2017 Esiliiga

The 2017 Esiliiga is the 27th season of the Esiliiga, second-highest Estonian league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992. The season began on 2 March 2017.

Esiliiga

Season	2017
Promoted	FC Kuressaare JK Tallinna Kalev[1][2]
Top goalscorer	Vitali Gussev (38 goals)
Biggest home win	Santos 6–0 Elva (14 April 2017)
Biggest away win	Tarvas 0–6 Flora U21 (11 March 2017)
Highest scoring	Flora U21 6–2 Elva (6 April 2017) Maardu LM 6–2 Santos (27 May 2017)
Longest winning run	6 matches Flora U21
Longest unbeaten run	11 matches Flora U21
Longest winless run	13 matches Welco
Longest losing run	10 matches Elva
← 2016 2018 →

Teams

A total of 10 teams are contesting the league, including 6 sides from the 2016 season, one relegated from the 2016 Meistriliiga and three promoted from the 2016 Esiliiga B.^[3][4][5]

Stadia

FCI Tallinn U21
Flora U21
Kalev
Levadia U21

Santos
Welco

Maardu

Elva

Kuressaare

Tarvas

Locations of the 2016 Esiliiga teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Elva	Elva	Elva linnastaadion	600[6]
FCI Tallinn U21	Tallinn	Infonet Lasnamäe Stadium	500[7]
Flora U21	Tallinn	Flora Lilleküla Stadium	200[8]
Kuressaare	Kuressaare	Kuressaare linnastaadion	1,000[9]
Levadia U21	Tallinn	Maarjamäe Stadium	30[10]
Maardu Linnameeskond	Maardu	Maardu linnastaadion	500[11]
Santos	Tartu	Tartu Tamme Stadium	1,500[12]
Tallinna Kalev	Tallinn	Kalevi Keskstaadion artificial turf	570[13]
Tarvas	Rakvere	Rakvere linnastaadion	1,829[14]
Welco	Tartu	Tartu Tamme Stadium	1,500[12]

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Elva	Veiko Haan	Jürgen Kuresoo	Nike	Sportland
FCI Tallinn U21	Aleksei Kapustin	Artjom Rõžkov	Joma	Infonet
Flora U21	Joel Indermitte	Romet Ridamäe	Nike	Tele2[15]
Kuressaare	Sander Viira	Elari Valmas	Joma	Saaremaa Lihatööstus
Levadia U21	Vladimir Vassiljev	Alex Roosalu	Adidas	Viimsi Keevitus
Maardu Linnameeskond	Andrei Borissov	Maksim Krivošein	Adidas
Santos	Janar Sagim	Joonas Kartsep	Adidas
Tallinna Kalev	Marko Pärnpuu	Ando Hausenberg	Nike
Tarvas	Urmas Kirs	Taavi Trasberg	Nike	Aqva Hotel & Spa
Welco	Siim Valtna	Mikk Valtna	Nike	Liisi

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Elva	Kaido Koppel	Signed by Tammeka	29 November 2016[16]	Pre-season	Veiko Haan	1 January 2017[17]
FCI Tallinn U21	Sergei Bragin	Appointed as assistant manager of FCI Tallinn	13 February 2017[18]		Aleksei Kapustin	13 February 2017[18]
Santos	Siim Säesk	Mutual consent	22 September 2017	8th	Janar Sagim	22 September 2017[19]

Results

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Maardu LM (C)	36	24	5	7	92	44	+48	77	Promotion to the Meistriliiga
2	Tallinna Kalev (P)	36	24	2	10	95	44	+51	74	Qualification for the promotion play-offs
3	Tarvas	36	21	4	11	66	57	+9	67
4	Flora U21[a]	36	21	4	11	75	42	+33	67
5	Kuressaare (P)	36	17	4	15	70	63	+7	55
6	Levadia U21[a]	36	13	6	17	56	60	−4	45
7	FCI U21[a]	36	13	4	19	60	85	−25	43
8	Santos	36	13	4	19	75	74	+1	43	Qualification for the relegation play-offs
9	Elva	36	9	2	25	40	90	−50	29	Relegation to Esiliiga B
10	Welco	36	4	7	25	30	100	−70	19

Updated to match(es) played on 5 November 2017. Source: soccerway (in English), Esiliiga (in Estonian)
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.^[20]
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted
Notes:

1. Reserve teams are ineligible for promotion.

Result tables

First half of the season Home \ Away ELV FLO FCI KUR LEV MAA SAN KLV TAR WEL Elva 1–2 0–1 0–1 0–3 4–3 4–1 0–1 0–4 1–1 Flora U21 6–2 3–1 2–2 0–2 1–1 3–0 3–0 4–0[a] 5–0 FCI Tallinn U21 2–0 0–5 3–3 2–0 1–2 5–1 3–2 3–4 5–0 Kuressaare 4–0 0–2 5–0 4–0 1–4 3–2 0–1 1–2 2–2 Levadia U21 2–1 0–1 1–2 0–0 1–2 0–1 3–4 0–0 3–1 Maardu 1–2 1–0 1–1 5–1 2–3 6–2 3–2 1–0[b] 5–1 Santos 6–0 0–0 1–2 1–4 5–0 3–4 1–2 2–0 0–0 Tallinna Kalev 2–0 1–1 3–0 1–2 1–4 0–1 4–1 1–0 3–0 Tarvas 2–0 0–6 2–1 2–1 4–1 3–4 1–5 1–1 4–0 Welco 1–0 0–3 2–2 1–3 1–1 1–1 0–0 1–5 1–3 Updated to match(es) played on 20 July 2017. Source: Esiliiga Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. Notes: FA awarded Rakvere JK Tarvas a win due to FC Flora U21 fielding too many players, who were born in 1995 or before. The original match had ended in a 4–0 win for FC Flora U21. FA awarded Rakvere JK Tarvas a win due to Maardu Linnameeskond fielding an ineligible player. The original match had ended in a 1–0 win for Maardu Linnameeskond.

Second half of the season Home \ Away ELV FLO FCI KUR LEV MAA SAN KLV TAR WEL Elva 2–0 1–2 1–2 0–3 1–1 0–3 0–5 0–2 2–0 Flora U21 2–1 4–2 0–2 0–4 2–0 1–3[a] 4–3 3–0 3–1 FCI Tallinn U21 0–3 1–2 1–3 2–5 0–3 1–4 0–5 0–2 4–0 Kuressaare 2–4 0–2 2–6 4–1 0–1 4–1 3–4 3–2 0–2 Levadia U21 2–5 2–0 2–0 2–3 1–3 1–0 0–2 1–1 4–0 Maardu 3–0 4–1 2–3 2–1 2–2 5–1 2–1 4–1 4–0 Santos 6–1 2–3 1–3 2–0 1–1 1–3 4–5 6–1 4–1 Tallinna Kalev 8–0 3–2 6–0 1–2 2–0 1–2 2–0 3–0 4–1 Tarvas 5–1 1–0 1–1 3–0 2–1 1–0 3–1 0–3 5–2 Welco 1–3 0–4 4–0 0–2 2–0 0–5 2–3 0–3 1–4 Updated to match(es) played on 5 November 2017. Source: Esiliiga Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. Notes: FA awarded FC Santos Tartu a win due to FC Flora U21 fielding an ineligible player. The original match had ended in a 0–3 win for Santos Tartu.

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of matches played on 5 November 2017^[21]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Vitali Gussev	Maardu LM	38
2	Alex Meinhard	Santos	22
3	Andre Järva	Kalev	21
4	Eduard Golovljov	FCI U21	20
	Karl Rudolf Õigus	Santos
6	Joonas Ljaš	Tarvas	19
7	Sander Laht	FC Kuressaare	17
8	Mario Stern	FC Kuressaare	15
9	Erik Sorga	Flora U21	13
	Artur Makarov	Kalev

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
March[22]	Joel Indermitte	Flora U21	Mario Stern	Kuressaare
April[23]	Marko Pärnpuu	Tallinna Kalev	Nikita Brõlin	Maardu Linnameeskond
May[24]	Aleksei Kapustin	FCI Tallinn U21	Sergei Akimov	Tarvas
June[25]	Urmas Kirs	Tarvas	Nikita Brõlin	Maardu Linnameeskond
July[26]	Veiko Haan	Elva	Joonas Ljaš	Tarvas
August[27]	Martti Pukk	Kuressaare	Andre Järva	Tallinna Kalev
September[28]	Marko Pärnpuu	Tallinna Kalev	Vitali Gussev	Maardu Linnameeskond
October[29]	Andrei Borissov	Maardu Linnameeskond	Henri Järvelaid	Flora U21

Esiliiga Player of the Year

Vitali Gussev was named Esiliiga Player of the Year.^[30]

See also

• 2016–17 Estonian Cup
• 2017–18 Estonian Cup
• 2017 Meistriliiga
• 2017 Esiliiga B