The pre-season was severely affected by license revocations to two teams, which eventually resulted in a later than originally scheduled begin date and an increase of scheduled matches from 26 to 33 per team.
The league was originally supposed to have 14 teams, but AC Oulu was refused a license due to club's bad economic situation and Tampere United was excluded from every official competition of Football Association of Finland due to breaking the rules of the association, and the league will therefore be played with only 12 teams.
[3][4] AC Oulu was, however, obtained a license for Ykkönen, where it will play this season.
FC Lahti were relegated to Ykkönen after finishing at the bottom of the 2010 season.
13th-placed Veikkausliiga team JJK and Ykkönen runners-up FC Viikingit competed in a two-legged relegation play-offs for one spot in this season.