Tampere United take football league title in style

HJK challenge ends in comprehensive home defeat

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Tampere United are this year's Finnish football league champions. They took the title in the finest possible by beating their closest rival HJK Helsinki in the final match of the season. The TamU visitors left things in no doubt, and trounced the Helsinki side 3-0 in the Finnair Stadium, in front of a crowd of 7,362.
      The outcome was a trifle unexpected. Many had thought that HJK - who had enjoyed a long unbeaten run of thirteen matches and who had recently dismissed Tampere United from semi-finals of the Finnish Cup - would do enough on Sunday to force a two-match play-off for the championship.
     
That would have required a home win, but a goal from Jari Niemi and an own goal courtesy of a deflection off HJK's Veli Lampi meant that the hosts went in at half time with a mountain to climb.
      Things were not helped by the dismissal of their captain Mika Nurmela shortly after the break, when he picked up his second card. In the end Sakari Saarinen's 70th minute third goal was enough to send the home fans streaming out of the stadium in disappointment, while the Tampere United supporters danced and sang.
      Tampere United eventually won the league by an emphatic six-point margin. The club rose from the First Division in 2000, and they won the title for the first time already in the following season. Since then they have added bronze medals on four occasions, including last year. HJK reclaimed the runners-up spot they won last year, but they have the consolation of a place in the Cup Final.
      Third place went to Haka from Valkeakoski who beat out FC Honka of Espoo at the death, despite the fact that they lost unexpectedly 2-1 at home to sixth-placed MyPa. The Haka cause was helped by Honka's own failure to get any joy from their visit to Turku. They were beaten 2-1 by Inter and fell two points short of Haka in the end.
      Honka were a bright addition to the league on their first appearance, and actually led the table for some time.
     
Automatic relegation went to KuPS of Kuopio, who finished bottom of the table, while Jaro from Pietarsaari escaped this fate by collecting a vital point in their last match.
      Next season will see an extra team in the top echelons, as two clubs go up from the First Division - Viikingit of Helsinki and AC Oulu from Oulu.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Sports Round-Up (16.10.2006 - scroll down for football)

Helsingin Sanomat