2021_Meistriliiga

2021 Meistriliiga

29th season of the Meistriliiga

The 2021 Meistriliiga, also known as A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons,^[1] was the 31st season of the Meistriliiga, the top Estonian league for association football clubs. The season was scheduled to begin on 5 March 2021, but was delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic until 13 March and concluded on 5 December.^[2]^[3]

Quick Facts Season, Dates ...

Meistriliiga
Season	2021
Dates	13 March – 5 December 2021
Champions	FCI Levadia (10th title)
Relegated	Tulevik
Champions League	FCI Levadia
Europa Conference League	Flora Paide Linnameeskond
Matches played	156
Goals scored	518 (3.32 per match)
Top goalscorer	Henri Anier (26 goals)
Biggest home win	Flora 9–0 Tammeka (27 October 2021)
Biggest away win	Vaprus 1–7 Nõmme Kalju (19 May 2021)
Highest scoring	Flora 9–0 Tammeka (27 October 2021)
Longest winning run	9 matches FCI Levadia Flora
Longest unbeaten run	16 matches Flora
Longest winless run	12 matches Tammeka
Longest losing run	9 matches Vaprus
← 2020 2022 →

Flora were the defending champions. The title was decided in the last round match between Flora and FCI Levadia. FCI Levadia drew the game, holding on to their one point lead over Flora and winning their 10th Meistriliiga title, their first since 2014.

Teams

Ten teams were competing in the league, nine clubs from the 2020 season and 2020 Esiliiga champions Vaprus who had earned a promotion after a two-year absence. Vaprus were to be relegated at the end of the 2021 season after finishing in the bottom of the table, however 8th Tulevik chose voluntary relegation to due financial difficulties.^[4] Tammeka retained their Meistriliiga spot after winning a relegation playoff against Esiliiga runners-up Tallinna Kalev.^[5]

Venues

Flora
Kalju
Levadia
Legion

Locations of the 2021 Meistriliiga teams

More information Team, Location ...

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Flora	Tallinn	A. Le Coq Arena	14,336^[6]
Kuressaare	Kuressaare	Kuressaare linnastaadion	1,000^[7]
Legion	Tallinn	Kadrioru staadion	4,750^[8]
FCI Levadia	Tallinn	A. Le Coq Arena	14,336^[6]
Narva Trans	Narva	Narva Kreenholm Stadium	1,065^[9]
Nõmme Kalju	Tallinn	Kadrioru staadion	4,750^[8]
Nõmme Kalju	Tallinn	Sportland Arena	1,161^[10]
Paide Linnameeskond	Paide	Paide linnastaadion	1,000^[11]
Tammeka	Tartu	Tartu Tamme Stadium	1,500^[12]
Tulevik	Viljandi	Viljandi linnastaadion	1,084^[13]
Vaprus	Pärnu	Pärnu Rannastaadion	1,501^[14]

Personnel and kits

More information Team, Manager ...

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Flora	Jürgen Henn	Konstantin Vassiljev	Nike	Optibet^[15]
Kuressaare	Roman Kozhukhovskyi	Sander Seeman	Nike
Legion	Denis Belov	Pavel Londak	Uhlsport
FCI Levadia	Marko Savić Vladimir Vassiljev	Brent Lepistu	Adidas	Viimsi Keevitus
Narva Trans	Igor Pyvin	Irié	Nike	Sportland
Nõmme Kalju	Sergei Frantsev	Aleksandr Kulinitš	Adidas	Rämmar^[16]
Paide Linnameeskond	Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko	Andre Frolov	Nike	Verston
Tammeka	Dmitrijs Kalašņikovs	Karl Johan Pechter	Nike	Metec
Tulevik	Sander Post	Kaimar Saag	Joma	Fenix^[17]
Vaprus	Taavi Midenbritt	Magnus Villota	Nike	Coolbet

Managerial changes

More information Team, Outgoing manager ...

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Tulevik	Sander Post	Resigned	6 December 2020^[18]	Pre-season	Jaanus Reitel	6 December 2020^[18]
Nõmme Kalju	Marko Kristal	Resigned	7 December 2020^[19]		Sergei Frantsev	7 December 2020^[19]
Narva Trans	Oleg Kurotškin	End of contract	6 December 2020^[20]		Igor Pyvin	3 January 2021^[20]
Tammeka	Kaido Koppel	Sacked	1 September 2021^[21]	10th	Dmitrijs Kalašņikovs	1 September 2021^[21]
Tulevik	Jaanus Reitel	Mutual consent	20 September 2021^[22]	8th	Sander Post	20 September 2021^[22]

Format changes

Due to delayed season opening and many postponed matches, the season was shortened. Instead of the regular format of each team playing each of the other teams four times, the league table will be split after the third playthrough (27th match) into two sections of top 6 and bottom 4, with each team playing each other in that section.^[23]

League table

More information Pos, Team ...

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	FCI Levadia (C)	32	25	3	4	84	38	+46	78	Qualification for the Champions League preliminary round
2	Flora	32	23	8	1	90	23	+67	77	Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round^{[lower-alpha 1]}
3	Paide Linnameeskond	32	18	8	6	66	35	+31	62
4	Nõmme Kalju	32	13	6	13	57	44	+13	45
5	Legion	32	11	7	14	49	48	+1	40
6	Narva Trans	32	9	6	17	36	61	−25	33

7	Kuressaare	30	10	4	16	39	47	−8	34
8	Tulevik (R)	30	9	3	18	39	62	−23	30	Relegation to Esiliiga^{[lower-alpha 2]}
9	Tammeka (O)	30	7	4	19	34	72	−38	25	Qualification for relegation play-offs
10	Vaprus	30	5	3	22	24	88	−64	18

Source: Estonian Football Association (in Estonian), UEFA
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.^[24]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

Paide Linnameeskond qualified for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round by winning the 2021–22 Estonian Cup.
On 22 December 2021 Tulevik announced voluntary relegation due to financial difficulties.

Results

A total of four rounds will be played. In the first three rounds teams play each other three times. In the fourth round the league was split into 2 groups – top 6, and bottom 4, where they play each team in their group one more time.

Rounds 1–18

Teams play each other twice, once at home and once away.

More information Home \ Away, FLO ...

Home \ Away	FLO	KUR	LEG	LEV	NAR	NÕM	PAI	TAM	TUL	VAP
Flora		2–2	2–1	0–0	5–0	1–0	3–3	9–0	3–0	2–0
Kuressaare	0–4		1–1	2–3	1–2	0–2	2–2	1–3	2–3	2–1
Legion	1–2	1–0		2–3	0–0	0–1	1–1	3–1	2–1	7–1
FCI Levadia	2–4	3–0	4–3		3–2	4–1	0–4	2–1	4–1	5–0
Narva Trans	0–2	2–0	0–0	1–4		1–2	0–1	2–1	6–2	1–1
Nõmme Kalju	1–2	0–3	3–1	0–1	0–1		0–0	4–1	5–1	0–1
Paide	0–0	1–0	1–0	1–2	5–1	2–1		1–1	0–1	2–1
Tammeka	0–3	0–1	0–1	1–2	3–2	2–2	0–2		1–1	2–2
Tulevik	3–3	1–2	1–0	0–4	0–1	1–3	0–1	5–3		3–1
Vaprus	0–4	2–1	1–4	0–4	2–1	1–7	1–3	1–2	AWD^{[lower-alpha 1]}

Source: Estonian Football Association (in Estonian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

Win awarded to Vaprus due to Tulevik fielding a unregistered player. The original match had ended in a 0–1 defeat.

Rounds 19–27

Teams play each other once, either home or away.

More information Home \ Away, FLO ...

Home \ Away	FLO	KUR	LEG	LEV	NAR	NÕM	PAI	TAM	TUL	VAP
Flora			5–1		5–2	2–0		3–0
Kuressaare	1–0		0–2			0–2		2–0	1–0	6–0
Legion				1–2			1–2		3–1	2–1
FCI Levadia	1–5	3–0			3–0	2–1		4–0		5–0
Narva Trans		2–2	0–3						0–1	3–0
Nõmme Kalju			2–2		1–1		3–2		3–1
Paide	1–1	4–1		0–3	4–0				3–1
Tammeka			0–2		2–1	0–3	2–5
Tulevik	2–2			3–2				4–1		1–0
Vaprus	0–6					1–4	1–1	1–2

Source: Estonian Football Association (in Estonian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top six rounds 28–32

Teams play each other once, either home or away.

More information Home \ Away, FLO ...

Home \ Away	FLO	LEG	LEV	NAR	NÕM	PAI
Flora			2–2			3–0
Legion	0–2			0–2	2–2
FCI Levadia		2–2				1–0
Narva Trans	0–2		0–2		0–0	1–5
Nõmme Kalju	0–1		1–2
Paide		4–0			5–3

Updated to match(es) played on 4 December 2021. Source: Estonian Football Association (in Estonian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Bottom four rounds 28–30

Teams play each other once, either home or away.

More information Home \ Away, KUR ...

Home \ Away	KUR	TUL	VAP
Kuressaare
Tammeka	1–0	2–0	2–3
Tulevik	0–2
Vaprus	0–4	1–2

Source: Estonian Football Association (in Estonian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation play-offs

At season's end Tammeka, the ninth place club, participated in a two-legged play-off with the runners-up (of independent teams) of the 2021 Esiliiga, for the spot in 2022 Meistriliiga.

More information Tallinna Kalev, 0–0 ...

Tallinna Kalev	0–0	Tammeka
	Report

27 November 2021

16:00 (UTC+2)

Kalev Keskstaadion artificial turf, Tallinn

Attendance: 125

Referee: Joonas Jaanovits

More information Tammeka, 3–0 ...

Tammeka	3–0	Tallinna Kalev
Koskor 33' Veelma 34' Uljanov 87'	Report

4 December 2021

13:00 (UTC+2)

Sepa Football Centre artificial turf, Tartu

Attendance: 211

Referee: Juri Frischer

Tammeka won 3–0 on aggregate.

Statistics

Top goalscorers

More information Rank, Player ...

Rank	Player	Club	Goals^[25]
1	Henri Anier	Paide Linnameeskond	26
2	Zakaria Beglarishvili	FCI Levadia	24
3	Rauno Sappinen	Flora	23
4	Robert Kirss	FCI Levadia	17
5	Sergei Zenjov	Flora	14
6	Kaimar Saag	Tulevik	12
7	Tristan Koskor	Tammeka	11
	Mattias Männilaan	Kuressaare
	Aleksandr Šapovalov	Legion
10	Aleksandr Zakarlyuka	Narva Trans	10

Hat-tricks

More information Player, For ...

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Zakaria Beglarishvili	FCI Levadia	Tulevik	4–0 (A)	4 April 2021
Eduard Golovljov	Narva Trans	Tulevik	6–2 (H)	11 April 2021
Aleksandr Zakarlyuka	Narva Trans	Tulevik	6–2 (H)	11 April 2021
Henri Anier	Paide Linnameeskond	Vaprus	3–1 (A)	25 April 2021
Aleksandr Šapovalov	Legion	Vaprus	7–1 (A)	11 May 2021
Henri Anier	Paide Linnameeskond	Tammeka	5–2 (A)	19 September 2021
Rauno Sappinen⁴	Flora	Narva Trans	5–2 (H)	22 September 2021
Sergei Zenjov	Flora	Tammeka	9–0 (H)	27 October 2021
Henri Anier	Paide Linnameeskond	Legion	4–0 (H)	30 October 2021
Otto-Robert Lipp	Kuressaare	Vaprus	4–0 (A)	6 November 2021

Notes
⁴Player scored four goals
(H) – Home team
(A) – Away team

Awards

Monthly awards

More information Month, Manager of the Month ...

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
Month	Manager	Club	Player	Club
March/April^[26]	Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko	Paide Linnameeskond	Henri Anier	Paide Linnameeskond
May^[27]	Jürgen Henn	Flora	Zakaria Beglarishvili	FCI Levadia
June/July^[28]	Marko Savić Vladimir Vassiljev	FCI Levadia	Robert Kirss	FCI Levadia
August^[29]	Marko Savić Vladimir Vassiljev	FCI Levadia	Joseph Saliste	Paide Linnameeskond
September^[30]	Roman Kozhukhovsky	Kuressaare	Rauno Alliku	Flora
October^[31]	Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko	Paide Linnameeskond	Ken Kallaste	Flora
November^[32]	Jürgen Henn	Flora	Zakaria Beglarishvili	FCI Levadia

References

[1]
"Kodune tippjalgpall saab peatoetaja" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. 26 February 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
[2]
"Premium liiga". EFA. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
[3]
"Premium liiga algus lükkub jälle edasi". soccernet.ee. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
[4]
Kangur, Kristjan Jaak (22 December 2021). "POMM: Viljandi Tulevik loobub Premium liiga kohast". Soccernet.ee. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
[5]
"Kuressaare võitis ka teise väravaterohke üleminekumängu". Soccernet.ee. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
[6]
"A. Le Coq Arena" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
[7]
"Kuressaare Linnastaadion". spordiregister.ee (in Estonian).
[8]
"Kadrioru staadion" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association.
[9]
"Narva Kreenholmi staadion" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association.
[10]
"Sportland Arena" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
[11]
"Paide linna staadion" (in Estonian). Eesti Spordiregister.
[12]
"Tartu Tamme staadion" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association.
[13]
"Viljandi linnastaadion" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association.
[14]
"Pärnu Rannastaadion" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association.
[15]
"FC Flora esindusmeeskonna uus peasponsor on Optibet". FC Flora. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
[16]
"Nõmme Kalju alustas koostööd bändiga 5MIINUST" (in Estonian). ERR. 10 September 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
[17]
"Viljandi Tuleviku uus peasponsor on FenixBet". Viljandi JK Tulevik. Archived from the original on 7 February 2022. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
[18]
"Viljandi Tulevik leidis Sander Posti asemele uue peatreeneri, kel kogemust nii Hollandist, Soomest kui ka Aafrikast". soccernet.ee. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
[19]
"Frantsev naaseb Kalju peatreeneri kohale". Soccernet.ee. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
[20]
"Trans sai uue peatreeneri". Soccernet.ee. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
[21]
Voolaid, Rasmus (1 September 2021). "Kindel! Tammeka lõpetas Koppeliga lepingu, appi tuleb Läti saripäästja". Soccernet.ee. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
[22]
Ilves, Kris (20 September 2021). "Ametlik: Tulevik lõpetas Reiteliga lepingu". Soccernet.ee. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
[23]
Elissaar, Kasper (27 August 2021). "Mis saab Premium liiga hooajast? Pohlak kinnitas, et tabel lüüakse pooleks". Soccernet.ee - Jalgpall luubi all!. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
[24]
"Eesti 2021.a meistrivõistluste Premium ja Esiliigade juhend" (PDF). jalgpall.ee (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
[25]
"Premium liiga Väravalööjate edetabel". soccernet.ee.
[26]
"Premium liiga kuu parimad tulevad Paidest" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. 30 April 2021.
[27]
"Premium liiga kuu parimad tulevad Levadiast ja Florast" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. 4 June 2021.
[28]
"Premium liiga kuu parimate auhinnad läksid FCI Levadiasse" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. 10 August 2021.
[29]
"Premium liiga kuu parimate auhinnad lähevad Paidele ja Levadiale" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. 15 September 2021.
[30]
"Premium liiga kuu parimad tulevad Florast ja Kuressaarest" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. 2 October 2021.
[31]
"Premium liiga kuu parimad tulevad Paidest ja Florast" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. 5 November 2021.
[32]
"Samasugune valik nagu pool aastat tagasi: selgusid Premium liiga novembrikuu parimad" (in Estonian). soccernet.ee. 1 December 2021.

External links

Official website

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article 2021_Meistriliiga, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.