2020 in Estonian football

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The 2020 season saw one new team. Maardu Linnameeskond finished last in 2019, and as such, were automatically relegated to the Esiliiga. They were replaced by Tallinna Legion, a team that had been promoted three seasons in a row. Manager Denis Belov said that the club were aiming for a top four position,[4] with the debutant making several high-profile signings (these being Maksim Gussev, Pavel Londak and Andrei Sidorenkov). Additionally, two of the top three teams from the previous season hired a new manager. FCI Levadia hired former national team coach Martin Reim, while Nõmme Kalju's new manager was Marko Kristal. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Estonian FA decided to split the league into 'champion' (top six teams) and 'relegation (bottom four teams) groups after the 27th round.[5] On the 7th of November it was decided that instead of the top six teams playing each other after the 27th round, only the league's four best teams will play with each other once more. The 5th amd 6th placed clubs will play a match if the 6th team has a possibility of catching the 5th placed team.[6]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation 1 Tallinna Flora (C) 29 26 2 1 76 17 +59 80 Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round 2 Paide Linnameeskond 30 21 1 8 80 43 +37 64 Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round 3 Tallinna Levadia 29 17 6 6 66 37 +29 57 4 Nõmme Kalju 30 14 7 9 52 31 +21 49 5 Tartu Tammeka 28 8 8 12 33 44 −11 32 6 Viljandi Tulevik 28 9 4 15 30 46 −16 31 7 Tallinna Legion 30 8 7 15 26 44 −18 31 8 Narva Trans 30 6 7 17 31 49 −18 25 9 Kuressaare (O) 30 5 9 16 28 63 −35 24 Qualification for the relegation play-offs 10 Tallinna Kalev (R) 30 5 5 20 20 68 −48 20 Relegation to the Esiliiga Source: UEFA, Estonian FA (in Estonian) Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Less matches awarded against; 3) Head-to-head points; 4) Head-to-head goal difference; 5) Matches won; 6) Goal difference; 7) Goals scored; 8) Away goals scored; 9) Fairplay ranking.[7] (C) Champion; (O) Play-off winner; (R) Relegated.

Flora / Levadia Kalev / Legion Kalju Paide Tammeka Trans Tulevik Kuressaare Locations of the 2020 Meistriliiga teams

Relegation play-off:

There were four changes of clubs compared to the 2019 season. Esiliiga B's reigning champion Nõmme United were promoted to the second tier for the first time in their history, while Pärnu and Vändra Vaprus were also promoted, returning to the league after twelve and four years respectively in lower divisions. The three clubs replaced Tartu Welco, Tallinna Kalev U21 and Rakvere Tarvas, who were relegated after the 2019 season. Maardu Linnameeskond was relegated from the top division, taking the place of 2019 Esiliiga champion Tallinna Legion. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Estonian FA decided to split the league into 'promotion' (top six teams) and 'relegation (bottom four teams) groups after the 27th round.[8]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion, qualification or relegation 1 Pärnu Vaprus (C, P) 32 19 8 5 72 30 +42 65 Promotion to the Meistriliiga 2 Maardu Linnameeskond 32 20 4 8 68 45 +23 64 Qualification for promotion play-offs 3 Nõmme United 32 16 7 9 76 43 +33 55 4 Tallinna Flora U21[lower-alpha 1] 32 15 6 11 64 46 +18 51 5 Elva 32 14 7 11 54 52 +2 49 6 Tartu Tammeka U21[lower-alpha 1] 32 12 3 17 47 68 −21 39 7 Tallinna Levadia U21[lower-alpha 1] 30 12 5 13 42 41 +1 41 8 Pärnu (O) 30 11 7 12 61 56 +5 40 Qualification for relegation play-offs 9 Vändra Vaprus (R) 30 10 2 18 47 72 −25 32 Relegation to Esiliiga B 10 Kohtla-Järve Järve (R) 30 1 3 26 13 91 −78 3[lower-alpha 2] Source: Soccerway (in English), Estonian FA (in Estonian) Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Less matches awarded against; 3) Head-to-head points; 4) Head-to-head goal difference; 5) Matches won; 6) Goal difference; 7) Goals scored; 8) Away goals scored; 9) Fairplay ranking.[7] (C) Champion; (O) Play-off winner; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated. Notes: Reserve teams are ineligible for promotion. Kohtla-Järve Järve were deducted 3 points for financial troubles.[9]

Flora U21 Levadia U21 Nõmme United Tammeka U21 Pärnu Vaprus Pärnu Elva Maardu LM Järve Vändra Vaprus Locations of the 2020 Esiliiga teams

Relegation play-off:

The 2020 Esiliiga B season introduced four new clubs to the division: for the first time a team from Lääne County - Läänemaa, and three bottom teams of the 2019 Esiliiga season - Rakvere Tarvas, Tallinna Kalev U21 and Tartu Welco. These clubs replace the worst team of last season - Põhja-Tallinna Volta - and the three best teams - Pärnu JK, Vändra Vaprus and Nõmme United. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Estonian FA decided to split the league into 'promotion' (top four teams) and 'relegation (bottom four teams) groups after the 27th round. The fifth and sixth team will play another match if the sixth team has a possibility of catching the fifth team.[8]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion, qualification or relegation 1 Paide Linnameeskond U21 (C, P) 30 23 2 5 112 40 +72 71 Promotion to the Esiliiga 2 Tartu Welco (P) 30 20 2 8 81 50 +31 62 3 Tallinna Kalev U21[lower-alpha 1] 30 19 1 10 81 59 +22 58 4 Tabasalu 30 16 3 11 58 46 +12 51 Qualification for promotion play-offs 5 Viimsi 28 12 5 11 60 44 +16 41 6 Läänemaa 28 11 3 14 55 64 −9 36 7 Nõmme Kalju U21 30 11 2 17 49 78 −29 35 8 Võru Helios (R) 30 10 5 15 55 68 −13 35 Qualification for relegation play-offs 9 Keila (R) 30 8 6 16 61 93 −32 30 Relegation to II Liiga 10 Rakvere Tarvas (R) 30 3 1 26 26 96 −70 10 Source: Soccerway (in English), Estonian FA (in Estonian) Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Less matches awarded against; 3) Head-to-head points; 4) Head-to-head goal difference; 5) Matches won; 6) Goal difference; 7) Goals scored; 8) Away goals scored; 9) Fairplay ranking.[7] (C) Champion; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated. Notes: Tallinna Kalev U21 is ineligible for promotion because their first team got relegated to Esiliiga.

Kalju U21 Tabasalu Kalev U21 Tarvas Viimsi Keila Paide U21 Helios Welco Läänemaa Locations of the 2020 Esiliiga B teams

Relegation play-off:

Maardu II

TALLINN

Järve II

Sil. Kalev

Trans II

Noorus-96

Wolves

Helios / Welco II

Tammeka III

Viimsi II

Joker

Saue / Harju

Raplamaa

Paide III

Põhja-Sakala

Tulevik U21

Poseidon / Vaprus II

Kuressaare II

Kose

Locations of the 2020 II liiga teams

Group A (North & East)
Compared to the 2019 season, there were three changes of teams. FC Tallinn, winner of the III liiga East, and play-off winner Tartu Helios were promoted from the III liiga, replacing Tartu Santos and Tallinna Ararat, who were both relegated. Meanwhile, Põhja-Tallinna Volta were relegated from the Esiliiga B after just one season. They took their reserve team's spot in the league, who were hence relegated to the III liiga. While two clubs (FCI Tallinn and Sillamäe Kalev) would have been promoted to the Esiliiga B from the results of the previous season, both remained in the fourth tier of Estonian football. FCI Tallinn could not be promoted as they were the second reserve team of FCI Levadia and would have been required to compete in the third tier as Tallinna FCI Levadia U19.[10] Sillamäe Kalev, on the other hand, was yet to pay its debts and was forbidden from entering the top three leagues.[11]

The 2020 season ended with Tallinna JK Legion II winning its first title. They were ahead of the second-placed debutant FC Tallinn by only head-to-head points (5:2 and 3:2 to Legion II) and FCI Tallinn, who were the reigning champions, finished third with 57 points, which is the most points for a bronze medalist. Jõgeva Wolves withdrew their last two games (in addition to one in the middle of the season) and was therefore disqualified from the league. The second to last team was Tartu Tammeka III, who was passed by Tartu Helios in the last rounds. The season's most-watched game was held on 29 July, when Narva Trans U21 defeated Tallinna Legion II. The match, which was played on the Narva Kalev-FAMA stadium, had 202 people in attendance.

Group B (South & West)

While in previous years the league had seen many arrivals and departures every season, in 2020, only two clubs joined the league. Two clubs from the Saue Parish were victorious in their respective leagues: Saue, champions of the 2019 III liiga West, made its return to the league after three years, while Harju Laagri made its debut in the fourth tier of Estonian football after winning the III liiga North in 2019. These two clubs will replace Läänemaa, who got promoted to the Esiliiga B (as neither Paide Linnameeskond III nor Tallinna Kalev III could have been promoted[10]), and Kose, who finished the 2019 season in last place and were relegated to the III liiga West.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic previous season's second-best team, Tallinna Kalev III, decided against taking part this season. They got replaced by Kose, who was originally supposed to play in III liiga. The season was comfortably won by Paide Linnameeskond III, who won its third title in a row. In addition, it is the best result – only one draw and zero losses from 26 games – in the league's history (Pärnu Vaprus also amassed 76 points in 2004 but had two games more). Due to the fact that Paide Linnameeskond III would have to change its name to Paide Linnameeskond U19, the club opted against getting promoted. Therefore, second-placed Harju Laagri got promoted instead. Also, none of the following three teams (Raasiku Joker, Saue and Kuressaare II) wanted to participate in the promotion play-offs and thus II liiga N/E second-placed Tallinn got to play with Esiliiga B's 8th team.[12] The season's relegated teams were Pärnu Poseidon and Kose, who were in the bottom two for most of the year. Põhja-Sakala was third from last and had to compete in the relegation play-offs. In the end they decided against playing and were thus also relegated. The league's top scorer was Kuressaare II's Maarek Suursaar with his 38 goals. The most-viewed game of the 2020 season was held in the second to last round when the champions beat the home team Raplamaa in front of 132 fans.

Group A (North & East) Pos Team Pld Pts 1 Tallinna Legion II (C, P) 26 60 2 Tallinn (P) 26 60 3 FCI Tallinn 26 57 4 Narva Trans U21 26 53 5 Tartu Welco II 26 45 6 Sillamäe Kalev 26 42 7 Põhja-Tallinna Volta 26 33 8 Jõgeva Noorus-96 26 33 9 Kohtla-Järve Järve U21 26 32 10 Maardu Linnameeskond II 26 30 11 Tartu Helios 26 28 12 Lasnamäe Ajax 26 24 13 Tartu Tammeka III (R) 26 21 14 Jõgeva Wolves (D, R) 26 10 Source: EJL (C) Champion; (D) Disqualified; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated.

Group B (South & West) Pos Team Pld Pts 1 Paide Linnameeskond III (C) 26 76 2 Harju Laagri (P) 26 59 3 Raasiku Joker 26 57 4 Saue 26 55 5 Kuressaare II 26 51 6 Viimsi II 26 41 7 Raplamaa 26 37 8 Tallinna Piraaja 26 33 9 Tallinna Flora U19 26 31 10 Viljandi Tulevik U21 26 27 11 Pärnu Vaprus II 26 26 12 Põhja-Sakala (R) 26 20 13 Kose 26 9 14 Pärnu Poseidon (R) 26 6 Source: EJL (C) Champion; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated.

Champion's match:

Relegation play-off:
The play-offs for the last places in the next season's II liiga were held on four separate occasions: first the preliminary rounds on the 8th and 14th of November and later the finals on the 18th and 22nd of November. The preliminary rounds are held between the second-placed teams in the fifth division (the South and West as well as the North and East silver medalists play each other). Due to the fact that the South league's second team Otepää did not wish to get promoted, Rummu Dünamo reached the finals without a game. In addition, their next opponent Põhja-Sakala also forfeited the duel and thus the team playing in Paldiski Arena was promoted to the higher tier. In the North-East side there were more play-off games: while the III liiga North second-placed Tallinna Zenit also opted against promotion, they were replaced by the sixth placed Saku Sporting. In the end the club situated in Saku managed to defeat Paide Linnameeskond IV and reach the finals, where they went against Lasnamäe Ajax, who competed in the Esiliiga B two years before. Saku won their first match at home, but suffered a 0–3 loss in Tallinn.

Aliens

Loo

Järve III

Kalev

Anija

Järva-Jaani

Phoenix

Paide IV

Ganvix

Tarvas II

Keila II

Rummu

Kernu / Zenit

Hiiumaa

Märjamaa

Pärnu II

Tabasalu II

Vastseliina

Äksi

TARTU

TRT77

Elva II

Tarvastu

Lootos

Otepää

Warrior

Imavere

TALLINN

Saku

Locations of the 2020 III liiga teams

Group A (North)
Estonian's fifth tier North division, which has mostly clubs from the capital, had three new teams in 2020. Tallinna Ararat, who got relegated from II liiga after last season, joined the league after nine seasons in upper divisions. In addition, IV liiga's champion Nõmme Kalju III and Toompea got promoted and therefore replaced Harju Laagri (promoted), Tallinna Olympic Olybet and Maarjamäe Igiliikur (both relegated). Tallinna Štrommi, who finished last in 2019, got to stay in the division.

The season finished with Lilleküla Retro winning its third title in the III liiga. The team, who was managed by Tarmo Rüütli, only lost three games during the whole season and ended the year with an eleven-point gap to the nearest rival Tallinna Zenit. The league's top scorer was Retro's striker Dmitry Skiperskiy with his 37 goals in 22 games. The two teams who got relegated where Toompea, who lost 13 games in a row, and Rumori Calcio, who got passed by Nõmme Kalju III in the penultimate round. Due to the fact that none of the teams above the sixth-placed Saku Sporting wished to get promoted, the Harjumaa-based team got to participate in the promotion play-offs.

Group B (South)
III liiga South had four changes in comparison to the previous year: both Tartu Helios II and Tartu TRT77 will be debuting in the fifth division, Põlva Lootos returns after a year in the IV liiga and Imavere joins the league after having skipped last season entirely. These teams replace Tartu Helios (promoted), Illi & Jõgeva Noorus-96 ÜM (relegated) as well as EMÜ and Võru Helios II, who will not participate in the league system this year.

The season, which was extremely close-fought, ended with Elva II's winning its first title. They were four points ahead of Otepää, who were the reigning champions of III liiga South. One of the seasons best performers were Vastseliina, who managed to be at the top of the table for the first fourteen rounds. Their downfall came in the autumn, when they lost four of their last eight matches. The relegation battle was between three teams - Tartu TRT77, Põlva Lootos and Äksi Wolves. While for most of the season, the trio was extremely close, then in the last few rounds, the Jõgevamaa based team fell behind. Due to the fact that in the 17th round, Tarvastu & Tõrva ÜM withdrew for a second time, they were instantly disqualified from the season. Therefore them as well as Wolves got relegated. In addition to them, 10th placed Lootos lost to Tallinna Jalgpallihaigla in the relegation play-offs and was also relegated. The season's top scorer was Elva's Karl-Ernst Saal with his 33 goals.

Group C (East)
In this season's East division there are four new members. Kohtla-Järve Järve III (promoted), Rakvere Tarvas II, Tartu Kalev and Jõhvi Phoenix, who all have not participated in any division in the last few years. They replace Tallinna Augur (relegated), Tallinn (promoted), and Kadrina as well as Põhja-Tallinna Volta III. After the COVID-19 outbreak two teams - Sillamäe and Koeru - decided also not to take part in the league this year. Therefore, there are only ten teams competing this year. One remarkable addition was made by Phoenix, who signed Vladimir Aga, former Zimbru Chișinău head coach, as their new manager.[13]

Group D (West)
Western Estonia's III league had, as III liiga East, only ten teams taking part of the season. After the COVID-19 pandemic, Kose and Pärnu Poseidon II, who were both originally supposed to play in III liiga West, were respectively promoted and relegated one league tier. Also, Põhja-Tallinna Volta II, Tabasalu II, Tallinna Legion III and Tallinna Pocarr will compete and therefore replace Saaremaa aameraaS, Pakri Alexela, Kohila Püsivus (all not taking part of the league system), Saue (promoted) and Haapsalu (relegated).

Group A (North) Pos Team Pld Pts 1 Lilleküla Retro (C, P) 22 57 2 Tallinna Zenit 22 46 3 Tallinna Hell Hunt 22 44 4 Tallinna Zapoos 22 43 5 Tallinna Eston Villa 22 40 6 Saku Sporting 22 39 7 Tallinna Ararat 22 36 8 Tallinna Dünamo 22 29 9 Tallinna Štrommi 22 15 10 Nõmme Kalju III 22 14 11 Rumori Calcio (R) 22 12 12 Toompea (R) 22 7 Source: (C) Champion; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated.

Group B (South) Pos Team Pld Pts 1 Elva II (C, P) 22 56 2 Otepää 22 52 3 Imavere 22 46 4 Vastseliina 22 46 5 Tartu Welco X 22 45 6 Tartu Tammeka IV 22 34 7 Valga Warrior 22 24 8 Tartu Helios II 22 21 9 Tartu TRT77 22 14 10 Põlva Lootos (R) 22 14 11 Äksi Wolves (R) 22 8 12 Tarvastu & Tõrva (D, R) 22 23 Source: (C) Champion; (D) Disqualified; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated.

Group C (East) Pos Team Pld Pts 1 Tartu Kalev (C, P) 18 54 2 Paide Linnameeskond IV 18 37 3 Rakvere Tarvas II 18 32 4 Türi Ganvix 18 26 5 Järva-Jaani 18 24 6 Kohtla-Järve Järve III 18 23 7 Jõhvi Phoenix 18 22 8 Loo 18 17 9 Maardu Aliens 18 14 10 Anija (R) 18 13 Source: (C) Champion; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated.

Group D (West) Pos Team Pld Pts 1 Hiiumaa (C, P) 18 39 2 Rummu Dünamo (O, P) 18 38 3 Tallinna Pocarr 18 37 4 Tabasalu II 18 34 5 Tallinna Legion III 18 27 6 Pärnu II 18 19 7 Keila II 18 18 8 Märjamaa Kompanii 18 17 9 Kernu Kadakas 18 16 10 Põhja-Tallinna Volta II 18 13 Source: (C) Champion; (O) Play-off winner; (P) Promoted.

League champion:

Relegation play-off:

After the conclusion of the 2019 season, Pärnu JK announced that they will not compete in the 2020 season due to financial difficulties. Therefore, both Nõmme Kalju and Pärnu Vaprus will be promoted to the top division, as Tallinna Legion, Tallinna Ajax and Kuressaare did not want to join the league. Coincidentally, Nõmme Kalju and Pärnu Vaprus both played in the 2019 Esiliiga relegation play-offs.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion, qualification or relegation 1 Tallinna Flora (C) 19 17 2 0 100 9 +91 53 Champions 2 Tallinna Kalev 19 12 1 6 63 39 +24 37 3 Saku Sporting 19 11 2 6 60 27 +33 35 4 Pärnu Vaprus 19 7 4 8 36 59 −23 25 5 Põlva Lootos 20 10 2 8 35 45 −10 32 6 Viljandi Tulevik & Suure-Jaani United 20 6 4 10 37 62 −25 22 7 Tartu Tammeka (O) 20 5 2 13 21 45 −24 17 Qualification for the relegation play-offs 8 Nõmme Kalju (R) 20 1 1 18 6 72 −66 4 Relegation to the Esiliiga Updated to match(es) played on 7 November. Source: Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored (C) Champion; (O) Play-off winner; (R) Relegated.

Flora Kalev Kalju Vaprus Tammeka Sporting Tulevik & SJ Lootos Locations of the 2020 Meistriliiga teams

Relegation play-off:

For the first time in nine years, Naiste Esiliiga is the lowest tier of women's football in Estonia. This was caused by the fact that only four teams applied for the II liiga spot. Therefore, the Estonian FA decided to merge the second and the third tier of women's football.[14] The 2020 season has 12 competitors: five teams remain from last season, three are promoted from the II liiga, three clubs make their debut (Tabasalu, Rakvere Tarvas and Jõhvi Phoenix) and in addition, Tallinna Ajax merged with Paide Linnanaiskond. During the season's main phase, each team played once with each other. After the 11th round, the league table was split in half and every team played five more games.

The season ended with Tallinna Ajax & Paide Linnanaiskond winning their first Esiliiga title. This ended Pärnu's reserve team's streak of winning six titles in a row. Silvermedalists – Tabasalu – spent most of the season right behind the eventual winners. Their title hopes collapsed in the 13th round, when they lost 0:4 to Tallinna Ajax & Paide Linnanaiskond. In the last three rounds they only got three points. Despite their poor finish, they still qualified for the promotion play-offs, where they will go against Meistriliiga's 7th team Tartu Tammeka. Kohtla-Järve Järve's season was extremely unsuccessful as they received zero points and had 141 goals scored against them.

The season's top scorer was Tallinna Ajax & Paide Linnanaiskond's striker Gerli Israel, who scored 26 goals.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion, qualification or relegation 1 Tallinna Ajax & Paide LN (C, P) 16 15 0 1 71 13 +58 45 Promotion to 2021 Naiste Meistriliiga 2 Tabasalu (Q) 16 12 0 4 61 17 +44 36 Qualification to Promotion play-offs 3 Tallinna Flora II 16 11 2 3 58 14 +44 35 4 Tallinna Kalev II 16 9 4 3 36 19 +17 31 5 Kuressaare 16 7 2 7 50 26 +24 23 6 Tallinna Legion 16 5 2 9 27 40 −13 17 7 Rakvere Tarvas 16 7 3 6 51 35 +16 24 8 Jõhvi Phoenix 16 5 6 5 26 35 −9 21 9 Narva Trans 16 5 1 10 37 41 −4 16 10 Elva 16 4 2 10 25 46 −21 14 11 Tartu Tammeka II 16 3 4 9 10 27 −17 13 12 Kohtla-Järve Järve 16 0 0 16 2 141 −139 0 Source: Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Less matches awarded against; 3) Head-to-head points; 4) Head-to-head goal difference; 5) Matches won; 6) Goal difference; 7) Goals scored; 8) Away goals scored; 9) Drawing lots; 10) Fairplay ranking.[15] (C) Champion; (P) Promoted; (Q) Qualified to the phase indicated.

TALLINN Tammeka II Kuressaare Elva Järve Tabasalu Phoenix Trans Tarvas Locations of the 2020 Esiliiga teams

• TALLINN → Ajax & Paide, Flora II, Kalev II, Legion

U19 Eliitliiga Meistriliiga play-off:

Main season:

2020 had several team changes in comparison to the previous season. Three clubs changed their names (Tartu Ravens Futsal EMÜ became Tartu Ravens Futsal Ares Security; Sillamäe FC NPM Silmet became Sillamäe FC Molycorp Silmet; Sillamäe JK Dina became Sillamäe Alexela), while relegated Narva Ganza was replaced by Sillamäe Alexela. Additionally, the fourth-placed team of the 2018–19 Esiliiga, Tallinna Augur Enemat, decided against competing in the top tier. Therefore, Tartu Maksimum was spared from relegation and JK Kohila was promoted to the Meistriliiga for the first time.[16]

The main season ended with Viimsi winning firmly and Alexela barely finishing second (fifth-placed Ravens was only a point behind). The other three teams determined the relegated team, which in the end was Molycorp Silmet, who had a worse goal difference than Maksimum. The relegation play-offs were not played between Maksimum and Kadrina because Esiliigas fourth team did not want to get promoted. Also, the final tournament was not finished due to the COVID-19 epidemic. Therefore, Viimsi Smsraha was declared champions. The season's top scorer was Maksimum's Priit Peedo with his 20 goals.