Ykkösliiga

Ykkösliiga (English:"League One"; "Liga Ettan") is the second highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga), managed by the Football Association of Finland. The teams in Ykkösliiga also play a pre-season league cup, the Ykkösliigacup.

The nation-wide second-tier league was first established in 1973 as I divisioona. It was later renamed Ykkönen, starting in 1994. The new and current Ykkösliiga will start running in 2024, and the former second-tier Ykkönen continues as the new third-tier level.

History
The first league format competition in the second level of Finnish football was called Suomensarja, which was founded in 1936. 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.

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

Creation of Ykkösliiga
In the late August 2022, Finnish FA announced the creation of a new nation-wide second-tier league, contested with 10 teams. Later in October it was confirmed that the league will be named Ykkösliiga, and the FA simultaneously announced the specific rules on how the new level is formed and which clubs will gain the position in it. The nine best teams of 2023 Ykkönen will automatically qualify for 2024 Ykkösliiga. Each group winner of the three groups in 2023 Kakkonen, and the best 2023 Kakkonen Group runner-up, will play the 2024 Ykkösliiga qualifiers. The winner of these qualifiers wins the last spot, and the three other clubs earn a position to the new third-tier 2024 Ykkönen.

The new league was scheduled to start running in 2024. Ykkösliiga replaces Ykkönen as the second-highest Finnish football league, and the current second-tier Ykkönen will drop down one level in a league pyramid to establish a new and the first nation-wide third-tier Ykkönen with 12 teams, starting to run in 2024. All the previous third-tier levels in Finland had been divided to geographical groups based on locations of the clubs.

As a conclusion, all the lower levels in Finland will drop down one level in the league pyramid (Kakkonen forms a new fourth-tier, Kolmonen a new fifth-tier etc.).

The inaugural season 2024 Ykkösliiga will start on 13 April 2024.

Structure
Like the first-tier Veikkausliiga, Ykkösliiga is a summer league, played usually from the start of April to October. All the competing teams play 27 matches, facing each other three times in total. After the matchday 18 follows the final phase where every team face each other once. The top-5 teams earn five home matches for the last nine matches, and the bottom-5 have four home matches. The winner of Ykkösliiga wins automatically a promotion to Veikkausliiga, and the second-placed team will play a two-legged promotion play-offs against 11th placed team in Veikkausliiga. The last placed team will be relegated to new third-tier Ykkönen, while the 9th placed team will play the relegation play-offs against Ykkönen runners-up.

Clubs in 2024 season
The clubs in the Ykkösliiga for the inaugural 2024 season are:

Champions and top scorers 2024–
Champions and top scorers of former second-tier Ykkönen 1973–2023

Referees
For the 2024 season, the referee committee of Finnish FA has listed 14 referees primarily available for Ykkösliiga matches (Category 2). Additionally, there are also 23 named assistant referees available. The referees named in the Category 1 (primarily for top-tiers Veikkausliiga and Kansallinen Liiga) are also available for Ykkösliiga.