2018 Meistriliiga

The 2018 Meistriliiga (known as A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons^[1]) was the 28th season of the Meistriliiga, the highest division of Estonian football system. The season was scheduled to begin on 25 February 2018, but was postponed due to a cold wave. On 3 March, the season began with four out of five second round matches held in indoor arena. This marked the first time Estonian league football was played indoor.^[2] The season concluded on 10 November 2018.^[3] Flora were the defending champions. Nõmme Kalju won their 2nd Meistriliiga title completing an entire season undefeated.

Meistriliiga

Season	2018
Dates	3 March 2018 – 10 November 2018
Champions	Nõmme Kalju 2nd title
Relegated	Vaprus
Champions League	Nõmme Kalju
Europa League	FCI Levadia Flora Narva Trans
Matches played	180
Goals scored	685 (3.81 per match)
Top goalscorer	Liliu (31 goals)
← 2017 2019 →

Teams

10 teams competed in the league. Sillamäe Kalev lost their Meistriliiga license due to a failure to meet their financial obligations and were relegated to the II liiga.^[4] On 4 November 2017, it was announced that FCI Tallinn would merge with Levadia.^[5]

The two clubs were replaced by 2017 Esiliiga champions Maardu Linnameeskond and runners-up Tallinna Kalev.^[6] On 18 December 2017, Kuressaare replaced Maardu Linnameeskond after the latter withdrew from the league due to financial reasons.^[7]

Venues

Flora
Kalev
Kalju
FCI Levadia

Paide

Tammeka

Trans

Tulevik

Vaprus

Kuressaare

Locations of the 2018 Meistriliiga teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
FCI Levadia	Tallinn	Kadriorg Stadium	5,000[8]
Flora	Tallinn	A. Le Coq Arena	14,405[9]
Kuressaare	Kuressaare	Kuressaare linnastaadion	1,000[10]
Narva Trans	Narva	Narva Kreenholmi Stadium	1,065[11]
Nõmme Kalju	Tallinn	Hiiu Stadium	650[12]
Paide Linnameeskond	Paide	Paide linnastaadion	268[13]
Tallinna Kalev	Tallinn	Kalevi Keskstaadion	11,500[14]
Tammeka	Tartu	Tartu Tamme Stadium	1,500[15]
Tulevik	Viljandi	Viljandi linnastaadion	1,084[16]
Vaprus	Pärnu	Pärnu Rannastaadion	1,501[17]

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
FCI Levadia	Aleksandar Rogić	Dmitri Kruglov	Adidas	Viimsi Keevitus
Flora	Jürgen Henn	Gert Kams	Nike	Tele2[18]
Kuressaare	Jan Važinski	Sander Viira	Joma	Saaremaa Lihatööstus
Narva Trans	Cenk Özcan	Irié	Nike	Sportland
Nõmme Kalju	Sergei Frantsev	Vitali Teleš	Adidas	help.ee
Paide Linnameeskond	Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko	Andre Frolov	Nike	Verston
Tallinna Kalev	Argo Arbeiter	Hidetoshi Wakui	Nike	Coolbet
Tammeka	Kaido Koppel	Tauno Tekko	Nike	Metec[19]
Tulevik	Sander Post	Indrek Ilves	Joma	Viljandi Aken ja Uks[20]
Vaprus	Indrek Zelinski	Joosep Sarapuu	Nike	Coolbet[21]

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Vaprus	Marko Lelov	Resigned	5 November 2017[22]	Pre-season	Indrek Zelinski	5 November 2017[23]
FCI Levadia	Igor Prins	End of contract	5 November 2017[24]		Aleksandar Rogić	6 November 2017[25]
Tulevik	Aivar Lillevere	Resigned	15 November 2017[26]		Marko Kristal	30 December 2017[27]
Tallinna Kalev	Marko Pärnpuu	Sacked	16 November 2017[28]		Argo Arbeiter	17 November 2017[29]
Tammeka	Mario Hansi Kaido Koppel	Mutual consent	21 November 2017[30]		Kaido Koppel	21 November 2017[30]
Flora	Arno Pijpers	Resigned	13 December 2017[31]		Jürgen Henn	5 January 2018[32]
Kuressaare	Sander Viira	Mutual consent	19 December 2017		Jan Važinski	19 December 2017[33]
Tulevik	Marko Kristal	Mutual consent	19 April 2018[34]	9th	Sander Post	19 April 2018[34]
Narva Trans	Adyam Kuzyaev	Resigned	14 August 2018[35]	4th	Cenk Özcan	17 August 2018[35]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Nõmme Kalju (C)	36	25	11	0	114	32	+82	86	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	FCI Levadia	36	26	6	4	109	26	+83	84	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round[a]
3	Flora	36	25	8	3	116	32	+84	83
4	Narva Trans	36	18	7	11	76	57	+19	61
5	Paide Linnameeskond	36	14	9	13	64	74	−10	51
6	Tammeka	36	14	7	15	56	58	−2	49
7	Tulevik	36	8	5	23	37	100	−63	29
8	Tallinna Kalev	36	7	7	22	54	68	−14	28
9	Kuressaare (O)	36	6	3	27	34	115	−81	21	Qualification for the Relegation play-offs
10	Vaprus (R)	36	2	7	27	25	123	−98	13	Relegation to the Esiliiga

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.^[36]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Narva Trans qualified for the Europa League since they won 2018–19 Estonian Cup.

Relegation play-offs

At season's end Kuressaare, the ninth place club, participated in a two-legged play-off with the runners-up (of independent teams) of the 2018 Esiliiga, Elva, for the spot in 2019 Meistriliiga.

Elva v Kuressaare

17 November 2018	Elva	0–1	Kuressaare	Elva
13:00 (UTC+2)		Report	Laht 50' (pen.)	Stadium: Elva linnastaadion Attendance: 235 Referee: Siim Rinken

Kuressaare v Elva

24 November 2018	Kuressaare	1–0	Elva	Kuressaare
13:00 (UTC+2)	Saar 61'	Report		Stadium: Kuressaare linnastaadion Attendance: 152 Referee: Kristo Tohver

Kuressaare won 2–0 on aggregate and retained their Meistriliiga spot for the 2019 season.

Results

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

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

Second half of season Home \ Away FLO KUR LEV NAR NÕM PAI KLV TAM TUL VAP Flora — 4–0 3–0 2–2 2–2 7–2 3–1 5–0 4–0 3–0 Kuressaare 0–4 — 0–5 0–3 2–4 1–3 3–3 1–3 1–4 2–1 FCI Levadia 2–1 4–0 — 6–1 0–0 4–0 3–2 0–1 2–1 4–0 Narva Trans 1–2 2–1 1–2 — 0–3 1–2 3–2 2–1 4–1 1–1 Nõmme Kalju 1–1 4–0 1–0 4–1 — 0–0 1–1 2–2 4–0 4–0 Paide 3–3 2–1 1–4 2–5 0–3 — 2–2 2–1 4–1 2–1 Tallinna Kalev 2–2 3–0 1–4 0–1 0–2 1–2 — 2–1 0–2 5–0 Tammeka 0–4 6–1 0–3 2–1 0–1 1–1 2–1 — 1–0 5–0 Tulevik 1–3 1–2 0–4 4–1 2–5 0–3 2–2 3–2 — 1–1 Vaprus 0–6 3–1 0–4 0–1 0–5 0–3 2–4 1–1 0–3 — 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[37]
1	Liliu	Nõmme Kalju	31
2	Zakaria Beglarishvili	Flora	30
3	Roman Debelko	FCI Levadia	28
4	Tristan Koskor	Tammeka	21
5	Dmitri Barkov	Narva Trans	17
6	Frank Liivak	Flora	16
7	Sander Laht	Kuressaare	15
8	Marcelin Gando	FCI Levadia	14
	Rimo Hunt	Nõmme Kalju
10	Viktor Plotnikov	Narva Trans	13
	Muamer Svraka	FCI Levadia

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Tristan Koskor4	Tammeka	Kuressaare	4–0 (A)	30 March 2018[38]
Roman Debelko	FCI Levadia	Tulevik	5–0 (H)	5 May 2018[39]
Liliu	Nõmme Kalju	Vaprus	6–0 (A)	5 May 2018[40]
Marcelin Gando4	FCI Levadia	Vaprus	6–1 (H)	26 May 2018[41]
Liliu	Nõmme Kalju	Paide Linnameeskond	3–0 (A)	18 August 2018[42]
Zakaria Beglarishvili	Flora	Tulevik	3–1 (A)	3 November 2018[43]

⁴ Player scored 4 goals

Average attendance

Club	Average attendance[44]
Tallinna FC Flora	559
Tartu JK Tammeka	444
Nõmme Kalju FC	404
Viljandi JK Tulevik	278
FCI Levadia	262
Pärnu JK Vaprus	260
JK Narva Trans	250
JK Tallinna Kalev	199
Paide Linnameeskond	187
FC Kuressaare	113
League average	296

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
March[45]	Sergei Frantsev	Nõmme Kalju	Roman Debelko	FCI Levadia
April[46]	Aleksandar Rogić	FCI Levadia	Liliu	Nõmme Kalju
May[47]	Jürgen Henn	Flora	Samson Iyede	Paide Linnameeskond
June/July[48]	Sergei Frantsev	Nõmme Kalju	Madis Vihmann	Flora
August[49]	Kaido Koppel	Tammeka	Gert Kams
September[50]	Aleksandar Rogić	FCI Levadia	Viktor Plotnikov	Narva Trans
October[51]	Jürgen Henn	Flora	Herol Riiberg	Tulevik

Meistriliiga Player of the Year

Zakaria Beglarishvili was named Meistriliiga Player of the Year.^[52]

Goal of the Year

Tõnis Vihmoja's goal against Paide Linnameeskond was chosen Goal of the Year.^[53]

Player transfers

• Winter 2017–18 – before the season
• Summer 2018 – during the season

See also

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