Meistriliiga

This article is about the Estonian football league. For other uses, see Meistriliiga (disambiguation).

Meistriliiga

Countries	Estonia
Confederation	UEFA
Founded	1992
Number of teams	10
Levels on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Esiliiga
Domestic cup(s)	Estonian Cup
International cup(s)	Champions League UEFA Europa League
Current champions	Flora (2011)
Most championships	Flora (9 titles)
Most capped player	Maksim Gruznov (433)[1]
Top goalscorer	Maksim Gruznov (286)[2]
TV partners	TV6
Website	http://www.jalgpall.ee
2011 season

Meistriliiga is the highest division of the Estonian Football Association annual football championship. The league was founded in 1991 and the current, 2011 is the league's 21st season. As of 2009^[update] it is not fully professional; only six teams are professionals, and the other four teams are semi-professional.

As in most countries with low temperatures in winter time, the season starts around March and ends in late November. The championship's top division consists of ten clubs, all teams play each other four times. After each season the bottom team is relegated, with the winner of Esiliiga being promoted (unless it is a reserve team for a Meistriliiga team, in which case the next team receives automatic promotion) and the 2nd last team from Meistriliiga and the 2nd team from Esiliiga play a two-legged playoff for a place in the Meistriliiga.

Meistriliiga clubs 2011

The following ten clubs are competing in the Meistriliiga during the 2011 season.

Club	Position in 2010	First season in top division	Number of seasons in Meistriliiga	First season of current spell in top division	Top division titles	Last top division title / Best finish
Floraa,b,c	1st	1992	21	1992	9	2011
Kaljuc	4th	2008	4	2008	0	2nd
Kuressaare	9th	2000	8	2009	0	7th
Lasnamäe Ajax	3rd, Esiliiga	2006	3	2011	0	8th
Levadiac	2nd	1999	13	1999	7	2009
Paide LMc	8th	2009	3	2009	0	6th
Sillamäe Kaleva	5th	1992	7	2008	0	2nd
Tammekac	6th	2005	7	2005	0	5th
Transa,b,c	3rd	1992	21	1992	0	2nd
Viljandi	–	2011	1	2011	0	8th

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

Champions and top goalscorers

Season	Champion	Runner-Up	3rd Position	Top Goalscorer
1992	Norma	Eesti Põlevkivi	TVMK	Sergei Bragin (Norma, 18 goals)
1992–93	Norma	Flora	Nikol	Sergei Bragin (Norma, 27 goals)
1993–94	Flora	Norma	Nikol/Marlekor	Maksim Gruznov (Trans, 21 goals)
1994–95	Flora	Lantana/Marlekor	Trans	Serhiy Morozov (Lantana/Marlekor, 25 goals)
1995–96	Lantana	Flora	Tevalte/Marlekor	Lembit Rajala (Flora, 16 goals)
1996–97	Lantana	Flora	Marlekor	Sergei Bragin (Lantana, 18 goals)
1997–98	Flora	Sadam	Lantana	Konstantin Nahk (Sadam, 18 goals)
1998	Flora	Sadam	Lantana	Konstantin Nahk (Sadam, 13 goals)
1999	Levadia	Tulevik	Flora	Toomas Krõm (Levadia, 19 goals)
2000	Levadia	Flora	TVMK	Egidijus Juška (TVMK, 24 goals) Toomas Krõm (Levadia, 24 goals)
2001	Flora	TVMK	Levadia	Maksim Gruznov (Trans, 37 goals)
2002	Flora	Levadia	TVMK	Andrei Krõlov (TVMK, 37 goals)
2003	Flora	TVMK	Levadia	Tor Henning Hamre (Flora, 39 goals)
2004	Levadia	TVMK	Flora	Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko (Flora, 28 goals)
2005	TVMK	Levadia	Trans	Tarmo Neemelo (TVMK, 41 goals)
2006	Levadia	Trans	Flora	Maksim Gruznov (Trans, 31 goals)
2007	Levadia	Flora	TVMK	Dmitry Lipartov (Trans, 30 goals)
2008	Levadia	Flora	Trans	Ingemar Teever (Kalju, 23 goals)
2009	Levadia	Sillamäe Kalev	Trans	Vitali Gussev (Levadia, 26 goals)
2010	Flora	Levadia	Trans	Sander Post (Flora, 24 goals)
2011	Flora	Kalju	Trans	Aleksandrs Čekulajevs (Trans, 46 goals)

Performance by club

Club	1st	2nd	3rd	Seasons Won
Flora	9	6	3	1993–94, 1994–95, 1997–98, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2010, 2011
Levadia	7	3	2	1999, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
Lantana/Marlekor/Nikol	2	1	3	1995–96, 1996–97
Norma	2	1	0	1992, 1992–93
TVMK/Tevalte/Marlekor	1	3	6	2005
Sadam	0	2	0
Trans	0	1	6
Tulevik	0	1	0
Eesti Põlevkivi	0	1	0
Sillamäe Kalev	0	1	0
Nõmme Kalju	0	1	0

All-time 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 2009 season. Teams in bold are part of the 2010 Meistriliiga. Numbers in bold are the record (highest) numbers in each column.

Pos.	Club	Seasons	Titles	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Avg. pts
1	Flora	19	7	515	348	95	72	1372	419	953	1139	2.21
2	Trans	19	0	515	262	100	153	1048	661	387	886	1.72
3	Levadia	11	7	348	263	57	28	1006	255	751	846	2.43
4	TVMK	15	1	411	226	77	108	972	486	486	755	1.84
5	Tulevik	15	0	419	132	81	206	560	773	−213	477	1.14
6	Lantana	6	2	138	73	34	31	275	162	113	253	1.83
7	Sadam	6	0	132	67	19	46	271	168	103	220	1.67
8	Eesti Põlevkivi	9	0	165	50	43	72	231	283	−52	193	1.17
9	Norma	4	2	81	52	7	22	237	113	124	163	2.01
10	Merkuur/Maag	6	0	155	41	29	85	206	407	−201	152	0.98
11	Sillamäe Kalev	5	0	127	45	15	67	175	302	−127	150	1.18
12	Kalju	2	0	72	31	16	25	130	111	19	109	1.51
13	Vigri/Tevalte	3	0	57	32	11	14	156	72	84	107	1.88
14	Kuressaare	6	0	192	27	19	146	140	592	−452	100	0.52
15	Nikol	2	0	44	30	6	8	107	36	71	96	2.18
16	Tammeka	3	0	108	27	15	66	124	231	−107	96	0.89
17	Maag Tammeka	2	0	72	27	12	33	99	116	−17	93	1.29
18	Tallinna Kalev	3	0	108	23	16	69	113	236	−123	85	0.79
19	Warrior	5	0	156	21	18	117	120	425	−305	81	0.52
20	Vaprus	3	0	108	23	7	78	125	307	−182	76	0.70
21	Levadia II	3	0	84	20	14	50	106	211	−105	74	0.88
22	Lelle	4	0	80	16	19	45	72	155	−83	67	0.84
23	Dünamo	4	0	91	18	11	62	98	278	−180	65	0.71
24	Lootus	4	0	112	16	17	79	82	291	−209	65	0.58
25	Tartu Kalev/DAG	4	0	71	16	11	44	91	213	−122	59	0.83
26	Keemik	2	0	33	11	7	15	45	73	−28	40	1.21
27	Tervis	2	0	46	11	5	30	50	104	−54	38	0.83
28	Ajax Lasnamäe	2	0	72	7	9	56	49	257	−208	30	0.42
29	Paide LM	1	0	36	6	4	26	21	97	−76	22	0.61
30	PJK	3	0	41	5	6	30	40	130	−90	21	0.51
31	Levadia Pärnu	1	0	28	1	5	22	19	96	−77	8	0.29
32	Vall	1	0	14	0	1	13	9	44	−35	1	0.07
33	Maardu	1	0	11	0	0	11	7	64	−57	0	0.00

1921–1944 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 Tallinn 1991 · TVMK Tallinn

Individual all-time leaders

Appearance leaders Rank Player Apps 1 Maksim Gruznov 462 2 Stanislav Kitto 457 3 Konstantin Nahk 423 4 Vitali Leitan 406 5 Martin Reim 385 6 Aleksandr Tarassenkov 381 7 Martin Kaalma 369 = Teet Allas 369 9 Andrei Kalimullin 367 10 Sergei Kazakov 366 As of 30.10.2011.[3] Players in bold are still active in Meistriliiga.

Goal scoring leaders Rank Player Gls 1 Maksim Gruznov 302 2 Andrei Krõlov 162 3 Vitali Leitan 158 4 Dmitry Lipartov 152 5 Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko 151 6 Konstantin Nahk 147 7 Indrek Zelinski 146 8 Dmitri Ustritski 124 9 Sergei Bragin 118 10 Tarmo Neemelo 115 As of 30.10.2011.[4] Players in bold are still active in Meistriliiga.

Notable foreign players

Azerbaijan Zaur Tagizade Finland Juha Hakola Jasse Jalonen Jonatan Johansson Janne Oinas Georgia Otar Korghalidze Latvia Aleksandrs Cekulajevs Viktors Dobrecovs Aleksandrs Laško

Lithuania Algimantas Briaunis Egidijus Juška Martynas Karalius Darius Magdišauskas Viktoras Olšanskis Vadimas Petrenko Arūnas Pukelevičius Tomas Ražanauskas Darius Regelskis Modestas Stonys Raimondas Vainoras Ričardas Zdančius

Netherlands Ray Fränkel Norway Tor Henning Hamre Glen Atle Larsen Russia Nikita Andreev Japan Hidetoshi Wakui Hiroyuki Mitsuyama

UEFA Rankings

UEFA Country Ranking (Previous year rank in italics)^[5]

• 42 (41) Liechtenstein Football Cup
• 43 (47) Montenegrin First League
• 44 (44) Albanian Superliga
• 45 (43) Meistriliiga
• 46 (46) Welsh Premier League
• 47 (45) Armenian Premier League

References

1. ^ 7.11.2010
2. ^ 7.11.2010
3. ^ TOP 100 – mängude arv Meistriliigas seisuga 7.11.2010
4. ^ FC Flora — TOP 100 – edukamad väravalööjad Meistriliigas
5. ^ UEFA Country Ranking 2010

External links

• Estonian Football Association