2016 Meistriliiga

The 2016 Meistriliiga (known as A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons^[1]) was the 26th season of the Meistriliiga, the highest division of Estonian football system. The season began on 4 March 2016 and concluded on 5 November 2016.^[2][3]

Meistriliiga

Season	2016
Champions	Infonet (1st title)
Relegated	Tarvas
Champions League	Infonet
Europa League	Levadia Nõmme Kalju Flora
Matches played	180
Goals scored	582 (3.23 per match)
Top goalscorer	Yevgeni Kabaev (25 goals)
Best goalkeeper	Sergei Lepmets (18 clean sheets)
Biggest home win	Paide 7–0 Tarvas (23 August 2016)
Biggest away win	Tarvas 0–6 Trans (1 October 2016) Pärnu 1–7 Trans (29 October 2016)
Highest scoring	Levadia 7–1 Paide (24 July 2016) Pärnu 1–7 Trans (29 October 2016)
Longest winning run	10 matches Infonet
Longest unbeaten run	14 matches Infonet
Longest winless run	36 matches Tarvas
Longest losing run	16 matches Tarvas
← 2015 2017 →

Infonet won the league on the last matchday of the season, finishing with 80 points. It was their first league title.^[4]

Teams

A total of 10 teams will contest the league. These include 9 teams from the 2015 season and one promoted team from the 2015 Esiliiga: Tarvas, making their debut in the top flight. Tarvas replaces Tulevik who were relegated from the Meistriliiga after a single season. In the relegation play-off Tammeka successfully defended their league spot by defeating challengers Tallinna Kalev.

Stadia

Flora
Levadia
Kalju
Infonet

Paide

Sillamäe

Trans

Pärnu

Tarvas

Tammeka

Location of the 2016 Meistriliiga teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Seating capacity
Flora	Tallinn	A. Le Coq Arena	9,692[5]
Infonet	Tallinn	Infonet Lasnamäe Stadium	400[6]
Levadia	Tallinn	Kadriorg Stadium	5,000[7]
Narva Trans	Narva	Kreenholm Stadium	1,065[8]
Nõmme Kalju	Tallinn	Hiiu Stadium	300[9]
Paide Linnameeskond	Paide	Paide linnastaadion	268[10]
Pärnu Linnameeskond	Pärnu	Pärnu Rannastaadion	1,501
Sillamäe Kalev	Sillamäe	Sillamäe Kalev Stadium	800[11]
Tammeka	Tartu	Tamme Stadium	1,750[12]
Tarvas	Rakvere	Rakvere linnastaadion	1,785[13]

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	Argo Arbeiter	Gert Kams	Nike	Tele2[14]
Infonet	Aleksandr Puštov	Andrei Kalimullin	Joma	Infonet
Levadia	Igor Prins	Rimo Hunt	Adidas	Viimsi Keevitus
Narva Trans	Adyam Kuzyaev	Roman Nesterovski	Nike	Sportland
Nõmme Kalju	Sergei Frantsev	Vitali Teleš	Adidas	Optibet[15]
Paide Linnameeskond	Meelis Rooba	Lauri Varendi	Nike	Enemat
Pärnu Linnameeskond	Marko Lelov	Karl Palatu	Hummel	Wendre[16]
Sillamäe Kalev	Algimantas Briaunys Vadym Dobizha	Mihhail Starodubtsev	Uhlsport	Alexela
Tammeka	Indrek Koser	Kaarel Kiidron	Nike	Sportland
Tarvas	Urmas Kirs	Kaarel Saar	Nike	Aqva Hotel & Spa

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Levadia	Marko Kristal	Sacked	7 November 2015[17]	Pre-season	Sergei Ratnikov	7 November 2015[17]
Nõmme Kalju	Getúlio Fredo	Caretaker spell over	7 November 2015[18]		Sergei Frantsev	7 November 2015[18]
Sillamäe Kalev	Denis Ugarov	Sacked	24 May 2016[19]	8th	Algimantas Briaunys (caretaker) Vadym Dobizha (caretaker)	24 May 2016
Tarvas	Valeri Bondarenko	Sacked	4 June 2016[20]	10th	Urmas Kirs	4 June 2016
Flora	Norbert Hurt	Resigned	8 July 2016[21]	4th	Jürgen Henn (caretaker)	8 July 2016
Levadia	Sergei Ratnikov	Sacked	11 July 2016 [22]	2nd	Igor Prins	11 July 2016[23]
Flora	Jürgen Henn	Caretaker spell over	13 July 2016	4th	Argo Arbeiter	13 July 2016[24]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Infonet Tallinn (C)	36	24	8	4	74	33	+41	80	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Levadia Tallinn	36	24	6	6	77	30	+47	78	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round[a]
3	Nõmme Kalju	36	22	9	5	70	28	+42	75
4	Flora Tallinn	36	21	10	5	96	31	+65	73
5	Sillamäe Kalev	36	14	9	13	65	55	+10	51
6	Paide Linnameeskond	36	14	6	16	58	61	−3	48
7	Tartu Tammeka	36	12	5	19	43	65	−22	41
8	Narva Trans	36	11	8	17	60	68	−8	41
9	Pärnu Linnameeskond (O)	36	5	2	29	24	98	−74	17	Qualification for the relegation play-offs
10	Rakvere Tarvas (R)	36	0	3	33	15	113	−98	3	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) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Matches won; 7) Goal difference; 8) Goals scored; 9) Away goals scored; 10) Fairplay ranking.^[25][26]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Since the winner of the 2016–17 Estonian Cup FCI Tallinn had qualified to Champions League, the cup winners' spot was inherited by fourth-placed club Flora.

Relegation play-offs

At season's end Pärnu, the ninth place club, participated in a two-legged play-off with Maardu Linnameeskond, the runners-up (of independent teams) of the 2016 Esiliiga, for the spot in 2017 Meistriliiga.^[27]

Maardu Linnameeskond v Pärnu Linnameeskond

12 November 2016	Maardu Linnameeskond	1–5	Pärnu Linnameeskond	Maardu
13:00 UTC+2	Zelentsov 59' (pen.)	Report	Aristov 8' (o.g.) Saarts 30', 54' Tutk 45' Vihmoja 71'	Stadium: Maardu artificial turf Attendance: 86 Referee: Juri Frischer

Pärnu Linnameeskond v Maardu Linnameeskond

19 November 2016	Pärnu Linnameeskond	4–3	Maardu Linnameeskond	Pärnu
13:00 UTC+2	Saarts 22' Boldyrev 37' (o.g.) Pärnat 43' Vunk 88'	Report	Abdullajev 27' Krivošein 53' Zelentsov 89'	Stadium: Pärnu artificial turf Attendance: 135 Referee: Kristo Tohver

Pärnu Linnameeskond won 9–4 on aggregate and retained their Meistriliiga spot for the 2017 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 NÕM LEV PAI PÄR SIL TAM TAR NAR Flora 3–0 0–0 1–2 2–0 6–0 0–0 0–0 6–0 3–0 Infonet 1–1 2–1 3–2 1–0 3–1 0–0 4–0 4–1 2–1 Nõmme Kalju 2–0 2–1 0–1 1–0 3–0 2–0 2–0 3–1 6–0 Levadia 0–0 1–0 1–1 4–0 1–0 2–1 1–1 2–0 1–0 Paide 1–1 0–2 1–1 0–1 4–0 1–3 3–0 4–2 3–2 Pärnu 0–3 0–2 0–1 1–0 0–3 0–2 0–1 3–0 0–1 Sillamäe Kalev 2–4 2–2 1–3 0–2 1–1 4–1 5–1 1–0 3–0 Tammeka 0–4 1–2 0–3 1–4 2–0 2–1 4–0 3–1 2–2 Tarvas 0–5 0–1 1–6 0–4 0–5 1–2 0–3 0–1 0–1 Narva Trans 1–2 0–3 1–1 1–1 2–3 4–0 3–3 4–1 2–2 Source: Estonian Football Association Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season Home \ Away FLO INF NÕM LEV PAI PÄR SIL TAM TAR NAR Flora 2–1 1–1 6–1 4–0 3–0 3–3 0–0 4–0 4–1 Infonet 4–3 2–2 0–0 3–1 1–0 4–2 1–0 6–0 4–3 Nõmme Kalju 3–3 1–2 0–3 1–1 0–0 3–1 3–0 2–0 2–0 Levadia 2–1 2–2 1–2 7–1 2–0 2–1 4–0 4–0 5–0 Paide 0–3 1–4 2–0 0–4 4–1 2–1 3–1 7–0 0–0 Pärnu 1–6 0–5 1–5 0–4 3–1 2–5 0–3 2–1 1–7 Sillamäe Kalev 1–4 0–0 0–1 3–2 0–0 4–2 1–2 4–0 2–1 Tammeka 3–1 0–1 0–1 1–2 1–4 2–0 0–0 5–0 0–2 Tarvas 1–4 0–1 1–2 0–1 0–1 1–1 0–3 1–3 0–6 Narva Trans AWD[a] 0–0 0–3 3–1 3–1 3–1 1–3 4–2 1–1 Source: Estonian Football Association Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. Notes: EJL awarded Flora a win due to Narva Trans fielding a suspended player. The original match had ended in a 0–2 defeat.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[28]
1	Yevgeni Kabaev	Sillamäe Kalev	25
2	Rauno Sappinen	Flora	19
	Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko	Paide Linnameeskond
4	Rauno Alliku	Flora	15
5	Anton Miranchuk	Levadia	14
	Dmitri Proshin	Narva Trans
	Ats Purje	Nõmme Kalju
	Sakari Tukiainen	Flora
9	Kristjan Tiirik	Tammeka	12
	Vladimir Voskoboinikov	Infonet

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Sakari Tukiainen5	Flora	Tarvas	6–0	8 March 2016[29]
Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko	Paide Linnameeskond	Tarvas	4–2	13 May 2016[30]
Albert Prosa	Flora	Sillamäe Kalev	4–2	13 May 2016[31]
Rauno Alliku4	Flora	Tarvas	5–0	19 June 2016[32]
Rizvan Umarov	Narva Trans	Tammeka	4–1	19 June 2016[33]
Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko	Paide Linnameeskond	Tammeka	3–0	9 July 2016[34]
Ats Purje	Nõmme Kalju	Tarvas	6–1	10 July 2016[35]
Anton Miranchuk	Levadia	Paide Linnameeskond	7–1	24 July 2016[36]
Sakari Tukiainen	Flora	Paide Linnameeskond	3–0	29 July 2016[37]
Yevgeni Kabaev4	Sillamäe Kalev	Tammeka	5–1	30 July 2016[38]
Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko	Paide Linnameeskond	Pärnu Linnameeskond	4–1	9 September 2016[39]
Kaspar Paur	Tammeka	Tarvas	5–0	9 September 2016[40]
Andrei Sidorenkov	Nõmme Kalju	Pärnu Linnameeskond	4–0	17 September 2016[41]
Rauno Alliku	Flora	Pärnu Linnameeskond	6–1	1 October 2016[42]
Dmitri Barkov	Narva Trans	Pärnu Linnameeskond	7–1	29 October 2016[43]

⁴ Player scored 4 goals.
⁵ Player scored 5 goals.

Average attendance

Club	Average attendance[44]
Tallinna FC Flora	388
Nõmme JK Kalju	321
Tartu JK Tammeka	297
Pärnu Linnameeskond	285
Tallinna FC Levadia	234
Tallinna FC Infonet	222
Paide Linnameeskond	206
Rakvere JK Tarvas	205
JK Sillamäe Kalev	174
JK Narva Trans	144
League average	248

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
March[45]	Aleksandr Puštov	Infonet	Ofosu Appiah	Infonet
April[46]	Meelis Rooba	Paide Linnameeskond	Andrei Sidorenkov	Nõmme Kalju
May[47]	Aleksandr Puštov	Infonet	Anton Miranchuk	Levadia
June/July[48]	Algimantas Briaunys	Sillamäe Kalev	Dmitri Kruglov	Infonet
August[49]	Argo Arbeiter	Flora	Gert Kams	Flora
September[50]	Igor Prins	Levadia	Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko	Paide Linnameeskond
October[51]	Sergei Frantsev	Nõmme Kalju	Yevgeni Kabaev	Sillamäe Kalev

Meistriliiga Player of the Year

Yevgeni Kabaev was named Meistriliiga Player of the Year.^[52]

See also

• 2015–16 Estonian Cup
• 2016–17 Estonian Cup
• 2016 Esiliiga
• 2016 Esiliiga B