2015 Meistriliiga

The 2015 Meistriliiga, also known as A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons,^[1] was the 25th season of the Meistriliiga, the first level in the Estonian football system. The season started on 6 March 2015 and the final matchday took place on 7 November.^[2] Levadia, the defending champions, finished runner-up behind Flora, who won their tenth title.^[3]

Meistriliiga

Season	2015
Champions	Flora 10th title
Relegated	Tulevik
Champions League	Flora
Europa League	Levadia Nõmme Kalju Infonet
Matches played	180
Goals scored	544 (3.02 per match)
Top goalscorer	Ingemar Teever (24 goals)
Biggest home win	Flora 7–0 Tammeka (26 May 2015)
Biggest away win	Pärnu Linnameeskond 1–6 Sillamäe Kalev (10 April 2015) Tammeka 0–5 Sillamäe Kalev (8 May 2015) Pärnu Linnameeskond 0–5 Levadia (1 August 2015) Tammeka 1–6 Levadia (18 August 2015)
Highest scoring	Paide Linnameeskond 5–4 Nõmme Kalju (14 August 2015)
← 2014 2016 →

Teams

A total of ten teams will contest the league, including 8 sides from the 2014 season and two promoted teams from the 2014 Esiliiga. Tallinna Kalev were relegated from the Meistriliiga after three seasons and were replaced by Pärnu Linnameeskond, the best of independent teams in 2014 Esiliiga, Pärnu made their comeback to top flight after 6 seasons on lower levels. Lokomotiv were relegated after a single season, they were defeated in the relegation play-offs by Tulevik returning to Meistriliiga after four-year absence.

Stadiums and locations

Flora
Levadia
Kalju
Infonet

Paide

Tammeka

Sillamäe Kalev

Trans

Tulevik

Pärnu

Location of the 2015 Meistriliiga teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Flora	Tallinn	A. Le Coq Arena	9,692[4]
Infonet		Sportland Arena	540
Levadia		Kadriorg Stadium	5,000[5]
Narva Trans	Narva	Kreenholm Stadium	1,065[6]
Nõmme Kalju	Tallinn	Hiiu Stadium	300[7]
Paide Linnameeskond	Paide	Paide linnastaadion	268[8]
Pärnu Linnameeskond	Pärnu	Pärnu Raeküla Stadium	550[9]
Sillamäe Kalev	Sillamäe	Sillamäe Kalev Stadium	800[10]
Tammeka	Tartu	Tartu Tamme Stadium	1,750[11]
Tulevik	Viljandi	Viljandi linnastaadion	1,068[12]

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Flora	Norbert Hurt	Gert Kams	Nike	Tele2[13]
Infonet	Aleksandr Puštov	Andrei Kalimullin	Joma	Infonet
Levadia	Marko Kristal	Ingemar Teever	Adidas	Viimsi Keevitus
Narva Trans	Adyam Kuzyaev	Roman Nesterovski	Nike	Fama[14]
Nõmme Kalju	Getúlio Fredo	Vitali Teleš	Adidas	Optibet[15]
Paide Linnameeskond	Meelis Rooba	Andre Mägi	Nike	Verston
Pärnu Linnameeskond	Marko Lelov	Karl Palatu	Nike	Wendre[16]
Sillamäe Kalev	Denis Ugarov	Andrei Sidorenkov	Uhlsport	Alexela
Tammeka	Indrek Koser	Jürgen Lorenz	Nike	Goldtime
Tulevik	Aivar Lillevere	Sander Post	Joma	Bestra[17]

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Nõmme Kalju	Igor Prins	Sacked	2 December 2014[18]	Pre-season	Sergei Terehhov	10 December 2014[19]
Pärnu Linnameeskond	Gert Olesk	Mutual consent	22 December 2014[16]		Marko Lelov	22 December 2014[16]
Narva Trans	Aleksei Yagudin	Mutual consent	20 May 2015[20]	7th	Nikolai Toštšev (caretaker)	20 May 2015[20]
Sillamäe Kalev	Sergei Frantsev	Sacked	29 May 2015[21]	4th	Denis Ugarov	29 May 2015[21]
Narva Trans	Nikolai Toštšev	Caretaker spell over	6 July 2015[22]	6th	Adyam Kuzyaev	6 July 2015[22]
Nõmme Kalju	Sergei Terehhov	Resigned	12 September 2015[23]	3rd	Getúlio Fredo (caretaker)	12 September 2015[23]

Player transfers

• Transfers made during the 2014–15 winter transfer window.

Main article: List of Estonian football transfers winter 2014–15

• Transfers made during the 2015 summer transfer window.

Main article: List of Estonian football transfers summer 2015

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Flora (C)	36	27	3	6	72	24	+48	84	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Levadia	36	22	10	4	78	32	+46	76	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
3	Nõmme Kalju	36	22	5	9	69	36	+33	71
4	Infonet	36	17	11	8	50	32	+18	62
5	Sillamäe Kalev	36	17	8	11	63	43	+20	59
6	Narva Trans	36	14	7	15	50	46	+4	49
7	Paide Linnameeskond	36	9	6	21	50	73	−23	33
8	Pärnu Linnameeskond	36	6	8	22	38	87	−49	26
9	Tammeka (O)	36	7	4	25	39	96	−57	25	Qualification for the relegation play-offs
10	Tulevik (R)	36	6	4	26	35	75	−40	22	Relegation to the Esiliiga

Source: Estonian Football Association (in Estonian), UEFA, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Play-off (only if deciding champion); 3) Less matches awarded against; 4) Matches won; 5) Head-to-head points; 6) Head-to-head goal difference; 7) Goal difference; 8) Goals scored; 9) Away goals scored; 10) Fairplay ranking.^[24][25]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated

Relegation play-offs

At season's end Tammeka, the ninth place club, participated in a two-legged play-off with Tallinna Kalev, the runners-up (of the independent teams) of the 2015 Esiliiga, for the spot in next year's competition.^[26]

18 November 2015

19:00 (UTC+2)

Tammeka	4–1	Tallinna Kalev
Kiidron 55' Tiirik 59' Hurt 64' Paju 89'	Report	Larin 54'

Annelinna artificial turf, Tartu

Attendance: 151

Referee: Kristo Tohver

21 November 2015

13:00 (UTC+2)

Tallinna Kalev	1–0	Tammeka
Wahl 50'	Report

Kalev Keskstaadion artificial turf, Tallinn

Attendance: 54

Referee: Eiko Saar

Tammeka won 4–2 on aggregate and retained their Meistriliiga spot for the 2016 season.

Results

Each team plays every opponent four times, twice at home and twice away, for a total of 36 games.

First half of season Home \ Away FLO INF LEV NAR NÕM PAI PÄR SIL TAM TUL Flora 1–0 0–1 0–1 0–2 2–1 3–1 1–0 7–0 3–0 Infonet 0–2 1–2 3–0 1–0 2–3 2–0 1–0 2–2 2–0 Levadia 1–1 0–0 1–1 0–2 2–1 3–0 2–0 2–1 2–0 Narva Trans 0–1 0–0 1–3 2–0 0–0 5–2 1–2 6–0 2–0 Nõmme Kalju 2–0 1–0 1–2 4–1 2–1 1–0 0–2 3–0 6–2 Paide 0–2 2–4 1–5 1–0 0–3 4–1 1–1 2–3 0–3 Pärnu 1–2 0–2 2–2 0–1 0–3 2–2 1–6 4–2 2–1 Sillamäe Kalev 1–2 0–0 3–3 1–0 2–3 4–1 0–0 4–0 2–1 Tammeka 1–3 1–2 2–3 3–1 1–2 3–2 1–0 0–5 1–1 Tulevik 0–4 0–0 0–4 1–1 1–0 2–0 5–2 0–2 3–1 Source: Estonian Football Association Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season Home \ Away FLO INF LEV NAR NÕM PAI PÄR SIL TAM TUL Flora 0–0 1–1 2–3 1–0 1–0 4–0 3–1 2–1 4–1 Infonet 0–1 2–2 3–0 2–2 1–0 1–1 3–1 4–2 2–1 Levadia 0–2 5–0 0–1 1–2 5–1 0–0 2–1 1–0 2–0 Narva Trans 1–3 0–1 0–1 0–2 2–0 5–0 0–0 4–2 2–0 Nõmme Kalju 0–2 1–1 0–0 1–1 1–0 4–3 2–1 1–0 4–0 Paide 2–1 0–2 2–4 1–2 5–4 3–3 1–1 4–0 4–1 Pärnu 1–5 0–4 0–5 2–2 2–1 0–1 1–2 0–1 1–0 Sillamäe Kalev 0–1 1–0 2–2 2–0 0–4 1–0 3–3 4–1 2–1 Tammeka 1–4 1–1 1–6 2–1 0–2 1–1 0–1 1–4 1–0 Tulevik 0–1 0–1 0–3 2–3 2–2 2–3 1–2 1–2 3–2 Source: Estonian Football Association Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[27][28]
1	Ingemar Teever	Levadia	24
2	Yaroslav Kvasov	Sillamäe Kalev	19
3	Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko	Paide Linnameeskond	17
4	Ats Purje	Nõmme Kalju	16
	Rauno Sappinen	Flora
6	Vitālijs Ziļs	Narva Trans	13
7	Vladislavs Kozlovs	Infonet	12
8	Taavi Laurits	Pärnu Linnameeskond	11
	Siim Luts	Levadia
	Tarmo Neemelo	Nõmme Kalju
	Hidetoshi Wakui	Nõmme Kalju

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Taavi Laurits	Pärnu Linnameeskond	Tammeka	4–2 (H)	14 March 2015
Yaroslav Kvasov	Sillamäe Kalev	Pärnu Linnameeskond	6–1 (A)	10 April 2015
Joonas Tamm	Tulevik	Paide Linnameeskond	3–0 (A)	2 May 2015
Yaroslav Kvasov	Sillamäe Kalev	Tammeka	5–0 (A)	8 May 2015
Vitālijs Ziļs	Narva Trans	Tammeka	6–0 (H)	2 June 2015
Kaimar Saag	Levadia	Narva Trans	3–1 (A)	4 July 2015
Ats Purje	Nõmme Kalju	Tulevik	4–0 (H)	20 July 2015
Vladislavs Kozlovs4	Infonet	Tammeka	4–2 (H)	18 August 2015
Ingemar Teever	Levadia	Paide Linnameeskond	4–2 (A)	28 August 2015
Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko	Paide Linnameeskond	Tammeka	4–0 (H)	18 October 2015
Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko	Paide Linnameeskond	Tulevik	3–2 (A)	24 October 2015

Notes

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

Average attendance

Club	Average attendance[29]
Tallinna FC Flora	633
Nõmme JK Kalju	485
Tartu JK Tammeka	424
Pärnu Linnameeskond	352
Viljandi JK Tulevik	295
Tallinna FC Levadia	253
JK Sillamäe Kalev	228
Tallinna FC Infonet	212
JK Narva Trans	189
Paide Linnameeskond	181
League average	325

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
March[30]	Norbert Hurt	Flora	Ken Kallaste	Nõmme Kalju
April[31]	Sergei Terehhov	Nõmme Kalju	Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko	Paide Linnameeskond
May[32]	Aivar Lillevere	Tulevik	Ingemar Teever	Levadia
June[33]	Marko Kristal	Levadia	Yevgeni Kharin	Infonet
July[34]	Sergei Terehhov	Nõmme Kalju	Siim Luts	Levadia
August[35]	Marko Kristal	Levadia	Ingemar Teever
September[36]	Adyam Kuzyaev	Narva Trans	Siim Luts
October[37]	Norbert Hurt	Flora	Rauno Sappinen	Flora

Annual awards

Player of the Season

Ingemar Teever was named Player of the Season.^[38]

Goal of the Season

Raido Roman's goal against Tammeka was chosen Goal of the Season.^[39]

See also

• 2014–15 Estonian Cup
• 2015–16 Estonian Cup
• 2015 Esiliiga
• 2015 Esiliiga B