2018 Esiliiga B

The 2018 Esiliiga B was the 6th season of the Esiliiga B, third-highest Estonian league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 2013.

Esiliiga B

Season	2018
Champions	Tallinna JK Legion
Promoted	Tallinna JK Legion Tartu JK Tammeka U21 Kohtla-Järve JK Järve
Relegated	Lasnamäe FC Ajax FC Flora U19
Matches played	180
Goals scored	748 (4.16 per match)
Top goalscorer	Rejal Alijev, 40 goals
← 2017 2019 →

Teams

Of the 10 participating teams 4 remained following the 2017 Esiliiga B. The 2017 champions Kalju U21, runners-up Kalev U21 and 4th placed Keila JK were promoted to Esiliiga, while 10th place Sillamäe Kalev U21 was relegated and Viimsi JK and Raasiku Joker decided not to participate in 2018 Esiliiga B.^[1][2][3][4] For this season those six teams will be replaced by 6 II Liiga teams. They are: Lasnamäe Ajax, Nõmme United, Pärnu JK, Tallinna Legion, Flora U19 and Võru Helios. Only Tallinna Legion and Flora U19 have played in Esiliiga B before.^[5][6]

Stadia

Ajax
Legion
Nõmme Utd
Flora U19

Vändra

Järve

Tammeka U21

Paide U21

Helios

Pärnu JK

Locations of the 2016 Esiliiga B teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
FC Flora U19	Tallinn	Sportland Arena	540[7]
Kohtla-Järve JK Järve	Kohtla-Järve	Kohtla-Järve SPK Stadium	780[8]
Lasnamäe FC Ajax	Tallinn	Ajaxi staadion	[9]
Nõmme United	Tallinn	Männiku staadion	[10]
Paide Linnameeskond U21	Paide	Paide linnastaadion	268[11]
Pärnu JK	Pärnu	Pärnu Raeküla staadion	500[12]
Tallinna JK Legion	Tallinn	Wismari staadion	[13]
Tartu Tammeka U21	Tartu	Sepa Stadium	508[14]
Vändra JK Vaprus	Vändra	Vändra Stadium	273[15]
Võru FC Helios	Võru	Võru Spordikeskuse staadion

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

Results

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Tallinna Legion (C, P)	36	32	2	2	125	31	+94	98	Promotion to the Esiliiga
2	Tammeka U21 (P)	36	22	6	8	108	40	+68	72
3	Kohtla-Järve Järve (P)	36	21	6	9	80	39	+41	69	Qualification for promotion play-offs
4	Pärnu JK	36	18	7	11	80	51	+29	61
5	Nõmme United	36	17	9	10	100	57	+43	60
6	Võru Helios	36	15	9	12	81	66	+15	54
7	Vändra Vaprus	36	11	5	20	61	96	−35	38
8	Paide U21[a]	36	8	4	24	45	94	−49	28
9	Lasnamäe Ajax (R)	36	4	4	28	35	135	−100	16	Qualification for relegation play-offs
10	Flora U19[b] (R)	36	4	4	28	33	138	−105	16	Relegation to II Liiga

Source: soccerway (in English), Esiliiga B (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.^[17]
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Paide escaped relegation due to vacant league spot after Tartu Santos from 2018 Esiliiga were relegated down two league levels.^[16]
2. Reserve teams are ineligible for promotion.

Results tables

First half of the season Home \ Away AJA FLO HEL JÄR LEG NUT PAI PÄR TAM VAP Ajax 5–0 1–1 0–4 0–6 3–5 2–3 0–3 2–2 5–2 Flora U19 3–2 1–2 1–2 2–7 3–0 1–1 1–4 1–6 0–1 Helios 0–2 8–0 2–4 0–5 2–2 2–0 2–0 4–1 3–2 Järve 0–0 1–0 3–0 0–1 2–2 4–1 0–1 1–1 5–0 Legion 4–0 5–1 3–0 4–0 5–0 3–1 3–2 2–1 2–1 Nõmme Utd 8–0 5–0 1–1 6–0 0–3 1–1 2–1 1–2 3–0 Paide U21 2–0 1–1 0–2 1–0 0–1 1–2 0–4 2–5 0–2 Pärnu JK 3–2 5–0 1–1 1–1 1–3 3–2 2–1 0–1 1–1 Tammeka U21 12–0 5–0 4–0 1–0 1–2 0–0 0–0 1–1 3–1 Vaprus 2–0 4–1 2–2 1–3 0–6 1–6 2–1 2–1 2–4 Updated to match(es) played on July 2018. Source: Esiliiga B Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of the season Home \ Away AJA FLO HEL JÄR LEG NUT PAI PÄR TAM VAP Ajax 1–3 2–5 0–3 0–3 0–5 0–3 0–2 1–7 0–0 Flora U19 1–2 1–1 0–9 0–7 1–5 2–0 1–4 0–3 2–2 Helios 6–2 8–1 1–2 3–1 5–5 5–0 0–0 2–0 3–4 Järve 2–0 3–1 4–1 2–0 1–0 2–0 1–1 0–1 5–0 Legion 4–0 3–1 2–1 3–0 3–1 7–0 4–3 1–1 1–0 Nõmme Utd 6–1 8–0 0–0 2–2 2–7 6–0 3–1 1–4 1–1 Paide U21 4–1 7–0 0–2 0–3 0–4 0–2 2–1 2–6 3–4 Pärnu JK 6–0 4–0 6–2 2–4 2–2 1–0 5–4 3–2 3–1 Tammeka U21 7–0 4–1 3–1 4–0 0–2 1–2 10–0 2–0 2–1 Vaprus 8–1 3–2 1–2 0–7 4–6 1–4 0–4 1–2 4–2 Updated to match(es) played on 11 November 2018. Source: Esiliiga B Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Positions by round

	Leader and promotion to 2019 Esiliiga
	Qualification to promotion play-offs
	Qualification to relegation play-offs
	Relegation to 2019 II liiga

The table lists the positions of teams after completion of each round. In order to preserve chronological evolvements, any postponed matches are not included in the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for matchday 13, but then postponed and played between days 16 and 17, it will be added to the standings for day 16.

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36
TJK Legion	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Tammeka U21	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Kohtla-Järve Järve	10	10	10	8	6	5	4	4	4	5	4	4	5	4	4	3	3	5	5	5	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Pärnu JK	7	4	3	5	5	7	7	7	5	4	6	6	6	5	5	5	5	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	4	5	4	5	4
Nõmme United	1	5	4	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	4	5	4	5	4	5
Võru Helios	4	3	6	6	7	6	6	5	6	6	5	5	4	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	7	7	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6
Vändra Vaprus	8	8	5	3	3	4	5	6	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	6	6	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7
Flora U19	5	7	7	7	8	8	8	8	9	9	9	9	9	9	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	9	9	9	9	9	9	8	8	8	8	8	8
Paide U21	6	9	9	10	10	10	10	10	8	8	8	8	8	8	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	9	9	9	9
Lasnamäe Ajax	9	6	8	9	9	9	9	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	9	9	9	8	8	8	8	8	8	9	9	10	10	10	10

Source: Esiliiga B

Season statistics

Top scorers

Updated on 20 July.^[18]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Rejal Alijev	Legion	40
2	Kein Makovei	Pärnu JK	27
3	Marek Šatov	Legion	24
4	Denis Vnukov	Legion	20
	Pavel Fedorenko	Nõmme United

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
March[19]	Denis Belov	Legion	Sten Reinkort	Tammeka U21
April[20]	Denis Belov	Legion	Aleksandr Ivanyushin	Järve
May[21]	Denis Belov	Legion	Rejal Alijev	Legion
June/July[22]	Igor Prins	Pärnu	Denis Vnukov	Legion
August[23]	Aleksandr Puštov	Järve	Geovane	Järve
September[24]	Martin Klasen	Nõmme United	Sander Taan	Helios
October[25]	Marti Pähn	Tammeka U21	Kein Makovei	Pärnu

Esiliiga B Player of the Year

Rejal Alijev was named Esiliiga B Player of the Year.^[26]

See also

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