Meistriliiga

Meistriliiga (pronounced [ˈmeistriliːɡ̊ɑː], known as the A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons) is the highest division of the Estonian Football Association annual football championship. The league was founded in 1992, and is semi-professional with amateur clubs allowed to compete.

Meistriliiga

Founded	1992
Country	Estonia
Confederation	UEFA
Number of teams	10
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Esiliiga
Domestic cup(s)	Estonian Cup Estonian Supercup
International cup(s)	UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League UEFA Europa Conference League
Current champions	Flora (13th title) (2020)
Most championships	Flora (13 titles)
Top goalscorer	Maksim Gruznov (304 goals)
TV partners	ETV2, ETV+, soccernet.ee
Website	Official website
Current: 2020 season

As in most countries with low temperatures in winter time, the season starts in March and ends in November. Meistriliiga consists of ten clubs, all teams play each other four times. After each season the bottom team is relegated and the second last team plays a two-legged play-off for a place in the Meistriliiga.

In February 2013, A. Le Coq, an Estonian brewery company, signed a five-year cooperation agreement with the Estonian Football Association, which included Meistriliiga naming rights.[1]

2020 season

The following 10 clubs will compete in the Meistriliiga during the 2020 season.

Club	Position in 2019	First season in Meistriliiga	Seasons in Meistriliiga	Current spell since	Titles	Last title/ Best finish
FCI Levadia^c	2nd	1999	22	1999	9	2014
Flora^a, b, c	1st	1992	30	1992	12	2019
Kuressaare	9th	2000	12	2018	0	7th
Narva Trans^a, b, c	6th	1992	30	1992	0	2nd
Nõmme Kalju^c	3rd	2008	13	2008	2	2018
Paide Linnameeskond^c	4th	2009	12	2009	0	4th
Tallinna Kalev	8th	2007	9	2018	0	6th
Legion	Esiliiga, 1st	2020	0	2020	0	-
Tammeka^c	5th	2005	16	2005	0	5th
Tulevik^a	7th	1992	21	2017	0	2nd

^a = Founding member of the Meistriliiga
^b = Played in every Meistriliiga season
^c = Never been relegated from the Meistriliiga

Champions

Season	Champions	Runners-up	Third place	Top goalscorer	Goals
1992	Norma	Eesti Põlevkivi	TVMV	Sergei Bragin (Norma)	18
1992–93	Norma (2)	Flora	Nikol	Sergei Bragin (Norma)	27
1993–94	Flora	Norma	Nikol	Maksim Gruznov (Narva Trans/Tevalte)	21
1994–95	Flora (2)	Lantana-Marlekor	Narva Trans	Serhiy Morozov (Lantana-Marlekor)	25
1995–96	Lantana	Flora	Tevalte-Marlekor	Lembit Rajala (Flora)	16
1996–97	Lantana (2)	Flora	Tallinna Sadam	Sergei Bragin (Lantana)	18
1997–98	Flora (3)	Tallinna Sadam	Lantana	Konstantin Kolbassenko (Tallinna Sadam)	18
1998	Flora (4)	Tallinna Sadam	Lantana	Konstantin Kolbassenko (Tallinna Sadam)	13
1999	Levadia	Tulevik	Flora	Toomas Krõm (Levadia)	19
2000	Levadia (2)	Flora	TVMK	Egidijus Juška (TVMK) Toomas Krõm (Levadia)	24
2001	Flora (5)	TVMK	Levadia	Maksim Gruznov (Narva Trans)	37
2002	Flora (6)	Levadia	TVMK	Andrei Krõlov (TVMK)	37
2003	Flora (7)	TVMK	Levadia	Tor Henning Hamre (Flora)	39
2004	Levadia (3)	TVMK	Flora	Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko (Flora)	28
2005	TVMK	Levadia	Narva Trans	Tarmo Neemelo (TVMK)	41
2006	Levadia (4)	Narva Trans	Flora	Maksim Gruznov (Narva Trans)	31
2007	Levadia (5)	Flora	TVMK	Dmitri Lipartov (Narva Trans)	30
2008	Levadia (6)	Flora	Narva Trans	Ingemar Teever (Nõmme Kalju)	23
2009	Levadia (7)	Sillamäe Kalev	Narva Trans	Vitali Gussev (Levadia)	26
2010	Flora (8)	Levadia	Narva Trans	Sander Post (Flora)	24
2011	Flora (9)	Nõmme Kalju	Narva Trans	Aleksandrs Čekulajevs (Narva Trans)	46
2012	Nõmme Kalju	Levadia	Flora	Vladislav Ivanov (Sillamäe Kalev/Narva Trans)	23
2013	Levadia (8)	Nõmme Kalju	Sillamäe Kalev	Vladimir Voskoboinikov (Nõmme Kalju)	23
2014	Levadia (9)	Sillamäe Kalev	Flora	Yevgeni Kabaev (Sillamäe Kalev)	36
2015	Flora (10)	Levadia	Nõmme Kalju	Ingemar Teever (Levadia)	24
2016	Infonet	Levadia	Nõmme Kalju	Yevgeni Kabaev (Sillamäe Kalev)	25
2017	Flora (11)	Levadia	Nõmme Kalju	Albert Prosa (FCI Tallinn) Rauno Sappinen (Flora)	27
2018	Nõmme Kalju (2)	FCI Levadia	Flora	Liliu (Nõmme Kalju)	31
2019	Flora (12)	FCI Levadia	Nõmme Kalju	Erik Sorga (Flora)	31
2020	Flora (13)	Paide Linnameeskond	FCI Levadia	Rauno Sappinen (Flora)	26

Total titles won

Club				Winning seasons
Flora	13	6	6	1993–94, 1994–95, 1997–98, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020
Levadia	9	9	3	1999, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014
Nõmme Kalju	2	2	4	2012, 2018
Lantana	2	1	2	1995–96, 1996–97
Norma	2	1	0	1992, 1992–93
TVMK	1	3	5	2005
FCI Tallinn	1	0	0	2016
Tallinna Sadam	0	2	1
Sillamäe Kalev	0	2	1
Narva Trans	0	1	6
Eesti Põlevkivi	0	1	0
Tulevik	0	1	0
Paide Linnameeskond	0	1	0
Nikol	0	0	2

All-time Meistriliiga table

The table is a cumulative record of all match results, points and goals of every team that has played in the Meistriliiga since its inception in 1992. The table that follows is accurate as of the end of the 2020 season. Teams in bold play in the Meistriliiga 2021 season. Numbers in bold are the record (highest) numbers in each column.

In this ranking 3 points are awarded for a win, 1 for a draw, and 0 for a loss, although Meistriliiga awarded 2 points for a win until the 1994–95 season. Championship matches, relegation matches and relegation tournament matches involving clubs of lower leagues are not counted. In 1992 Preliminary Round matches were played in two groups. The results of the matches played between teams in same group were taken to second round, thus counted twice, in this table these results are counted once.

The table is sorted by all-time points.

Pos.	Club	Seasons	Titles	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	PPG
1	Flora	30	13	901	628	153	120	2393	724	1669	2037	2.26
2	Levadia^1	22	9	737	529	133	75	1982	528	1454	1720	2.33
3	Narva Trans	30	0	902	415	176	311	1663	1222	441	1421	1.58
4	Nõmme Kalju	13	2	462	281	97	84	1025	428	597	940	2.03
5	TVMK^2	15	1	408	225	76	107	966	480	486	751	1.84
6	Tulevik^3	21	0	625	178	109	338	753	1221	-468	643	1.03
7	Sillamäe Kalev	13	0	413	183	65	165	741	681	60	614	1.49
8	Tammeka	15	0	568	159	104	305	695	1106	-411	581	1.02
9	Paide Linnameeskond	12	0	426	151	71	204	584	773	-189	524	1.23
10	FCI Tallinn^9	5	1	180	90	41	49	343	212	131	311	1.73
11	Kuressaare	13	0	438	65	60	313	339	1185	-846	255	0.58
12	Lantana	6	2	138	73	34	31	271	144	127	253	1.83
13	Tallinna Kalev	9	0	318	58	50	210	299	768	-469	224	0.70
14	Tallinna Sadam	6	0	132	67	19	46	271	168	103	220	1.67
15	Eesti Põlevkivi	9	0	162	50	40	72	224	276	-52	190	1.17
16	Norma	4	2	78	49	7	22	223	111	112	154	1.97
17	Merkuur^4	6	0	153	41	28	84	204	404	-200	151	0.99
18	Vigri^5	3	0	54	31	11	12	151	64	87	104	1.93
19	Vaprus	5	0	180	27	16	137	179	576	-397	97	0.54
20	Nikol	2	0	44	30	6	8	107	36	71	96	2.18
21	Järve^6	5	0	148	22	19	107	104	394	-290	85	0.57
22	Warrior	5	0	156	21	18	117	120	425	-305	81	0.52
23	Levadia II^1	3	0	84	20	14	50	106	211	-105	74	0.88
24	Lelle	4	0	80	16	19	45	72	155	-83	67	0.84
25	Dünamo	4	0	89	16	11	62	92	277	-185	59	0.66
26	DAG^7	4	0	68	16	9	43	85	199	-114	57	0.84
27	Viljandi	2	0	72	14	14	44	70	157	-87	56	0.78
28	Pärnu Linnameeskond	2	0	72	11	10	51	62	185	-123	43	0.60
29	Tervis Pärnu	2	0	46	11	5	30	38	92	-54	38	0.83
30	Keemik	2	0	31	10	6	15	41	72	-31	36	1.16
31	Ajax	3	0	108	7	13	88	60	449	-389	34	0.31
32	Legion	1	0	30	8	7	15	26	44	-18	31	1.03
33	Pärnu^8	3	0	38	5	5	28	36	120	-84	20	0.53
34	Lokomotiv	1	0	36	4	6	26	35	115	-80	18	0.50
35	Maardu Linnameeskond	1	0	36	4	5	27	30	118	-88	17	0.47
36	Pärnu Levadia	1	0	28	1	5	22	19	96	-77	8	0.29
37	Tarvas	1	0	36	0	3	33	15	113	-98	3	0.09
38	Vall	1	0	14	0	1	13	9	44	-35	1	0.07
39	Maardu	1	0	9	0	0	9	6	59	-53	0	0

Notes

• Note 1: 1999–2003 FC Levadia Maardu, 2004– FC Levadia. Not to be confused with FC Levadia Tallinn 2001-2003 a separate team owned by the steel company Levadia. In 2004 the clubs were merged FC Levadia Maardu were moved to Tallinn and became FC Levadia, former FC Levadia Tallinn become their reserves as FC Levadia II.
• Note 2: 1992 TVMV, 1995–1996 Tevalte-Marlekor, 1996–1997 Marlekor, 1997–2008 TVMK
• Note 3: 1992 Viljandi JK, 1993– Viljandi Tulevik
• Note 4: 1992–2005 Merkuur, 2006 Maag
• Note 5: 1992–1993 Vigri, 1993–1995 Tevalte, 1996–1999 Vigri
• Note 6: 2000–2003 Kohtla-Järve Lootus, 2004 Alutaguse Lootus, 2005–2012 Kohtla-Järve Lootus, 2013– Kohtla-Järve Järve
• Note 7: 1992 Tartu Kalev, 1992–1994 EsDAG, 1994– DAG
• Note 8: 1992 Pärnu JK, 1994–1996 PJK Kalev
• Note 8: 2011–2016 Infonet, 2017 FCI Tallinn

Records

All as of end of 2020 season if not stated otherwise.

Club records

• Most titles: 13 – Flora
• Most consecutive titles: 4 – Levadia (2006–2009)
• Biggest title-winning margin: 21 points – 2009; Levadia (97 points) over Sillamäe Kalev (76 points)[2]
• Smallest title-winning margin: 0 points – 1993–94; Flora and Norma both finished on 36 points, Flora won the title in a Championship play-off match 5–2.
• Most seasons in the Meistriliiga: 30 – Flora and Narva Trans (all seasons, 1992–present)
• Most consecutive seasons in the Meistriliiga: 29 – Flora and Narva Trans (all seasons, 1992–present)
• Most points in a season: 97 – Levadia (2009)[2]
• Fewest points in a season: 0 – Maardu (1992)
• Longest unbeaten run: 61 – Levadia (10 May 2008 – 7 November 2009)[3]
• Most consecutive wins: 17 – Norma (15 May 1992 – 2 October 1993)
• Record win: Tevalte 24–0 Sillamäe Kalev (27 May 1994)[2]
• Most goals scored in a season: 138 – TVMK (2005)[2]
• Most hat-tricks in a season: 9 – Norma (1992–93)[2]
• Fewest goals in a season: 11 – Sillamäe Kalev (1993–94, 22 games), Valga (2000, 28 games), Kuressaare (2003, 28 games), Lootus (2004, 28 games), Ajax (2011, 36 games)
• Most goals per game in a season: 4.636 – Norma (1992–93, 102 goals in 22 games)[2]
• Fewest goals per game in a season: 0.306 – Ajax (2011, 11 goals in 36 games)
• Most goals against in a season: 192 – Ajax (2011)[2]
• Most clean sheets in one season: 24 – Levadia (2014)[2]

Player records

Most appearances: As of 6 December 2020. Active players in bold.[4] Rank Player Games Goals 1 Andrei Kalimullin 517 22 2 Stanislav Kitto 515 55 3 Maksim Gruznov 494 304 4 Konstantin Nahk 481 153 5 Markus Jürgenson 457 63 6 Tarmo Neemelo 450 196 7 Deniss Malov 439 93 8 Sergei Kazakov 432 34 9 Vitali Leitan 418 162 10 Andre Frolov 397 59

Most goals: As of 6 December 2020. Active players in bold.[4] Rank Player Goals Games Average 1 Maksim Gruznov 304 494 0.62 2 Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko 211 309 0.68 3 Tarmo Neemelo 196 450 0.44 4 Andrei Krõlov 162 287 0.56 Vitali Leitan 162 418 0.39 6 Ingemar Teever 157 296 0.53 7 Dmitri Lipartov 153 333 0.46 Konstantin Nahk 153 481 0.32 9 Indrek Zelinski 146 276 0.53 10 Albert Prosa 133 297 0.45

• Oldest player: Boriss Dugan – 51 years and 153 days (for Ajax v. Tammeka, 5 November 2011)[2]
• Youngest player: Andrei Tjunin – 14 years and 336 days (for Merkuur v. Dünamo, 14 May 1994)[2]
• Oldest goalscorer: Sergei Zamogilnõi – 43 years and 16 days (for Eesti Põlevkivi v. Vall, 15 September 1996)[2]
• Youngest goalscorer: Martin Vetkal – 15 years and 261 days (for Tallinna Kalev v. Tulevik, 9 November 2019)[5]
• Most goals in a season: 46 – Aleksandrs Čekulajevs (Narva Trans, 2011)[2]
• Most hat-tricks: 22 – Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko[2]
• Most goals in a match: 10 – Anatoli Novožilov (for Tevalte v. Sillamäe Kalev, 27 May 1994)[2]
• Most goals from the penalty spot: 55 – Konstantin Nahk[2]
• Fastest goal: 12 seconds – Aleksander Saharov (for Flora v. Lootus, 29 August 2004)[6][7][8]
• Fastest hat-trick: 4 minutes – Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko (for Flora v. Lootus, 18 October 2004)[9][10]
• Fastest own goal: 5 seconds – Jaanis Kriska (for Levadia v. Kuressaare, 12 September 2009)[2]
• Most clean sheets in one season: 24 – Roman Smishko (for Levadia, 2014)[2]
• Longest consecutive run without conceding a goal: 1,281 minutes – Roman Smishko (for Levadia, 5 April 2014 – 25 July 2014)[11]

Estonian champions

1921 · Sport Tallinn 1922 · Sport Tallinn 1923 · Kalev Tallinn 1924 · Sport Tallinn 1925 · Sport Tallinn 1926 · Jalgpalliklubi Tallinn

1927 · Sport Tallinn 1928 · Jalgpalliklubi Tallinn 1929 · Sport Tallinn 1930 · Kalev Tallinn 1931 · Sport Tallinn 1932 · Sport Tallinn

1933 · Sport Tallinn 1934 · Estonia Tallinn 1935 · Estonia Tallinn 1936 · Estonia Tallinn 1937–38 · Estonia Tallinn 1938–39 · Estonia Tallinn

1939–40 · Olümpia Tartu 1941 · Not Finished 1942 · PSR Tartu (unofficial) 1943 · Estonia Tallinn (unofficial) 1944 · Not Finished

Bold indicates club's first championship victory.

Estonian SSR champions

1945 · Dünamo Tallinn 1946 · BL Tallinn 1947 · Dünamo Tallinn 1948 · Balti Laevastik Tallinn 1949 · Dünamo Tallinn 1950 · Dünamo Tallinn 1951 · Balti Laevastik Tallinn 1952 · Balti Laevastik Tallinn 1953 · Dünamo Tallinn 1954 · Dünamo Tallinn 1955 · Kalev Tallinn 1956 · Balti Laevastik Tallinn

1957 · Kalev Ülemiste 1958 · Kalev Ülemiste 1959 · Kalev Ülemiste 1960 · Balti Laevastik Tallinn 1961 · Kalev Kopli 1962 · Kalev Ülemiste 1963 · Tempo Tallinn 1964 · Norma Tallinn 1965 · Balti Laevastik Tallinn 1966 · Balti Laevastik Tallinn 1967 · Norma Tallinn 1968 · Balti Laevastik Tallinn

1969 · Dvigatel Tallinn 1970 · Norma Tallinn 1971 · Tempo Tallinn 1972 · Balti Laevastik Tallinn 1973 · Kreenholm Narva 1974 · Baltika Narva 1975 · Baltika Narva 1976 · Dvigatel Tallinn 1977 · Baltika Narva 1978 · Dünamo Tallinn 1979 · Norma Tallinn 1980 · Dünamo Tallinn

1981 · Dünamo Tallinn 1982 · Tempo Tallinn 1983 · Dünamo Tallinn 1984 · Estonia Jõhvi 1985 · Kalakombinaat/MEK Pärnu 1986 · Zvezda Tallinn 1987 · Tempo Tallinn 1988 · Norma Tallinn 1989 · Zvezda Tallinn 1990 · TVMK 1991 · TVMK

References

1. "Kodune tippjalgpall saab peatoetaja" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. 26 February 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
2. "SPORT-EKSTRA: Statistikapomm! Millised rekordeid omavad FC Norma, Raio Piiroja ja hooaeg 1997-98?". Õhtuleht. 6 March 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
3. "Levadia üritab kaotuseta Transist mööda tõusta". Estonian Football Association. 15 April 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
4. "Premium liigas kõige rohkem mänginute ja väravaküttide TOP 100". Estonian Football Association. 24 November 2019.
5. "Viimases voorus purustati meistriliiga ajaloo noorima väravalööja rekord". soccernet.ee. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
6. "Saharovi nimele liigaajaloo kiireim värav". Eesti Rahvusringhääling. 10 September 2004. Archived from the original on 25 May 2014.
7. "Eile sündis Meistriliiga ajaloo kiireim värav". Soccernet.ee. 13 September 2009.
8. "VIDEO: Vladislav Ivanov lõi Transile värava juba 14. sekundil". Eesti Rahvusringhääling. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
9. "Kalju, Flora ja Levadia ei jätnud vastasele võimalust". Postimees. 12 May 2012.
10. "Laupäeval võib selguda Eesti meister". Soccernet.ee. 22 October 2004.
11. "Infonet üllatas põnevusmängus Levadiat, Smiško võimas rekordseeria sai lõpu". Postimees. 25 July 2014.

External links

• Official website
• Estonia - List of Champions at the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation website