The ‘SM-liiga’ (from 2013 onwards marketed as just ‘Liiga’, Finnish for ‘League’) colloquially called the ‘Finnish Elite League’ in English or ‘FM-ligan’ in Swedish, 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. SM is a common abbreviation for ‘Suomen mestaruus’, ‘Finnish championship’. During the 2022–23 CHL season, the Liiga was ranked the #4 league in Europe, which allowed it to send its top four teams to compete in the CHL. The most titled team is the ‘Tampere Tappara’, with 19 titles (1953, 1954, 1955, 1959, 1961, 1964, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 2003, 2016, 2017, 2022, 2023).
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