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The Vaahteraliiga (Maple League) founded in 1980 is the highest level of
American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...
in
Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
played under American Football Association of Finland. The winner of the Vaahteraliiga is the Finnish champion. The Vaahteraliiga season is played in summer, with a schedule usually from May to September.


History

The first season of the Vaahteraliiga was played in 1980. The name ''Vaahteraliiga'' ("Maple League") comes from the name of the championship trophy ''Vaahteramalja'' ("Maple Bowl"), which was donated to the newly formed association by the embassy of
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
in Finland. Vaahteraliiga is managed by American Football Association of Finland – SAJL. It is government approved non-profit organization governing both American football and flag football activities in Finland. The most successful team all-time are the
Helsinki Roosters The Helsinki Roosters are an American football team based in Helsinki, Finland established in 1979. The team plays in the Vaahteraliiga Maple League in Finland and their home field is the Helsinki Velodrome. History Roosters were founded in 19 ...
with a total of 17 championships, including a then-record six consecutive first-place finishes from 1995-2000. This record was tied by
Porvoo Butchers Porvoo (; ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located on the south coast of the country, on the Gulf of Finland. Porvoo lies in the eastern part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Porvoo is approximately , while the sub-region has a populati ...
as they also won six consecutive championships between 2005 and 2010. In the early years
Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...
and it surrounding towns were loaded with Maple League teams and they seemed to almost monopolize the championship. The first team outside the Helsinki metropolitan area to win the championship were the
Seinäjoki Crocodiles The Seinäjoki Crocodiles are an American football team from Seinäjoki, Finland. The team plays in the Finnish Maple League and it has also played in the European Football League The European Football League (EFL) established in 1986, was a ...
in 2001, ending the 21-year
Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...
area supremacy. Since then, however, those teams have only won the championship twice.
Turku Trojans Turku Trojans is one of the oldest American football teams in Finland, established in 1982. Turku Trojans in 2024 play in Division 2 (Tier 3). The Trojans previously have played in the Maple League Vaahteraliiga (highest level) in Finland operate ...
have the most Maple Bowl losses. Having qualified for the game ten times, their only win is from their last visit in 2003. The 2016 season of Vaahteraliiga was planned to see 8 teams competing, as
Tampere Saints Tampere Saints is an American football club in the city of Tampere, Finland. Its men's senior team currently play in SAJL second highest league 1st division. History The club was established in the fall of 1998, becoming the third in city's ...
and
Wasa Royals Wasa or WASA may refer to: Places * Wasa, Cameroon, a town in Extrême-Nord region * Wasa, British Columbia, Canada, a settlement * Wasa Lake, British Columbia, Canada * Vaasa, Finland, a town, formerly spelled Wasa * Wasa (Tanzanian ward), a ward ...
were promoted from 1st Division. Helsinki 69ers did not start the season, so the 2016 season had 7 teams. The 2017 season also has 7 teams, as TAFT was relegated after finishing last, and I-division winner Hämeenlinna Huskies were promoted to Maple League.


Current teams

Updated for 2024 season.


League license

Vaahteraliiga has had a different number of teams during its tenure. In recent years the number has been around seven and eight. This is partly because of league license system enforced by SAJL. In addition to competitive status teams have to reach certain economical and organisational standards. This in turn means that at the end of each season it cannot be said to a certainty which teams will eventually play in the league the next year as teams need to apply for the license. SAJL checks the applications and grants licenses to maximum eight teams according to their seed in the previous season. Teams from the 1st division title game, Spaghetti Bowl, are the only division teams eligible to apply for the license. The system was put in place largely to ensure long-term planning and sensible running of clubs. The system has already shown its cruelty as teams with no alarming difficulties in competitiveness have been relegated due to lack of management and/or economical difficulties.


Playing format


Regular season

League schedule is highly dependent on the number of teams. During seasons of eight teams teams are divided into two pools. Teams play against the teams in the same pool twice, home and away, and teams from the other pool once so that each team has ten games, five home and five away. Despite the pools teams are considered as one conference and they are seeded in one conference. In a seven-team league teams face each team twice, home and away, with a total of 12 games.


Post season

After the regular season the four best teams advance to the post season with seed #1 facing #4 and #2 facing #3 in a single-game play-off. Winners will play in the Maple Bowl for the national title. As of 2006, there hasn't been a game for the bronze medal; they are simply awarded to the losing team of the semi-finals with better seed.


Champions

*1980 – Poli, Espoo *1981 – Majs, Helsinki *1982 –
Helsinki Roosters The Helsinki Roosters are an American football team based in Helsinki, Finland established in 1979. The team plays in the Vaahteraliiga Maple League in Finland and their home field is the Helsinki Velodrome. History Roosters were founded in 19 ...
*1983 –
Helsinki Roosters The Helsinki Roosters are an American football team based in Helsinki, Finland established in 1979. The team plays in the Vaahteraliiga Maple League in Finland and their home field is the Helsinki Velodrome. History Roosters were founded in 19 ...
*1984 – Helsinki East City Giants *1985 – Vantaa TAFT *1986 –
Helsinki Roosters The Helsinki Roosters are an American football team based in Helsinki, Finland established in 1979. The team plays in the Vaahteraliiga Maple League in Finland and their home field is the Helsinki Velodrome. History Roosters were founded in 19 ...
*1987 –
Helsinki Roosters The Helsinki Roosters are an American football team based in Helsinki, Finland established in 1979. The team plays in the Vaahteraliiga Maple League in Finland and their home field is the Helsinki Velodrome. History Roosters were founded in 19 ...
*1988 –
Helsinki Roosters The Helsinki Roosters are an American football team based in Helsinki, Finland established in 1979. The team plays in the Vaahteraliiga Maple League in Finland and their home field is the Helsinki Velodrome. History Roosters were founded in 19 ...
*1989 – Munkka Colts *1990 –
Helsinki Roosters The Helsinki Roosters are an American football team based in Helsinki, Finland established in 1979. The team plays in the Vaahteraliiga Maple League in Finland and their home field is the Helsinki Velodrome. History Roosters were founded in 19 ...
*1991 – Helsinki East City Giants *1992 – Helsinki East City Giants *1993 – Helsinki East City Giants *1994 – Helsinki East City Giants *1995 –
Helsinki Roosters The Helsinki Roosters are an American football team based in Helsinki, Finland established in 1979. The team plays in the Vaahteraliiga Maple League in Finland and their home field is the Helsinki Velodrome. History Roosters were founded in 19 ...
*1996 –
Helsinki Roosters The Helsinki Roosters are an American football team based in Helsinki, Finland established in 1979. The team plays in the Vaahteraliiga Maple League in Finland and their home field is the Helsinki Velodrome. History Roosters were founded in 19 ...
*1997 –
Helsinki Roosters The Helsinki Roosters are an American football team based in Helsinki, Finland established in 1979. The team plays in the Vaahteraliiga Maple League in Finland and their home field is the Helsinki Velodrome. History Roosters were founded in 19 ...
*1998 –
Helsinki Roosters The Helsinki Roosters are an American football team based in Helsinki, Finland established in 1979. The team plays in the Vaahteraliiga Maple League in Finland and their home field is the Helsinki Velodrome. History Roosters were founded in 19 ...
*
1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
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Helsinki Roosters The Helsinki Roosters are an American football team based in Helsinki, Finland established in 1979. The team plays in the Vaahteraliiga Maple League in Finland and their home field is the Helsinki Velodrome. History Roosters were founded in 19 ...
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2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
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Helsinki Roosters The Helsinki Roosters are an American football team based in Helsinki, Finland established in 1979. The team plays in the Vaahteraliiga Maple League in Finland and their home field is the Helsinki Velodrome. History Roosters were founded in 19 ...
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2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
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Seinäjoki Crocodiles The Seinäjoki Crocodiles are an American football team from Seinäjoki, Finland. The team plays in the Finnish Maple League and it has also played in the European Football League The European Football League (EFL) established in 1986, was a ...
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2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...
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Helsinki Roosters The Helsinki Roosters are an American football team based in Helsinki, Finland established in 1979. The team plays in the Vaahteraliiga Maple League in Finland and their home field is the Helsinki Velodrome. History Roosters were founded in 19 ...
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2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...
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Turku Trojans Turku Trojans is one of the oldest American football teams in Finland, established in 1982. Turku Trojans in 2024 play in Division 2 (Tier 3). The Trojans previously have played in the Maple League Vaahteraliiga (highest level) in Finland operate ...
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2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
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Helsinki Roosters The Helsinki Roosters are an American football team based in Helsinki, Finland established in 1979. The team plays in the Vaahteraliiga Maple League in Finland and their home field is the Helsinki Velodrome. History Roosters were founded in 19 ...
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2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
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Porvoo Butchers Porvoo (; ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located on the south coast of the country, on the Gulf of Finland. Porvoo lies in the eastern part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Porvoo is approximately , while the sub-region has a populati ...
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2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...
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Porvoo Butchers Porvoo (; ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located on the south coast of the country, on the Gulf of Finland. Porvoo lies in the eastern part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Porvoo is approximately , while the sub-region has a populati ...
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2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...
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Porvoo Butchers Porvoo (; ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located on the south coast of the country, on the Gulf of Finland. Porvoo lies in the eastern part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Porvoo is approximately , while the sub-region has a populati ...
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2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
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Porvoo Butchers Porvoo (; ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located on the south coast of the country, on the Gulf of Finland. Porvoo lies in the eastern part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Porvoo is approximately , while the sub-region has a populati ...
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2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
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Porvoo Butchers Porvoo (; ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located on the south coast of the country, on the Gulf of Finland. Porvoo lies in the eastern part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Porvoo is approximately , while the sub-region has a populati ...
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2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
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Porvoo Butchers Porvoo (; ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located on the south coast of the country, on the Gulf of Finland. Porvoo lies in the eastern part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Porvoo is approximately , while the sub-region has a populati ...
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2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
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Helsinki Wolverines The Helsinki Wolverines are a Finland, Finnish American football club based in Helsinki and was founded in 1995. The clubs Top Men's Team plays in the Vaahteraliiga of the American Football Association of Finland which is the highest ranking leve ...
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2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
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Helsinki Roosters The Helsinki Roosters are an American football team based in Helsinki, Finland established in 1979. The team plays in the Vaahteraliiga Maple League in Finland and their home field is the Helsinki Velodrome. History Roosters were founded in 19 ...
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2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
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Helsinki Roosters The Helsinki Roosters are an American football team based in Helsinki, Finland established in 1979. The team plays in the Vaahteraliiga Maple League in Finland and their home field is the Helsinki Velodrome. History Roosters were founded in 19 ...
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2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
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Helsinki Roosters The Helsinki Roosters are an American football team based in Helsinki, Finland established in 1979. The team plays in the Vaahteraliiga Maple League in Finland and their home field is the Helsinki Velodrome. History Roosters were founded in 19 ...
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2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
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Helsinki Roosters The Helsinki Roosters are an American football team based in Helsinki, Finland established in 1979. The team plays in the Vaahteraliiga Maple League in Finland and their home field is the Helsinki Velodrome. History Roosters were founded in 19 ...
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2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
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Helsinki Roosters The Helsinki Roosters are an American football team based in Helsinki, Finland established in 1979. The team plays in the Vaahteraliiga Maple League in Finland and their home field is the Helsinki Velodrome. History Roosters were founded in 19 ...
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2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...
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Helsinki Roosters The Helsinki Roosters are an American football team based in Helsinki, Finland established in 1979. The team plays in the Vaahteraliiga Maple League in Finland and their home field is the Helsinki Velodrome. History Roosters were founded in 19 ...
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2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
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Helsinki Roosters The Helsinki Roosters are an American football team based in Helsinki, Finland established in 1979. The team plays in the Vaahteraliiga Maple League in Finland and their home field is the Helsinki Velodrome. History Roosters were founded in 19 ...
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2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...
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Helsinki Roosters The Helsinki Roosters are an American football team based in Helsinki, Finland established in 1979. The team plays in the Vaahteraliiga Maple League in Finland and their home field is the Helsinki Velodrome. History Roosters were founded in 19 ...
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2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...
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Kuopio Steelers The Kuopio Steelers (formerly known as Varkaus Steelers) are an American football team originally from Varkaus, Finland in years 1991-2005,2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...
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Kuopio Steelers The Kuopio Steelers (formerly known as Varkaus Steelers) are an American football team originally from Varkaus, Finland in years 1991-2005,2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...
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Kuopio Steelers The Kuopio Steelers (formerly known as Varkaus Steelers) are an American football team originally from Varkaus, Finland in years 1991-2005,2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...
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Porvoo Butchers Porvoo (; ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located on the south coast of the country, on the Gulf of Finland. Porvoo lies in the eastern part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Porvoo is approximately , while the sub-region has a populati ...
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2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...
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Helsinki Roosters The Helsinki Roosters are an American football team based in Helsinki, Finland established in 1979. The team plays in the Vaahteraliiga Maple League in Finland and their home field is the Helsinki Velodrome. History Roosters were founded in 19 ...


References


External links


Official website

Vaahteraliiga at sajl.fi
{{Top sport leagues in Finland Vaahteraliiga American football leagues in Europe American football in Finland 1980 establishments in Finland Sports leagues established in 1980 American expatriate players of American football