F-liiga

This article is about the top men's floorball league in Finland. For the women's ditto, see F-liiga (women).
Miesten F-liiga
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2023–24 F-liiga
FormerlyMiesten Mestaruussarja
Miesten Salibandyliiga
SportFloorball
Founded1986; 38 years ago (1986)
First seasonSalibandyn SM-sarja
1986–1994
Salibandyliiga
1994–2020
AdministratorFinnish Floorball Federation
No. of teams12
CountryFinland
ContinentEurope
Most recent
champion(s)		Oilers (5th title)
(2023–24)
Most titlesSSV Helsinki (11 titles)
TV partner(s)YLE TV2
Level on pyramidLevel 1
Domestic cup(s)Suomen Cup
International cup(s)Champions Cup
Official websiteFliiga.com

The F-liiga is the top men's floorball league in Finland. The league was founded as Salibandyn SM-sarja (English: Floorball Finnish Champions-Series) in 1986 by the Finnish Floorball Federation (SSBL). It was renamed to Salibandyliiga for the 1994–95 season. The Salibandyliiga was operated by the company SSBL Salibandy Oy, a subsidiary of the Finnish Floorball Federation. The current name F-liiga is used since season 2020–21.[1]

The champion of the league is eligible to compete at the Champions Cup.[2]

Format

Regular season

The regular season is played in a round robin format with each team playing 26 games. The total number of regular season games is 182. The eight teams that finish the regular season at the top of the standings qualify for the playoffs in the spring.

Regular season game between Classic and SPV in the 2009–10 season.

Playoffs

The top eight teams from the regular season play for the Finnish Championship. The first placed team from the regular season picks their opponent from the teams that placed fifth through eighth. The second placed team picks their opponent from the remaining three and after that the third placed team makes its pick of the two remaining teams. The last playoff pair is made of two remaining team. The playoffs are played in best-of-seven format.

Playout

The playout round was first introduced for 2014–15 season. The teams placed that placed eleventh through fourteenth continue to a playout phase after the regular season. The eleventh placed team picks their opponent, either the thirteenth or fourteenth placed team. The winners of the first round of playout get to keep their spots in Salibandyliiga, but the losing teams face each other in the second round. The winner of the second round of playout faces the second placed team of Divari (English: First Division). The winner of this match-up wins a place in the Salibandyliiga and losing team is relegated. The loser of the second round of playout is also relegated to Divari. The winner of Divari is directly promoted to Salibandyliiga.[3]

Current teams

TPS come close to scoring against FBT Pori in the 2005–06 season.

Teams in 2024–25 season:[4]

Recent champions

Season Champions Runner-up Third Place
2023–24 Oilers[5] Classic Nokian KrP
2022–23 TPS Nokian KrP Oilers
2021–22 Classic Nokian KrP Oilers
2020–21 Classic[6] Oilers Nokian KrP
2019–20 The season was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic[7]
2018–19 Classic TPS SPV
2017–18 Classic Happee Nokian KrP
2016–17 Classic EräViikingit SPV
2015–16 Classic Oilers Happee
2014–15 SPV Happee SSV
2013–14 Happee Classic SSV
2012–13 SPV SSV Classic
2011–12 SPV SSV Koovee
2010–11 SSV SPV Oilers
2009–10 SSV Erä SPV
2008–09 SSV Erä SPV
2007–08 SSV Classic Erä
2006–07 SSV Classic Erä
2005–06 Oilers SSV Josba
2004–05 SSV Happee Classic

List of champions

Team Titles Seasons
SSV Helsinki 11 1992–93, 1994–95, 1995–96, 2000–01, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11
Classic Tampere 6 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2020–21, 2021–22
Oilers Espoo 5 1998–99, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2005–06, 2023–24
SPV Seinäjoki 3 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15
Josba Joensuu 2 1991–1992, 1993–94
SC Dalmac Helsinki 2 1989–90, 1990–91
ManU Tampere 2 1986–87, 1987–88
TPS 1 2022–23
Happee Jyväskylä 1 2013–14
Viikingit Helsinki 1 1997–98
VFT Vantaa 1 1996–97
BET 1 1988–89
HIFK 1 1999–00

All records updated as of season 2023–24.

Records

Regular season

Game records

  • Highest attendance : 3214
  • Biggest home win: 21–6
  • Biggest away win: 1–17
  • Highest scoring game: 34

Individual records

Career
Season

Playoffs

Game records

  • Highest attendance : 5580
  • Biggest win: 14–2
  • Highest scoring game: 24
    • SSV vs. OLS (17–7), 10-03-2006

Individual records

Career
Season


All records updated as of season 2013–14. [8]

References

  1. ^ "Making floorball history: Finland's highest floorball league is now F-Liiga". IFF. 20 May 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  2. ^ "IFF Champions Cup". IFF. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  3. ^ "Sarjan esittely". salibandy.fi (in Finnish). Finnish Floorball Federation. Archived from the original on 2020-06-19. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  4. ^ "F-liiga miehet – Season 2024-2025". F-liiga. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
  5. ^ "Ratkaisu viimeisellä minuutilla – Oilers palasi mestariksi 18 vuoden jälkeen". F-liiga (in Finnish). 28 April 2024. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
  6. ^ "Classic Men's champion in Finland & PSS and SB-Pro in the Women's final". IFF. 12 April 2021. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  7. ^ "Coronavirus status update - as of March 16th". IFF. 16 March 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  8. ^ "Salibandyliigan ennätykset". salibandy.fi (in Finnish). Finnish Floorball Federation. Archived from the original on 2019-04-24. Retrieved 7 November 2014.