Salibandyliiga

Salibandyliiga (English: Floorball league) is the top floorball league in Finland. Salibandyliiga has been played since 1986.

History

The league was founded in 1986, but has only been referred to as Salibandyliiga since 1994. Salibandyliiga is organized by the company SSBL Salibandy Oy which is owned by the Finnish Floorball Federation (SSBL).

The 2014-15 season ended with SPV securing their 3rd title win over Happee in the final series. The series was close fought with the last two games going on overtime, both won by SPV taking the series 3-1. SSV Helsinki placed third after beating Espoon Oilers 8-5 in bronze medal game.

Format

Regular season

In the regular season, the league is played like a typical round-robin tournament, for a total of 26 games per team. The total number of regular season games is 182. If a team finishes in the top 8, they will qualify for the playoffs in the spring.

Playoffs

The playoffs are played every spring. The top 8 teams from the regular season play for the national championship. The first placed team of the regular season picks their opponent from the teams placed between 5th and 8th place. The second placed team picks their opponent from the remaining three and after that the third placed team makes its pick of the 2 remaining teams. The last playoff pair is made of two remaining team. The quarter-finals and semi-finals are played in best-of-five format. In the 2015-2016 season the champion will be crowned by a single game for the first time. The Superfinal will be played in Hartwall Arena on 16th of April.