to UEFA Cup first qualifying round
7	FC Inter Turku	26	10	5	11	43	41	2	35
8	Jaro Jakobstad	26	9	8	9	36	38	−2	35
9	TPS Turku	26	8	8	10	30	35	−5	32
10	FC Jokerit	26	7	7	12	29	37	−8	28
11	FC Hämeenlinna	26	7	7	12	25	48	−23	28
12	FC Jazz Pori	26	7	7	12	31	55	−24	28
13	FC KooTeePee (R)	26	6	4	16	28	53	−25	22	Qualification to relegation play-offs
14	KuPS (R)	26	4	6	16	25	57	−32	18	Relegation to Ykkönen

Source:
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

Promotion/relegation playoff

• RoPS Rovaniemi - KooTeePee Kotka 4-1
• KooTeePee Kotka - RoPS Rovaniemi 3-2

RoPS Rovaniemi promoted, KooTeePee Kotka relegated.

Results

Home \ Away	ALL	HAK	HJK	HÄM	INT	JAR	JAZ	JOK	KTP	KUP	LAH	MYP	TAM	TPS
AC Allianssi		0–3	1–4	3–0	2–0	0–1	4–0	1–1	5–0	5–2	0–3	1–4	3–1	2–1
FC Haka	5–0		0–1	4–0	0–1	2–3	5–0	0–1	2–0	3–1	5–1	0–1	1–0	1–0
HJK Helsinki	2–2	0–0		3–0	2–1	0–0	3–0	1–1	5–0	3–0	2–0	1–0	2–0	1–1
Hämeenlinna	0–3	2–2	0–3		1–0	1–1	1–3	2–1	2–1	4–3	2–3	1–0	0–0	0–1
Inter Turku	5–2	2–4	1–2	4–1		1–1	2–0	3–2	2–1	1–2	1–1	1–0	1–3	0–2
Jaro	2–0	0–2	2–3	2–2	0–6		0–1	2–0	3–1	4–2	1–1	0–2	0–0	4–1
Jazz	1–1	1–1	2–6	2–0	1–2	1–1		0–3	3–2	2–2	1–1	2–2	1–1	2–1
Jokerit	0–0	0–0	0–1	2–2	4–0	1–1	3–1		1–1	1–2	2–0	2–4	0–1	2–0
KooTeePee	0–1	0–4	0–4	1–2	3–3	2–0	3–0	2–0		0–1	2–1	1–2	2–1	0–0
KuPS	0–0	0–3	0–2	0–2	0–3	1–5	0–2	2–1	1–3		1–1	2–2	1–3	0–0
Lahti	0–2	0–0	0–0	0–0	3–0	2–1	4–2	0–1	4–1	2–1		4–1	0–1	2–0
MyPa	3–1	2–3	2–0	0–0	2–2	3–0	4–0	3–0	2–0	1–0	1–2		0–1	1–2
Tampere United	4–2	0–2	1–0	4–0	1–0	0–1	2–0	5–0	0–0	4–1	1–3	2–0		2–0
TPS	2–2	0–2	1–0	2–0	1–1	3–1	1–3	3–0	4–2	0–0	2–2	1–4	1–1

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Leading scorers

Pos.	Player	Nat.	Club	Goals
1.	Saku Puhakainen		MyPa	14
2.	Juho Mäkelä		HJK	13
-	Gábor Szilágyi		FC KooTeePee	13
4.	Luciano Álvarez		FC Inter	12
-	Arístides Pertot		FC Inter	12
6.	Mika Kottila		HJK	11
-	Valeri Popovitch		FC Haka	11
8.	Ryan Botha		MyPa	10
-	Jari Niemi		Tampere Utd	10
-	Sami Ristilä		FC Haka	10

References

• Finland - List of final tables (RSSSF)