Finland: Tampere take the title

Tampere United FC were crowned champions of Finland on Saturday after beating FC Jazz 1-0 in a thrilling finale to the Veikkausliga season.

Looking good for HJK
Trailing favourites HJK Helsinki by a point going into the final round of matches, Tampere faced lowly Jazz at the Tammela stadium while HJK hosted FC Haka. It was looking good for the Helsinki club at half-time after Mika Lehkosuo's 18th-minute goal gave them the advantage while Tampere remained on their coat-tails thanks to Jari Niemi's 45th-minute strike.

Forced an equaliser
But the temperature was turned up at the Finnair stadium after 65 minutes when Juuso Kangaskorpi forced an equaliser to silence the HJK fans and set up a frantic final 25 minutes of the campaign. As United held their nerve to keep out Jazz, news filtered through from the capital that HJK had failed to snatch a late winner and with it the championship.

Atlantis goal spree
Elsewhere, FC Atlantis went on a second-half goal spree against rock-bottom RoPS Rovaniemi to end the season on a high note with a 4-0 victory. A brace for Petteri Kaijasilta and strikes from Rami Rantanen and Justus Vajanne sent the home crowd away with at least something to cheer after a disappointing season for their team.

Early goals
Third-placed Myllykosken Pallo-47 drew 0-0 with FC Jokerit and FC Lahti scored twice inside the first 11 minutes to earn themselves a 2-0 win at VPS Vaasa. Teemu Lampinen took just four minutes to break the dealock and Markus Paija added the second.

Tight contest
FC Inter Turku ended the season with a 3-2 home defeat against KuPS Kuopio. Mats Gustafsson had opened the scoring for the hosts four minutes into the second half before Yrjo Happonen equalised from the spot after 53 minutes. Aristedes Pertot looked to have grabbed the winning goal for Inter with ten minutes to go but Lassi Lehtonen's strike three minutes from the final whistle and Kalle Rönkkö injury-time winner turned the contest in the visitors' favour.