Tags: Ice Hockey League, Sports League.
The Liiga known as SM-liiga from 1975 to 2013 and colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. As of March 2008 it is ranked by the IIHF as the second strongest league in Europe. 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.