Mestaruussarja

Mestaruussarja (Championship series) was the top division of Finnish football from 1930 to 1989. It was replaced by Veikkausliiga in 1990.

In 1930 league format was used for the first time to decide Finnish champion. Before that from 1908 to 1929 the championship was decided with cup competition. The league was dominated by clubs from Helsinki, Turku and Vyborg. The first champion was HIFK Fotboll from Helsinki. In 1935 four best clubs were from Helsinki and in 1934 and 1936 top three clubs also came from Helsinki. From 1908 to 1940 the championship went outside Helsinki on only six occasions. Kuopio was the first inland city to get into the league when Pallotoverit were promoted in 1938. During World War II years the league was sometimes cut short, abandoned or decided with cup competition instead. In 1940s TUL clubs also participated.

The last Mestaruussarja season was 1989 and FC Kuusysi was crowned as the last champions. The new top level division was at first called SM-liiga and later renamed as Veikkausliiga.

Mestaruussarja consisted of 8 clubs when it was founded. It was later expanded to ten and at the time of dissolution league had 12 clubs. The league's popularity peaked in 1960s. Ten HJK matches between 1964 and 1969 had more than 10,000 spectators. The highest attendance was 17,293 between HJK and FC Haka in 1965. Highest average attendance was 3,071 in 1967, a figure that is yet to be beaten by current Veikkausliiga.

Champions

Top scorers
Season Player Club Goals
1930 Holger SalinHIFK9
Olof StrömstenKiffen
1931Holger SalinHIFK 11
1932Lauri LehtinenTPS 13
1933Olof StrömstenHIFK18
1934Olof StrömstenHIFK15
1935Aatos LehtonenHJK 13
Nuutti Lintamo VPS
1936Aatos LehtonenHJK 14
1937Aatos LehtonenHJK25
1938Aatos LehtonenHJK 14
1939Aatos LehtonenHJK 15
1941Jussi ValtonenTPS 14
1944Urho TeräsTPS9
Leo TurunenSudet
1948Stig-Göran MynttiVIFK 15
1949Yrjö AsikainenIlves-Kissat 20
Kaimo LintamoVPS
1950Yrjö AsikainenIlves-Kissat 15
Jorma SaarinenVPS
1951Åke ForsbergKiffen16
1952Mauri VanhanenKTP16
1953Rainer ForssPyrkivä15
1954Eino KoskinenTuTo16
1955Yrjö AsikainenKiffen12
1956Pentti StyckHJK20
1957Matti SundelinTPS21
1958Kalevi LehtovirtaTPS17
Kai PahlmanHPS
1959Matti SundelinTPS21
1960Matti SundelinTPS30
1961Kai PahlmanHPS20
1962Tor ÖsterlundHIK22
1963Juha LyytikäinenHIFK16
1964Arto TolsaKTP26
1965Kai PahlmanHJK22
1966Markku HyvärinenKuPS16
1967Tommy LindholmTPS22
1968Tommy LindholmTPS23
1969Hannu LambergKPV18
Pekka TalaslahtiHJK
1970Matti PaatelainenHIFK20
1971Pentti ToivolaMP17
1972Matti PaatelainenHIFK16
Heikki SuhonenTPS
1973Hannu LambergKPV13
1974Erkki SaloTPS17
1975Reijo RantanenMiPK16
1976Matti PaatelainenHaka17
1977Matti PaatelainenHaka20
1978Atik IsmailHJK20
1979Atik IsmailHJK15
Heikki SuhonenTPS
1980Hannu RajaniemiSepsi-7819
1981Juhani HimankaOPS22
1982Atik IsmailHJK19
1983Mika LipponenTPS22
1984Mika LipponenTPS25
1985Ismo LiusKuusysi19
1986Ismo LiusKuusysi13
Jari NiinimäkiIlves
1987Ari HjelmIlves20
1988Ismo LiusKuusysi22
1989Ismo LiusKuusysi15
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