Finnish Elite League (Liiga) Preview & Betting Guide

Twenty-time champions Tappara are the reigning champions and will be expected to be around the bookie's pre-season favourites to lift the 2024-25 season Kanada-malja Trophy.
Finnish Elite League (Liiga) Preview & Betting Guide
Andy Powell
Andy Powell Content Editor

Horse Racing stats man, Andy has contributed to OLBG for 18 years - An Ipswich fan and F1 fanatic, he also contributes EFL football and Motor Sport opinion.

2024-25 Liiga Preview

For the third consecutive season, we saw Tappara finish top in the regular season and then go on to win the playoffs.

They have now notched up twenty championships, seven during the SM-sarja era and now thirteen during the current SM-liiga era.

It was also the second consecutive season that the Pelicans finished runner-up to them, it was their third runner-up finish as they continue to look for their first-ever title.

No team has ever won four consecutive titles which Tappara will be attempting during the 2024-25 season in their attempt to make history during this season which is the 50th anniversary of the league.

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How often do Favourites win in Liiga?

How do the Favourites Compare?

As we can see when looking at arguably the most popular top six leagues, the Finnish Liiga is the second most reliable league for favourites with 62.61% of them winning over the past five seasons, the only league to top it is the KHL.

  1. Russian KHL: 62.82%
  2. Finnish Liiga: 62.61%
  3. Swiss NLA: 61.30%
  4. USA NHL: 60.82%
  5. German DEL: 60.61%
  6. Swedish SHL: 59.83%

Which teams are the most and least reliable?

The most reliable team when it comes to favourites in the SM Liiga over the past five seasons is Tappara. They have a win rate of 69.39% when priced up by the bookmakers as favourites with 204 wins from a total of 294 games.

At the other end of the scale is SaiPa with a win rate of 46.88%. That has come from 32 games producing 15 wins, they are maybe the team in this league to avoid when they are priced up as favourites.

SM Liiga Favourite Statistics by Season


2019-202020-212021-222022-232023-24
Home Favs61.64%63.27%63.24%64.99%60.81%
Away Favs71.33%64.44%62.43%54.43%58.50%
Overall Favs64.93%63.74%62.96%61.62%60.12%

*Favourite statistics only include regular-season games

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Past Liiga Regular Season Winners

As you can see below, the regular season table-toppers have a good record in the playoffs, 7 of the last 9 (excluding 2019-20) went on to be crowned champions with the other two losing in the finals.

Here are the last ten regular-season champions who received the Harry Lindblad Memorial Trophy and how they went on to perform in the playoffs.

SeasonTeam (Points)Playoff Outcome
2023–24Tappara (123)Liiga Champions
2022–23Tappara (116)Liiga Champions
2021–22Tappara (120)Liiga Champions
2020–21Lukko (127)Liiga Champions
2019–20Kärpät (127)Playoffs cancelled
2018–19Kärpät (137)Lost in Final
2017–18Kärpät (123)Liiga Champions
2016–17Tappara (127)Liiga Champions
2015–16HIFK (127)Lost in Final
2014–15Kärpät (115)Liiga Champions

Past Liiga Champions

The Kanada-malja is the trophy that is awarded to the Champions of the Liiga. It was first awarded in 1951 and it translates to 'Canada Bowl' because it was donated by the Finnish community located in Canada.

Tappara leads the way in terms of the number of champions won with a total of twenty and they have won the last three champions.

Only two other teams have recorded double-figure wins, four behind Tappara are Ilves with fifteen wins, however, their last success was back in the 1984-85 season.

The other team is Turun Palloseura (TPS) who have won eleven championships but again you have to go back some time to find their last win which was during the 2009-10 season.

Here are the last ten Liiga Champions

YearChampionsSeriesRunners-up
2023-24Tappara
4-1Pelicans
2022-23Tappara
4-1Pelicans
2021-22Tappara
4-1TPS
2020-21Lukko
3-1TPS
2019-20No competition
2018-19HPK
4-3Kärpät
2017-18Kärpät
4-2Tappara
2016-18Tappara
4-2KalPa
2015-16Tappara
4-2HIFK
2014-15Kärpät
4-3Tappara

2023-24 Playoff Bracket

Finnish Liiga Teams

2024-25 Teams in the Liiga

TeamCityArenaCapacity
ÄssätPoriEnersense Areena6,150
HIFKHelsinkiHelsingin jäähalli8,200
HPKHämeenlinnaPohjantähti Areena5,360
IlvesTampereNokia Arena12,700
JukuritMikkeliIkioma Areena4,200
JYPJyväskyläLähiTapiola Areena4,437
KalPaKuopioOlvi Areena5,300
KärpätOuluOulun Energia Areena6,300
Kiekko-EspooEspooEspoo Metro Areena6,982
KooKooKouvolaLumon Areena5,950
LukkoRaumaKivikylän Areena4,500
PelicansLahtiIsku Areena4,403
SaiPaLappeenrantaLappeenrannan jäähalli4,820
SportVaasaVaasan Sähkö Areena5,185
TapparaTampereNokia Arena12,700
TPSTurkuGatorade Center10,500

Author Information

Andy Powell manages this Finnish Elite League (Liiga) Preview & Betting Guide and other hockey content in this section of the site as well as the Ice Hockey Tipsters in the OLBG tipster competition in his role in the OLBG Expert Team. Andy meticulously updates the date and results for these pieces and is an erstwhile Penguins fan in the NHL. He provides Ice Hockey betting advice in our bookmaker reviews as well as providing a huge contribution to the Best Ice Hockey Betting Sites Guide.

Andy Powell

Andy Powell

Content Editor

Andy also possesses a keen interest in American sports with a particular affinity for the NFL and the NHL. He follows the Pittsburgh Penguins, emphasizing his broad palette for diversified sporting events.

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