Meistriliiga

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 82.131.122.43 (talk) at 11:47, 20 August 2008. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article is about the Estonian football league. For other uses, see Meistriliiga (disambiguation).
Meistriliiga
Founded1992
CountryEstonia
ConfederationUEFA
Number of teams10
Level on pyramidLevel 1
Relegation toEsiliiga
Domestic cup(s)Estonian Cup
International cup(s)Champions League
UEFA Cup
Intertoto Cup
Current championsFC Levadia Tallinn
(2007)
Most championshipsFC Flora Tallinn (7 titles)
Websitehttp://www.jalgpall.ee
Current: 2008 season

Meistriliiga is the highest division of the Estonian Football Association annual football championship. The league was founded in 1991 and 2008 is the league's 18th season. It is not fully professional, only 6 teams are professionals and the other 4 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 championships 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 to get into/stay in the Meistriliiga. The team that finishes as champions of the Meistriliiga qualifies for the 1st Qualifying Round of the UEFA Champions League, the 2nd team will play in the 1st Qualifying Round of the UEFA Cup along with the winner of the Estonian Cup. Depending on the cup winner, a fourth team will enter the 1st round of the Intertoto Cup.

Meistriliiga clubs 2008

The following 10 clubs are competing in the Meistriliiga during the 2008 season.

Club Position
in 2007 		Number of seasons
in Meistriliiga 		First season in
Meistriliiga 		Meistriliiga
titles 		Last title
Floraa,b,c 2nd 18 1992 7 2003
Kaljuc 6th, Esiliiga 1 2008 0 n/a
Levadiac 1st 10 1999 5 2007
Maag Tammekac 5th 2 2007 0 n/a
Sillamäe Kaleva 3rd, Esiliiga 4 1992 0 n/a
Tallinna Kalevc 6th 2 2007 0 n/a
TVMKa 3rd 15 1992 1 2005
Transa,b,c 4th 18 1992 0 n/a
Tulevika 7th 12 1992 0 n/a
Vaprus 8th 14 2002 0 n/a
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
2007 Levadia Tallinn Flora Tallinn TVMK Tallinn Russia Dmitri Lipartov (Trans Narva, 30 goals)
2006 Levadia Tallinn Trans Narva Flora Tallinn Estonia Maksim Gruznov (Trans Narva, 31 goals)
2005 TVMK Tallinn Levadia Tallinn Trans Narva Estonia Tarmo Neemelo (TVMK Tallinn, 41 goals)
2004 Levadia Tallinn TVMK Tallinn Flora Tallinn Estonia Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko (Flora Tallinn, 28 goals)
2003 Flora Tallinn TVMK Tallinn Levadia Maardu Norway Tor Henning Hamre (Flora Tallinn, 39 goals)
2002 Flora Tallinn Levadia Maardu TVMK Tallinn Estonia Andrei Krõlov (TVMK Tallinn, 37 goals)
2001 Flora Tallinn TVMK Tallinn Levadia Maardu Estonia Maksim Gruznov (Trans Narva, 37 goals)
2000 Levadia Maardu Flora Tallinn TVMK Tallinn Lithuania Egidijus Juška (TVMK Tallinn, 24 goals)
Estonia Toomas Krõm (Levadia Maardu, 24 goals)
1999 Levadia Maardu Tulevik Viljandi Flora Tallinn Estonia Toomas Krõm (Levadia Maardu, 19 goals)
1998 Flora Tallinn Sadam Tallinn Lantana Tallinn Estonia Konstantin Nahk (Sadam Tallinn, 13 goals)
1997-98 Flora Tallinn Sadam Tallinn Tulevik Viljandi Estonia Konstantin Nahk (Sadam Tallinn, 18 goals)
1996-97 Lantana Tallinn Flora Tallinn Marlekor Tallinn Estonia Sergei Bragin (Lantana Tallinn, 18 goals)
1995-96 Lantana Tallinn Flora Tallinn Tevalte/Marlekor Tallinn Estonia Lembit Rajala (Flora Tallinn, 16 goals)
1994-95 Flora Tallinn Lantana/Marlekor Tallinn Trans Narva Ukraine Serhiy Morozov (Lantana/Marlekor Tallinn, 25 goals)
1993-94 Flora Tallinn Norma Tallinn Nikol/Marlekor Tallinn Estonia Maksim Gruznov (Trans Narva, 21 goals)
1992-93 Norma Tallinn Flora Tallinn Nikol Tallinn Estonia Sergei Bragin (Norma Tallinn, 27 goals)
1992 Norma Tallinn EP Jõhvi TVMK Tallinn Estonia Sergei Bragin (Norma Tallinn, 18 goals)

Performance by club

Club Winners Runners-Up 3rd Position Seasons Won
Flora Tallinn 7 5 3 1993-94, 1994-95, 1997-98, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003
Levadia Tallinn/Maardu 5 2 2 1999, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2007
Lantana/Marlekor/Nikol Tallinn 2 1 3 1995-96, 1996-97
Norma Tallinn 2 1 0 1992, 1992-93
TVMK/Tevalte/Marlekor Tallinn 1 3 6 2005
Sadam Tallinn 0 2 0
Trans Narva 0 1 2
Tulevik Viljandi 0 1 1
EP Jõhvi 0 1 0

1921-1944 Champions

Estonian SSR Champions


Individual all-time leaders

Appearance leaders

Rank Player Appearances
1 Estonia Maksim Gruznov
353
2 Estonia Martin Reim
352
3 Estonia Stanislav Kitto
330
4 Estonia Andrei Borissov
326
5 Estonia Viktor Alonen
317
6 Estonia Eduard Sarajev
309
7 Estonia Konstantin Nahk
308
8 Estonia Jaanus Sirel
307
9 Estonia Maksim Rõtškov
299
10 Ukraine Sergei Ussoltsev
292
As of January 1, 2008 (Players in bold are still active in the Meistriliiga).

Goal scoring leaders

Rank Player Goals
1 Estonia Maksim Gruznov
266
2 Estonia Andrei Krõlov
162
3 Estonia Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko
132
4 Russia Dmitri Lipartov
131
5 Estonia Indrek Zelinski
124
Estonia Dmitri Ustritski
124
7 Estonia Sergei Bragin
118
8 Estonia Konstantin Nahk
109
9 Estonia Vitali Leitan
101
10 Estonia Toomas Krõm
95
As of January 1, 2008 (Players in bold are still active in the Meistriliiga).

Notable foreign former players

External links

Template:Fb start

Template:Meistriliiga Seasons

Template:Fb end

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Meistriliiga&oldid=233096202"