The SM-liiga is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland, and generally regarded as one of the top leagues in Europe. It was constituted in 1975 to replace the SM-sarja, which was fundamentally an amateur league. The SM-liiga has an agreement of cooperation with the Finnish ice hockey federation Suomen Jääkiekkoliitto. SM is a common abbreviation for Suomen mestaruus, "Finnish championship".
At the moment, there are 14 teams. The SM-liig...
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The SM-liiga is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland, and generally regarded as one of the top leagues in Europe. It was constituted in 1975 to replace the SM-sarja, which was fundamentally an amateur league. The SM-liiga has an agreement of cooperation with the Finnish ice hockey federation Suomen Jääkiekkoliitto. SM is a common abbreviation for Suomen mestaruus, "Finnish championship".
At the moment, there are 14 teams. The SM-liiga was closed in 2000 so that no team can be relegated to or promoted from the lower leagues without approval of the board of the SM-liiga. The board have committed themselves to promote the first winner of Mestis (the second highest competition) that meets certain standards.
The SM-liiga was constituted in 1975 to concentrate the development of top level Finnish ice hockey, and pave the way towards professionalism. Its predecessor, the SM-sarja, being an amateur competition, had its disadvantages, which were perceived as impeding Finland's...
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