Ykkönen

The first league format competition in the second level of Finnish football was called Suomensarja, which was founded in 1936.[1] Before the inauguration of the Suomensarja, from 1930 to 1935, there had been special qualification matches for the right to play in the Mestaruussarja.

In the autumn of 1969, the Finnish football underwent a league system reform, and the Suomensarja was renamed II divisioona, or 2nd Division, with regional sections.[2]

In 1973, this level of football in Finland became nationwide, and the new name was 1. divisioona (First Division). The name Ykkönen has been used since 1995.[1]

Like the Veikkausliiga, the first division is played mainly during the summer. It comprises 12 clubs, all of whom play three matches against all other clubs in the division. The winner of the Ykkönen qualifies directly for promotion to Veikkausliiga, and the team finishing second in the league will play a two-legged promotion playoff against the team finishing 11th in the Veikkausliiga. The bottom 2 clubs are directly relegated to Kakkonen.

The clubs in the Ykkönen for the 2019 season are:

Club	Location	Stadium	Capacity	Manager
AC Kajaani	Kajaani	Kajaanin liikuntapuisto	1,500	Ari Koski
AC Oulu	Oulu	Raatin Stadion	4,392	Mika Lähderinne
Ekenäs IF	Raseborg	Ekenäs Centrumplan	800	Gabri Garcia Xatart
Haka	Valkeakoski	Tehtaan kenttä	3,516	Teemu Tainio
Jaro	Jakobstad	Jakobstads Centralplan	5,000	Niklas Käcko
KTP	Kotka	Arto Tolsa Areena	4,780	Jari-Pekka Gummerus
MuSa	Pori	Musan kenttä	2,000	Ville Ulanen
MyPa	Anjalankoski	Kymenlaakson Sähkö Stadion	4,167	Jukka Karjalainen
TPS	Turku	Veritas Stadion	9,372	Tommi Pikkarainen
TPV	Tampere	Tammelan Stadion	5,050	Anssi Ylinen

• League information; at the Football Association of Finland
• List of League Second Level tables since 1930
• League321.com - Finnish football league tables, records & statistics database. (in English)
• Football scores for Finnish Football Leagues