Meistriliiga

140px
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
2012 season

Meistriliiga is the highest division of the Estonian Football Association annual football championship. The league was founded in 1991 and the current, 2012 is the league's 22nd 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 2012[link]

The following ten clubs are competing in the Meistriliiga during the 2012 season.

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

Champions and top goalscorers[link]

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[link]

All-time table[link]

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.

1921–1944 Champions[link]

Bold indicates club's first championship victory.

Estonian SSR Champions[link]

Individual all-time leaders[link]

Appearance leaders[link] Rank Player Apps 1 Maksim Gruznov 464 2 Stanislav Kitto 458 3 Konstantin Nahk 424 4 Vitali Leitan 407 5 Martin Reim 385 6 Aleksandr Tarassenkov 382 7 Martin Kaalma 370 = Teet Allas 370 9 Andrei Kalimullin 368 10 Sergei Kazakov 367 As of 5 November 2011.[3] Players in bold were active in 2011 season.

Goal scoring leaders[link] 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 148 7 Indrek Zelinski 146 8 Dmitri Ustritski 124 9 Sergei Bragin 118 10 Tarmo Neemelo 115 As of 5 November 2011.[4] Players in bold were active in 2011 season.

Notable foreign players[link]

UEFA Rankings[link]

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

• 44 (44) Albanian Superliga
• 45 (48) Maltese Premier League
• 46 (46) Welsh Premier League
• 47 (45) Meistriliiga
• 48 (49) IFA Premiership
• 49 (51) Luxembourg National Division

References[link]

External links[link]

• Estonian Football Association

Indrek Zelinski (born 13 November 1974 in Pärnu) is an Estonian football manager and retired football striker.

Club career[link]

When he was 12 years old, he started his career under a youth coach, Märt Siigur, in his hometown. He played for local sides Kalju Sindi, KEK Pärnu and JK Pärnu Kalev, before moving to FC Flora Tallinn.

FC Flora Tallinn[link]

He did not enjoy instant success in the new team. He was mostly a bench player and played for the reserve team. Zelinski first made his name in 1994, when he scored a hat-trick in a play-off match for the league title. He made the international debut in the same year, but still failed to become a first team regular in Flora. He bloomed after coming back from a year-long loan to JK Tervis Pärnu, under a new Flora coach, Teitur Thordarson.

FC Lahti[link]

In 1999, Zelinski was about to join English side Blackpool F.C. for £150,000 but he was rejected a work permit. Instead he joined Finnish Veikkausliiga side FC Lahti on loan, but failed to make headlines there and returned to Flora the next season.^[1]

Time in Scandinavia[link]

In 2001, he was bought by Danish side Aalborg BK in 2001, where he joined his international striking partner Andres Oper.^[2] The first season was a success as he scored 13 goals and finished fifth in the league top scorers list. In 2002–03 season, the club changed its head coach and Zelinski found himself from the bench, so he was loaned out to Landskrona BoIS and Boldklubben Frem.

FC Levadia Tallinn[link]

In January 2005, he returned to Estonia as a free agent and signed a two-year contract with Flora's league rivals Levadia.^[3] In August 2009, he announced that he will almost certainly retire from professional football at the end of the season.^[4] He played his last game on November 10, 2009 against Paide Linnameeskond, where he was sent off in the end of the first half for a professional foul.^[5]

Statistics[link]

Season	League level	Country	Team	League
				Games	Goals
1991	2		Kalju Sindi
1992			KEK Pärnu
1992–93	3		JK Kalev Pärnu
1993–94	1		FC Flora Tallinn	10	6
	3		FC Lelle
1994–95	1		FC Flora Tallinn	3	0
	2		FC Lelle
			JK Tervis Pärnu
1995–96	1			10	0
			FC Flora Tallinn	9	1
1996–97				22	5
1997–98				21	13
1998				12	10
1999				26	14
	2		FC Kuressaare	1	0
2000	1		FC Lahti	22	5
2001			FC Flora Tallinn	12	13
2001–02			Aalborg BK	31	13
2002–03				4	0
2003			Landskrona BoIS	13	1
2003–04			Boldklubben Frem	9	0
2004–05	2			8	6
2005	1		FC Levadia Tallinn	29	18
2006				32	21
2007				31	23
2008				33	15
2009				26	7
Total

International career[link]

During his national team career he has been capped 103 times and scored 27 goals, the former Estonian goalscoring record. He made the national team debut on 7 May 1994 against USA. On 16 November 1996 Zelinski scored three goals in a friendly against Indonesia.

His last appearance for Estonia came against Andorra in which he scored the winner in the last minute and was sent off seconds after for taking off his shirt for a second bookable offence. He was interviewed on Sky Sports News saying that he originally had planned to retire from internationals in the autumn, but scoring the winner, it felt like the best time to leave the national scene.

International goals[link]

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	1996-11-13	Estadi Comunal d'Aixovall, Andorra la Vella	Andorra	1–0	6–1	Friendly match
2	1996-11-16	Stadio Giuseppe Olmo, Celle Ligure	Indonesia	1–0	3–0	Friendly match
3	1996-11-16	Stadio Giuseppe Olmo, Celle Ligure	Indonesia	2–0	3–0	Friendly match
4	1996-11-16	Stadio Giuseppe Olmo, Celle Ligure	Indonesia	3–0	3–0	Friendly match
5	1997-03-01	Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaca	Azerbaijan	2–0	2–0	Friendly match
6	1997-05-18	Kadrioru Stadium, Tallinn	Latvia	1–0	1–3	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
7	1997-06-22	Kuressaare Linnastaadion, Kuressaare	Andorra	1–0	4–1	Friendly match
8	1998-06-22	Kuressaare Linnastaadion, Kuressaare	Andorra	1–0	2–1	Friendly match
9	1998-09-23	Kadrioru Stadium, Tallinn	Egypt	2–0	2–2	Friendly match
10	1998-11-21	Abovyan City Stadium, Abovyan	Armenia	1–2	1–2	Friendly match
11	1999-01-22	Hapoel Umm al-Fahm F.C., Umm Al-Fahm	Norway	2–3	3–3	Friendly match
12	1999-01-22	Hapoel Umm al-Fahm F.C., Umm Al-Fahm	Norway	3–3	3–3	Friendly match
13	1999-03-16	Neo GSZ Stadium, Larnaca	Cyprus	1–0	2–1	Friendly match
14	2000-02-23	Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok	Finland	1–4	2–4	2000 King's Cup
15	2000-12-10	Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong	Hong Kong	1–1	2–1	Friendly match
16	2000-12-10	Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong	Hong Kong	2–1	2–1	Friendly match
17	2001-06-02	A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn	Netherlands	2–1	2–4	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
18	2001-07-03	Skonto Stadium, Riga	Latvia	1–1	1–3	2001 Baltic Cup
19	2001-08-15	A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn	Cyprus	1–1	2–2	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
20	2001-11-10	Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens	Greece	2–4	2–4	Friendly match
21	2002-03-14	Stadio Enzo Mazotti, Montecatini Terme	Saudi Arabia	1–0	2–0	Friendly match
22	2002-05-21	Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle	San Marino	1–0	1–0	Friendly match
23	2002-10-12	A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn	New Zealand	3–2	3–2	Friendly match
24	2003-04-30	Estadi Comunal d'Aixovall, Andorra la Vella	Andorra	1–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 2004 qualification
25	2003-04-30	Estadi Comunal d'Aixovall, Andorra la Vella	Andorra	2–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 2004 qualification
26	2003-12-20	Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat	Oman	1–1	1–3	Friendly match
27	2007-08-22	A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn	Andorra	2–1	2–1	UEFA Euro 2008 qualification

Manager career[link]

In 2011, Zelinski became FC Levadia III manager.^[6]

Personal life[link]

He has a daughter, Johanna-Lisa (b. 2000), with his girlfriend Sigrit Järvamägi, who is a two-time Estonian cup winner with FC Flora Tallinn women's team.

Honours[link]

Individual[link]

• Estonian Footballer of the Year: 2001
• Estonian Silverball: 2000, 2003, 2007

References[link]

External links[link]

• Levadia FC profile (Estonian)
• AaB profile (Danish)
• Boldklubben Frem profile (Danish)