Finnish Liiga

Badge

Poster

Established
1975 (51 years old)

First Recorded Event
2020-10-01

Current Season
2026-2027

Current Round
5

Sport
Sport Icon

Ice Hockey

Location
Finland

Gender
Male

TV Rights

Logo

		Upcoming
07 Oct 26	JukuritJukurit	9:00am	ÄssätÄssät
07 Oct 26	KärpätKärpät	3:30pm	Kiekko-EKiekko-Espoo
07 Oct 26	Vaasan SVaasan Sport	3:30pm	IlvesIlves
08 Oct 26	JokeritJokerit	3:30pm	HIFKHIFK
08 Oct 26	SaiPaSaiPa	3:30pm	JYPJYP
09 Oct 26	Kiekko-EKiekko-Espoo	2:30pm	JYPJYP
09 Oct 26	ÄssätÄssät	3:30pm	HPKHPK
09 Oct 26	IlvesIlves	3:30pm	LukkoLukko
09 Oct 26	KooKooKooKoo	3:30pm	JukuritJukurit
09 Oct 26	PelicansPelicans	3:30pm	KärpätKärpät

		Results
03 Oct 26	Vaasan SpVaasan Sport	2 - 3	HIFKHIFK
03 Oct 26	TPS TurkuTPS Turku	4 - 1	JYPJYP
03 Oct 26	SaiPaSaiPa	3 - 2	JokeritJokerit
03 Oct 26	LukkoLukko	2 - 5	ÄssätÄssät
03 Oct 26	KooKooKooKoo	3 - 6	PelicansPelicans
03 Oct 26	JukuritJukurit	2 - 1	KalPaKalPa
03 Oct 26	IlvesIlves	6 - 4	Kiekko-EsKiekko-Espoo
03 Oct 26	HPKHPK	2 - 1	KärpätKärpät
02 Oct 26	ÄssätÄssät	0 - 3	LukkoLukko
02 Oct 26	TapparaTappara	3 - 2	JokeritJokerit

Description

The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagues of the Champions Hockey League and currently allocated five spots - the maximum number - based on success in previous editions. It was created in 1975 to replace the SM-sarja, which was fundamentally an amateur league. The SM-liiga is not directly overseen by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, but the league and association have an agreement of cooperation. SM is a common abbreviation for Suomen mestaruus, "Finnish championship".

The SM-liiga formerly had a system of automatic promotion and relegation in place between itself and the Mestis, the second highest level of competition in Finland, but the automatic system was ended in 2000. The league was opened in 2005 and allowed KalPa to get a promotion. In 2009, a new system was introduced and it includes the last placed SM-liiga team facing the Mestis champion in a best of seven playout series. In 2013, the relegation system was abandoned again and replaced by a procedure in which successful clubs of Mestis may apply for a promotion if they fulfill definite financial criteria. Since 2013, Jokerit joined the KHL and Espoo Blues went bankrupt, but Sport, KooKoo and Jukurit were promoted. Therefore Liiga is a competition of 15 teams since the 2016–17 season.

Seasons