2017 Meistriliiga

The 2017 Meistriliiga (known as A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons^[1]) was the 27th season of the Meistriliiga, the top Estonian league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992. The season began on 3 March 2017 and concluded on 4 November 2017.^[2] FCI Tallinn began the season as defending champions of the 2016 season.

Meistriliiga

Season	2017
Dates	3 March 2017 – 4 November 2017
Champions	Flora 11th title
Relegated	Sillamäe Kalev
Champions League	Flora
Europa League	Levadia Nõmme Kalju Narva Trans
Matches played	180
Goals scored	658 (3.66 per match)
Top goalscorer	Albert Prosa Rauno Sappinen (27 goals)
Best goalkeeper	Sergei Lepmets (21 clean sheets)
Biggest home win	FCI Tallinn 11–1 Vaprus (22 May 2017)
Biggest away win	Vaprus 0–10 Flora (16 June 2017)
Highest scoring	FCI Tallinn 11–1 Vaprus (22 May 2017)
Longest winning run	15 matches Flora
Longest unbeaten run	26 matches Flora
Longest winless run	21 matches Vaprus
Longest losing run	17 matches Vaprus
← 2016 2018 →

Flora won their 11th Meistriliiga title following a 2–0 home win over Tammeka on 28 October 2017.

Teams

A total of 10 teams contested the league, including 8 teams from the 2016 season. Tarvas were relegated after a winless season. Their spot was taken by Esiliiga champions Tulevik, making an immediate return after their 2015 relegation.

In the relegation play-off Pärnu Linnameeskond successfully defended their league spot by defeating challengers Maardu Linnameeskond, but on 11 January 2017 Pärnu Linnameeskond, a union of football clubs from Pärnu, broke up. Vaprus, one of the three clubs that had formed Linnameeskond, took over the league spot.^[3]

Defending champions Infonet underwent a name change due to the UEFA restrictions regarding sponsorship names and became FCI Tallinn.^[4]

Venues

Flora
Levadia
Kalju
FCI

Paide

Tammeka

Sillamäe

Trans

Tulevik

Vaprus

Locations of the 2017 Meistriliiga teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
FCI Tallinn	Tallinn	Infonet Lasnamäe Stadium	500[5]
Flora	Tallinn	A. Le Coq Arena	10,340[6]
Levadia	Tallinn	Kadriorg Stadium	5,000[7]
Narva Trans	Narva	Narva Kreenholm Stadium	1,065[8]
Nõmme Kalju	Tallinn	Hiiu Stadium	650[9]
Paide Linnameeskond	Paide	Paide linnastaadion	268[10]
Sillamäe Kalev	Sillamäe	Sillamäe Kalev Stadium	800[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

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
FCI Tallinn	Aleksandar Rogić	Andrei Kalimullin	Joma	Infonet
Flora	Arno Pijpers	Brent Lepistu	Nike	Tele2[15]
Levadia	Igor Prins	Rimo Hunt	Adidas	Viimsi Keevitus
Narva Trans	Adyam Kuzyaev	Irié	Nike	Sportland
Nõmme Kalju	Sergei Frantsev	Vitali Teleš	Adidas	help.ee
Paide Linnameeskond	Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko	Andre Frolov	Nike	Enemat
Sillamäe Kalev	Irfan Ametov	Mihhail Starodubtsev	Uhlsport	Alexela
Tammeka	Mario Hansi Kaido Koppel	Kaarel Kiidron	Nike	Metec[16]
Tulevik	Aivar Lillevere	Indrek Ilves	Joma	Viljandi Aken ja Uks[17]
Vaprus	Marko Lelov	Karl Palatu	Nike	Coolbet[18]

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Paide Linnameeskond	Meelis Rooba	Mutual consent	5 November 2016[19]	Pre-season	Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko	7 November 2016[19]
Flora	Argo Arbeiter	Sacked	10 November 2016[20]		Arno Pijpers	2 January 2017[21]
Tammeka	Indrek Koser	Mutual consent	29 November 2016[22]		Mario Hansi Kaido Koppel	29 November 2016[22]
Sillamäe Kalev	Algimantas Briaunys	Resigned	11 April 2017[23]	8th	Vadym Dobizha (caretaker)	11 April 2017[23]
FCI Tallinn	Aleksandr Puštov	Mutual consent	30 June 2017[24]	4th	Sergei Bragin (caretaker)	30 June 2017[24]
FCI Tallinn	Sergei Bragin	End of caretaker spell	29 July 2017[25]	4th	Aleksandar Rogić	29 July 2017
Sillamäe Kalev	Vadym Dobizha	Resigned due to ill health	12 September 2017	7th	Irfan Ametov (caretaker)	12 September 2017[26]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Flora (C)	36	28	6	2	100	28	+72	90	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Levadia	36	25	9	2	106	20	+86	84	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round[a]
3	Nõmme Kalju	36	24	6	6	101	32	+69	78
4	FCI Tallinn	36	20	5	11	103	47	+56	65
5	Narva Trans	36	13	6	17	46	63	−17	45	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round[a]
6	Paide Linnameeskond	36	10	8	18	47	88	−41	38
7	Tammeka	36	9	10	17	40	63	−23	37
8	Tulevik	36	8	4	24	34	95	−61	28
9	Vaprus[b]	36	2	2	32	29	146	−117	8	Qualification for the Relegation play-offs
10	Sillamäe Kalev[c] (R)	36	10	6	20	52	76	−24	36	Relegation to the II liiga

Source: Estonian Football Association (in Estonian), UEFA, Soccerway
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.^[28]
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Narva Trans qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round since the 2017–18 Estonian Cup winners FCI Levadia had already qualified for the competition based on their league position and FCI Tallinn merged with Levadia after the 2018 season.
2. Relegation play-offs were not held as a league spot was vacated by the merger of FCI Tallinn and Levadia.^[27]
3. Sillamäe Kalev were stripped of their Meistriliiga license due to financial troubles.^[27]

Results

Each team plays every opponent four times, twice at home and twice away. A total of 180 matches will be played, with 36 matches played by each team.

First half of season Home \ Away FCI FLO LEV NAR NÕM PAI SIL TAM TUL VAP FCI Tallinn — 0–1 0–1 4–1 2–2 6–1 2–2 2–1 5–0 11–1 Flora 3–0 — 1–1 4–2 2–0 3–0 2–0 4–0 7–0 2–0 Levadia 1–0 0–0 — 3–1 1–1 7–0 5–0 2–1 5–0 8–0 Narva Trans 1–2 0–2 0–0 — 1–0 1–1 3–1 1–2 2–1 3–0 Nõmme Kalju 3–2 1–1 1–2 2–0 — 1–0 2–1 5–1 8–0 3–0 Paide 1–1 1–3 2–5 1–5 0–1 — 2–1 1–1 1–2 3–2 Sillamäe Kalev 1–4 0–3 1–1 1–1 1–2 2–0 — 2–0 1–0 1–3 Tammeka 2–0 0–2 0–2 1–1 1–3 0–0 1–1 — 2–1 2–1 Tulevik 0–2 0–2 0–2 1–2 0–2 2–3 1–0 1–3 — 2–1 Vaprus 0–6 0–10 1–2 0–2 2–6 0–4 1–3 1–1 2–0 — Source: Estonian Football Association (in Estonian) Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season Home \ Away FCI FLO LEV NAR NÕM PAI SIL TAM TUL VAP FCI Tallinn — 1–3 2–1 1–3 1–2 6–1 3–0 1–1 7–0 7–1 Flora 2–4 — 3–3 1–0 0–4 3–0 3–2 2–0 3–2 3–0 Levadia 3–2 0–0 — 2–0 2–0 8–0 5–0 3–1 6–0 3–0 Narva Trans 1–3 0–7 0–0 — 0–3 0–1 1–1 3–1 1–2 3–1 Nõmme Kalju 2–4 0–1 1–1 8–1 — 2–2 8–0 1–0 5–1 6–0 Paide 1–3 1–2 0–4 3–1 0–4 — 0–3 1–1 4–2 3–2 Sillamäe Kalev 1–0 1–2 0–9 3–1 0–0 1–3 — 1–2 0–1 9–0 Tammeka 1–4 2–3 1–4 0–2 0–3 1–1 3–1 — 1–1 2–1 Tulevik 1–1 2–2 1–0 0–1 1–3 1–4 0–3 1–1 — 4–1 Vaprus 1–4 1–8 0–4 0–1 1–6 1–1 2–7 0–3 2–3 — Source: Estonian Football Association (in Estonian) Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[29]
1	Albert Prosa	FCI Tallinn	27
	Rauno Sappinen	Flora
3	Rimo Hunt	Levadia	20
4	Aleksandr Volkov	Sillamäe Kalev	18
5	Zakaria Beglarishvili	Flora	16
	Yevgeni Kharin	FCI Tallinn
	Liliu	Nõmme Kalju
	João Morelli	Levadia
9	Yevgeni Kobzar	Levadia	12
10	Nikita Andreev	Levadia	11
	Artjom Dmitrijev	Nõmme Kalju

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Dzmitry Kowb	Narva Trans	Paide Linnameeskond	5–1 (A)	4 March 2017[30]
Rimo Hunt	Levadia	Paide Linnameeskond	7–0 (H)	18 March 2017[31]
Yevgeni Kharin	FCI Tallinn	Vaprus	6–0 (A)	15 April 2017[32]
Yevgeni Kobzar	Levadia	Vaprus	8–0 (H)	28 April 2017[33]
Albert Prosa6	FCI Tallinn	Vaprus	11–1 (H)	22 May 2017[34]
Rauno Sappinen	Flora	Vaprus	10–0 (A)	16 June 2017[35]
João Morelli	Levadia	Paide Linnameeskond	8–0 (H)	5 August 2017[36]
Aleksandr Volkov	Sillamäe Kalev	Vaprus	9–0 (H)	12 August 2017[37]
Karl Mööl	Nõmme Kalju	Vaprus	6–1 (A)	15 August 2017[38]
Liliu	Nõmme Kalju	Vaprus	6–0 (H)	23 September 2017[39]
Aleksandr Volkov	Sillamäe Kalev	Vaprus	7–2 (A)	30 September 2017[40]
Rauno Sappinen4	Flora	Narva Trans	7–0 (A)	20 October 2017[41]

⁴ Player scored 4 goals; ⁶ Player scored 6 goals; (H) – Home; (A) – Away

Average attendance

Club	Average attendance[42]
Nõmme Kalju FC	531
Tallinna FC Flora	477
Tartu JK Tammeka	320
Tallinna FC Levadia	311
Pärnu JK Vaprus	255
Viljandi JK Tulevik	240
Tallinna FC Infonet	238
Paide Linnameeskond	164
JK Narva Trans	143
JK Sillamäe Kalev	137
League average	282

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month		Goal of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club	Player	Club
March[43]	Igor Prins	Levadia	Igor Dudarev	Levadia	Viktor Plotnikov	Narva Trans
April[44]	Arno Pijpers	Flora	Rimo Hunt		Magnar Vainumäe	Paide Linnameeskond
May[45]			Artur Kotenko	Narva Trans	Brent Lepistu	Flora
June[46]	Mario Hansi Kaido Koppel	Tammeka	Rauno Sappinen	Flora	Mark Oliver Roosnupp	Levadia
July[47]	Sergei Frantsev	Nõmme Kalju	Aleksandr Volkov	Sillamäe Kalev	Robert Kirss	Nõmme Kalju
August[48]	Aleksandar Rogić	FCI Tallinn	Yevgeni Kobzar	Levadia	Oleksandr Sukharov	Sillamäe Kalev
September[49]	Igor Prins	Levadia	Josip Krznarić		Geovane	Nõmme Kalju
October[50]	Arno Pijpers	Flora	Brent Lepistu	Flora	João Morelli	Levadia

Player of the Round

Round	Player of the Round
	Player	Club
1[51]	Rimo Hunt	Levadia
2[52]	Zakaria Beglarishvili	Flora
3[53]	João Morelli	Levadia
4[54]	Rauno Sappinen	Flora

Annual awards

Award	Winner	Club
Player of the Year[55]	Rauno Sappinen	Flora
Goal of the Year[56]	Viktor Plotnikov	Narva Trans

See also

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