Liiga

Regular season: all teams play 60 matches, a quadruple round robin with extra local double rounds (every team plays four matches against every other team, plus two or four extra matches against defined local opponents). Each match consists of 60 minutes regulation time, and in the event of a tie, winner is decided by a four-on-four sudden death, 5-minute overtime. Ties after overtime are decided by a shootout, where each team has three shooters in the beginning. If the game is tied after three shooters, the shootout will be decided by individual shooters against one another until one scores and the other does not.

For the 2010-11 a new addition was introduced. In January 2011, each team will play 2 games (1 home, 1 away) against the same opponent. The match-ups will be decided by a system where the bottom (14th) placed team at that time chooses its opponent 1st, followed by the 13, 12th and so on. The 7th placed team is the last one to choose an opponent. The system has been criticized by many, for reasons such as "awarding" a bad position in the table and the way the match-ups are decided, since there are worries that teams will choose their opponents from the higher profile teams and their biggest rivals to achieve maximum attendance and more income through ticket sales.

Scoring: A win in regulation time is worth three points, a win by sudden death overtime two points and loss by sudden death overtime one point. Teams will be ranked by points, and teams tied by points are ranked by goal differential. Teams tied by goal differential as well are ranked by number of goals scored.

Play-offs: The six best teams at the conclusion of regular season proceed directly to quarter-finals. Teams placing between seventh and tenth (inclusive) will play preliminary play-offs best-out-of-three - the two winners take the last two slots to quarter-finals. Starting from the season 2007-2008 all series since then are best-of-seven. Losers of the semi-finals play a bronze medal match. Teams are paired up for each round according to regular season results, so that the highest-ranking team will play against the lowest-ranking, second highest against the second lowest, and so on. Higher-ranking teams play the first match at home, then by turns away, home, away, etc. Each play-off match consists of a 60-minute regulation time which in the event of a tie is followed by extra 20-minute periods of sudden death overtime, in which the first team to score wins.

• from 1927 to 1975: SM-sarja
• from 1975 to 2013: SM-liiga
• from 2013 to present: Liiga

• 2023-2024: Tappara Tampere
• 2022-2023: Tappara Tampere
• 2021-2022: Tappara Tampere
• 2020-2021: Lukko Rauma
• 2018-2019: HPK Hämeenlinna
• 2017-2018: Kärpät Oulu
• 2016-2017: Tappara Tampere
• 2015-2016: Tappara Tampere
• 2014-2015: Kärpät Oulu
• 2013-2014: Kärpät Oulu
• 2012-2013: Porin Ässät
• 2011-2012: JYP Jyväskylä
• 2010-2011: IFK Helsinki
• 2009-2010: TPS Turku
• 2008-2009: JYP Jyväskylä
• 2007-2008: Kärpät Oulu
• 2006-2007: Kärpät Oulu
• 2005-2006: HPK Hämeenlinna
• 2004-2005: Kärpät Oulu
• 2003-2004: Kärpät Oulu
• 2002-2003: Tappara Tampere
• 2001-2002: Jokerit
• 2000-2001: TPS Turku
• 1999-2000: TPS Turku
• 1998-1999: TPS Turku
• 1997-1998: IFK Helsinki
• 1996-1997: Jokerit
• 1995-1996: Jokerit
• 1994-1995: TPS Turku
• 1993-1994: Jokerit
• 1992-1993: TPS Turku
• 1991-1992: Jokerit
• 1990-1991: TPS Turku
• 1989-1990: TPS Turku
• 1988-1989: TPS Turku
• 1987-1988: Tappara Tampere
• 1986-1987: Tappara Tampere
• 1985-1986: Tappara Tampere
• 1984-1985: Ilves Tampere
• 1983-1984: Tappara Tampere
• 1982-1983: IFK Helsinki
• 1981-1982: Tappara Tampere
• 1980-1981: Kärpät Oulu
• 1979-1980: IFK Helsinki
• 1978-1979: Tappara Tampere
• 1977-1978: Porin Ässät
• 1976-1977: Tappara Tampere
• 1975-1976: TPS Turku

The Liiga (formerly SM-liiga) is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland.
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.
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.

• http://www.liiga.fi