2018 Esiliiga

The 2018 Esiliiga was the 28th season of the Esiliiga, the second-highest Estonian league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992. The season began on 1 March 2018 and concluded on 11 November 2018. Defending champions Maardu Linnameeskond won their second Esiliiga title.

Esiliiga

Season	2018
Champions	Maardu Linnameeskond (2nd title)
Promoted	Maardu Linnameeskond
Relegated	Keila Nõmme Kalju U21
Matches played	180
Goals scored	624 (3.47 per match)
Top goalscorer	Vitali Gussev (43 goals)
Biggest home win	Flora U21 11–0 Welco (30 August 2018)
Biggest away win	Keila 0–9 Flora U21 (10 March 2018)
Highest scoring	Flora U21 10–1 Keila (24 March 2018) Maardu Linnameeskond 10–1 Nõmme Kalju U21 (14 July 2018) Flora U21 11–0 Welco (30 August 2018)
Longest winning run	7 matches Maardu Linnameeskond
Longest unbeaten run	11 matches Flora U21
Longest winless run	16 matches Nõmme Kalju U21
Longest losing run	11 matches Nõmme Kalju U21
← 2017 2019 →

Teams

Ten teams competed in the league – the seven teams from the previous season and the three teams promoted from the Esiliiga B. The promoted teams were Nõmme Kalju U21 (returning to the Esiliiga after a one-year absence), Tallinna Kalev U21 and Keila (both teams playing in the Esiliiga for the first time ever). They replaced Tallinna Kalev, Kuressaare (both teams promoted to the Meistriliiga) and FCI Tallinn U21 (merged with Levadia U21).^[1]

Stadiums and locations

Flora U21
Kalev U21
Kalju U21
Levadia U21

Santos
Welco

Keila

Elva

Tarvas

Maardu

Locations of the 2018 Esiliiga teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Elva	Elva	Elva linnastaadion	600[2]
FCI Levadia U21	Tallinn	Maarjamäe Stadium	30[3]
Flora U21	Tallinn	Sportland Arena	540[4]
Keila	Keila	Keila Stadium	500[5]
Maardu Linnameeskond	Maardu	Maardu linnastaadion	500[6]
Nõmme Kalju U21	Tallinn	Hiiu Stadium	650[7]
Santos	Tartu	Tartu Tamme Stadium	1,500[8]
Tallinna Kalev U21	Tallinn	Kalev Keskstaadion's artificial turf	570[9]
Tarvas	Rakvere	Rakvere linnastaadion	1,829[10]
Welco	Tartu	Tartu Tamme Stadium	1,500[8]

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Elva	Veiko Haan	Jürgen Kuresoo	Nike	Sportland
FCI Levadia U21	Vladimir Vassiljev	Moorits Veering	Adidas	Viimsi Keevitus
Flora U21	Ats Sillaste	Markkus Seppik	Nike	Tele2[11]
Keila	Richard Barnwell	Kermo Kiiler	Adidas	Hole In One
Maardu Linnameeskond	Andrei Borissov	Ilja Zelentsov	Adidas
Nõmme Kalju U21	Kristen Viikmäe	Marcus Suurväli	Adidas	help.ee
Santos	Janar Sagim	Joonas Kartsep	Adidas
Tallinna Kalev U21	Daniel Meijel	Andi Kivirand	Nike	Coolbet
Tarvas	Tarmo Rebane	Kaarel Saar	Nike	Aqva Hotel & Spa
Welco	Yusuf Erdoğan	Mikk Valtna	Nike	Liisi

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Welco	Siim Valtna	Mutual consent	7 November 2017[12]	Pre-season	Yusuf Erdoğan	8 December 2017[13]
Flora U21	Joel Indermitte		10 November 2017[14]		Ats Sillaste	10 November 2017
Tarvas	Urmas Kirs		30 November 2017[15]		Tarmo Rebane	30 November 2017
Nõmme Kalju U21	Erko Saviauk		31 December 2017		Valeri Bondarenko	1 January 2018
Keila	Tiit Tikenberg		6 January 2018[16]		Richard Barnwell	6 January 2018
Nõmme Kalju U21	Valeri Bondarenko		7 August 2018[17]	10th	Frank Bernhardt	7 August 2018
Nõmme Kalju U21	Frank Bernhardt	Resigned	September 2018[18]	10th	Kristen Viikmäe	September 2018

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Maardu Linnameeskond (C, P)	36	29	1	6	126	41	+85	88	Promotion to the Meistriliiga
2	Flora U21[a]	36	21	8	7	115	31	+84	71
3	FCI Levadia U21[a]	36	18	7	11	67	56	+11	61
4	Elva (Q)	36	15	10	11	51	66	−15	55	Qualification for promotion play-offs
5	Tarvas	36	14	10	12	62	60	+2	52
6	Welco	36	12	6	18	44	78	−34	42
7	Santos[b] (R)	36	11	8	17	47	68	−21	41	Relegation to II liiga
8	Tallinna Kalev U21[a]	36	10	9	17	37	52	−15	39
9	Keila (R)	36	10	5	21	41	88	−47	35	Qualification for relegation play-offs
10	Nõmme Kalju U21[a] (R)	36	5	6	25	37	89	−52	21	Relegation to Esiliiga B

Source: Soccerway (in English), Esiliiga (in Estonian)
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.^[20]
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (Q) Qualified for the phase indicated; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Reserve teams are ineligible for promotion.
2. Santos withdrew from the Esiliiga and were relegated to the II liiga.^[19]

Play-offs

Promotion play-offs

First leg

Elva	0–1	Kuressaare
	Report	Laht 50' (pen.)

17 November 2018

13:00 (UTC+2)

Elva linnastaadion, Elva

Attendance: 235

Referee: Siim Rinken

Second leg

Kuressaare	1–0	Elva
Saar 61'	Report

24 November 2018

13:00 (UTC+2)

Kuressaare artificial turf, Kuressaare

Attendance: 152

Referee: Kristo Tohver

Kuressaare won 2–0 on aggregate and retained their place in the 2019 Meistriliiga.

Relegation play-offs

First leg

Järve	3–1	Keila
Saar 56' Ivanyushin 83' (pen.) Yuri 85'	Report	Tikenberg 89' (pen.)

17 November 2018

13:00 (UTC+2)

Kohtla-Järve Sports Centre Stadium, Kohtla-Järve

Attendance: 83

Referee: Toomas Nõmmiste

Second leg

Keila	1–0	Järve
Tikenberg 59'	Report

24 November 2018

13:00 (UTC+2)

Keila Stadium's artificial turf, Keila

Attendance: 110

Referee: Martti Pukk

Järve won 3–2 on aggregate and were promoted to the 2019 Esiliiga.

Results

First half of the season

Home \ Away	ELV	LEV	FLO	KEI	MAA	KLJ	SAN	KLV	TAR	WEL
Elva	—	1–1	2–2	3–0	1–2	2–0	1–0	3–1	2–3	2–0
FCI Levadia U21	2–1	—	0–4	1–3	0–3	1–1	0–0	4–0	3–0	2–1
Flora U21	5–0	2–2	—	10–1	2–1	1–3	3–0	1–0	1–1	5–1
Keila	0–0	0–0	0–9	—	1–2	3–2	3–1	3–2	0–2	0–1
Maardu	8–1	3–2	0–0	4–0	—	2–0	4–0	1–0	4–1	5–1
Nõmme Kalju U21	1–1	2–0	1–2	1–1	1–2	—	0–5	0–4	1–2	3–2
Santos	0–1	2–0	1–6	4–1	2–1	2–2	—	0–2	1–1	1–2
Kalev U21	0–0	1–3	0–0	1–0	0–4	2–0	1–0	—	0–0	1–1
Tarvas	5–1	1–1	2–2	2–3	3–2	4–2	2–1	1–2	—	2–3
Welco	1–2	1–1	1–0	0–0	0–1	2–0	1–5	2–1	1–2	—

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

Second half of the season

Home \ Away	ELV	LEV	FLO	KEI	MAA	KLJ	SAN	KLV	TAR	WEL
Elva	—	0–6	2–1	2–1	2–5	3–2	0–0	1–0	4–2	0–0
FCI Levadia U21	2–1	—	1–3	1–0	2–7	3–2	3–0	0–3	2–1	1–2
Flora U21	5–0	3–5	—	0–1	5–0	6–0	7–0	5–0	4–1	11–0
Keila	0–2	1–5	1–0	—	4–6	4–1	4–0	2–0	1–3	1–2
Maardu	6–1	3–4	2–1	9–0	—	10–1	5–0	2–0	4–1	6–0
Nõmme Kalju U21	1–3	0–3	1–1	2–0	0–1	—	3–1	1–1	1–2	1–3
Santos	1–1	1–0	0–0	2–1	0–5	4–0	—	4–1	2–0	1–3
Kalev U21	1–1	1–2	0–1	4–0	0–3	1–0	1–1	—	1–3	1–1
Tarvas	0–0	0–1	1–2	1–1	2–1	2–1	2–2	1–1	—	1–1
Welco	0–4	2–3	0–5	3–0	0–2	3–0	1–3	1–3	1–2	—

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[21]
1	Vitali Gussev	Maardu Linnameeskond	43
2	Ilja Zelentsov	Maardu Linnameeskond	22
3	Erik Utgof	FCI Levadia U21	20
4	Nikita Brõlin	Maardu Linnameeskond	19
5	Aleksandr Šapovalov	Flora U21	16
	Erik Sorga	Flora U21
7	Jürgen Kuresoo	Elva	13
	Otto-Robert Lipp	Flora U21
9	Vladislav Ogorodnik	Maardu Linnameeskond	12
	Karl Rudolf Õigus	Santos
	Siim Rannamäe	Tarvas
	Vlasiy Sinyavskiy	Nõmme Kalju U21
	Mikk Valtna	Welco

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
March[22]	Andrei Borissov	Maardu Linnameeskond	Erik Sorga	Flora U21
April[23]	Tarmo Rebane	Tarvas	Mikk Valtna	Welco
May[24]	Veiko Haan	Elva	Aleksandr Šapovalov	Flora U21
June/July[25]	Andrei Borissov	Maardu Linnameeskond	Jürgen Kuresoo	Elva
August[26]	Vladimir Vassiljev	FCI Levadia U21	Vladislav Ogorodnik	Maardu Linnameeskond
September[27]	Veiko Haan	Elva	Nikita Brõlin
October[28]			Mattias Männilaan	Flora U21

Esiliiga Player of the Year

Vitali Gussev was named Esiliiga Player of the Year.^[29]

See also

• 2017–18 Estonian Cup
• 2018–19 Estonian Cup
• 2018 Meistriliiga
• 2018 Esiliiga B