Football in Estonia

Football in Estonia is governed by the Estonian Football Association (Eesti Jalgpalli Liit). The EJL controls the domestic club championship - Meistriliiga, the Estonian Cup and the Estonia national football team.

Domestic championship

The Estonian football league system is a series of interconnected leagues for club football in Estonia. Reserve teams play in the same league pyramid as their feeder clubs, but, like in most other leagues, can't be promoted to the same division. The system has a hierarchical format with promotion and relegation between leagues at different levels, and allows even the smallest club to dream of rising to the very top of the system. There are currently 146 teams in 12 leagues, although the exact number of clubs varies from year to year as clubs join and leave leagues or fold altogether.

*Meistriliiga - Top division, consists of Professional, Semi-professional and Amateur club sides.

*Esiliiga - Second tier of Estonian club football, consists of Amateur and Reserve clubs. Winner wins automatic promotion to the top division, runner up plays in the promotion/relegation play-off.

*II Liiga - Third level of Estonian club football consists of two regional divisions - North/East and South/West, winners of each division win automatic promotion to the Esiliiga.

*III Liiga - Fourth level of Estonian club football is divided into four regional divisions - North, East, South and West. Winners of every division win automatic promotion to II Liiga.

*IV Liiga - Fifth level of Estonian League pyramid is divided into four divisions - North, East, South and West.

Clubs participate in the Estonian Cup, an annual knock-out club competition.

Meistriliiga and Estonian Cup winners go head to head in Estonian Super Cup, annual one-game competition.

The league system

The table below shows the current structure of the system. For each division, its official name, its name in English and number of clubs is given. Each division promotes to the division(s) that lie directly above it and relegates to the division(s) that lie directly below it.

National Team

The Estonia national football team took part in the qualifying campaigns for the 1934 and 1938 FIFA World Cups in Italy and France respectively. And then, from the 1994 FIFA World Cup, in all qualifying campaigns for both the World and European Championships, although they have, so far, failed to qualify for any major competition.

Estonia's highest FIFA ranking (60th) came in December 2002.

See also

*Estonia national football team
*Estonian Footballer of the Year
*Meistriliiga
*Esiliiga
*Estonian Cup
*Estonian SuperCup

External links

* [http://jalgpall.struktuur.ee/ Official Website of Estonian Football Association] et icon
* [http://www.soccernet.ee/ Estonia's biggest football website] et icon