2019 Esiliiga

The 2019 Esiliiga was the 29th season of the Esiliiga, the second tier of Estonian football.

Esiliiga

Season	2019
Dates	7 March 2019 – 10 November 2019
Champions	Legion
Promoted	Legion
Relegated	Tarvas Tallinna Kalev U21 Welco
Matches played	180
Goals scored	654 (3.63 per match)
Top goalscorer	Rejal Alijev (38 goals)
Biggest home win	Legion 18–0 Järve (26 October 2019)
Biggest away win	Tallinna Kalev U21 1–6 Tarvas (25 May 2019) Vaprus 1–6 FCI Levadia U21 (12 September 2019) Tarvas 0–5 Vaprus (28 September 2019) Elva 0–5 Legion (10 November 2019)
Highest scoring	Legion 18–0 Järve (26 October 2019)
← 2018 2020 →

Teams

A total of 10 teams were contesting the league, including six sides from the 2018 season, one relegated from 2018 Meistriliiga and three promoted from the 2018 Esiliiga B.^[1] The 2017 Esiliiga and 2018 Esiliiga champions Maardu Linnameeskond were promoted to the highest tier for the first time.^[2] Nõmme Kalju U21 was the first team to suffer relegation after just returning to Esiliiga. Keila also immediately returned to Esiliiga B after losing the relegation play-offs to Järve. Tallinna Kalev U21 narrowly avoided relegation in its debut season thanks to Santos' decision to start the new season in the fourth tier II liiga.^[3] The other two promoted teams were Legion, who went almost unbeaten in its previous season, and Tammeka U21, who made its debut in the Esiliiga.

Stadiums and locations

Flora U21
Kalev U21
Legion
Levadia U21

Elva

Järve

Tammeka U21
Welco

Tarvas

Vaprus

Locations of the 2019 Esiliiga teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Elva	Elva	Elva linnastaadion	30[4]
FCI Levadia U21	Tallinn	Maarjamäe Stadium	30[5]
Flora U21		Lilleküla training ground I	150[6]
Järve	Kohtla-Järve	Kohtla-Järve Sports Centre Stadium	150[7]
Legion	Tallinn	Kadriorg Stadium	1,300[8]
Tallinna Kalev U21		Kalev Keskstaadion artificial turf	270[9]
Tammeka U21	Tartu	Tartu Sepa Football Centre	754[10]
Tarvas	Rakvere	Rakvere linnastaadion	1,100[11]
Vaprus	Pärnu	Pärnu Rannastaadion	1,501[12]
Welco	Tartu	Tartu Tamme Stadium	1,500[13]

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		Nike	Tele2[14]
Järve	Andrei Škaleta	Gleb Pevtsov	Adidas
Legion	Denis Belov		Uhlsport
Tallinna Kalev U21	Daniel Meijel		Nike
Tammeka U21	Marti Pähn		Nike
Tarvas	Tarmo Rebane	Alari Tovstik	Nike	Aqva Hotel & Spa
Vaprus	Taavi Midenbritt Kalev Pajula	Kristen Saarts	Nike	Coolbet
Welco	Janar Sagim	Mikk Valtna	Nike	Liisi

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in the table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Vaprus	Indrek Zelinsk[15]	Signed by KTP	10 November 2018	Pre-season	Taavi Midenbritt Kalev Pajula[16]	22 November 2018
Welco	Yusuf Erdoğan	Mutual consent	25 July 2019	10th	Janar Sagim[17]	25 July 2019

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Legion (C, P)	36	29	4	3	127	35	+92	91	Promotion to the Meistriliiga
2	Flora U21[a]	36	22	7	7	85	37	+48	73
3	Vaprus	36	21	4	11	73	48	+25	67	Qualification for promotion play-offs
4	Tammeka U21[a]	36	18	4	14	59	55	+4	58
5	Elva	36	18	2	16	67	63	+4	56
6	FCI Levadia U21[a]	36	16	5	15	80	65	+15	53
7	Järve	36	12	4	20	51	82	−31	40
8	Tarvas (R)	36	8	4	24	35	98	−63	28	Qualification for relegation play-offs
9	Tallinna Kalev U21[a] (R)	36	8	4	24	38	82	−44	28	Relegation to the Esiliiga B
10	Welco (R)	36	6	6	24	39	89	−50	24

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
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.^[18]
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Reserve teams are ineligible for promotion.

Results

Matches 1–18

Home \ Away	ELV	LEV	FLO	JÄR	LEG	KAL	TAM	TAR	VAP	WEL
Elva	—	4–0	1–3	1–0	1–2	1–3	3–2	6–0	3–2	3–0
FCI Levadia U21	1–2	—	1–1	2–2	1–4	1–1	2–1	3–3	0–3	4–1
Flora U21	5–1	3–0	—	0–1	1–2	4–1	0–0	8–0	0–0	3–1
Järve	2–1	4–1	4–3	—	2–3	3–1	0–2	2–0	1–1	2–1
Legion	4–1	3–0	3–0	3–0	—	0–0[a]	3–0	9–0	2–0	2–1
Tallinna Kalev U21	0–4	1–5	0–3	3–4	2–5	—	2–1	1–6	4–2	3–0
Tammeka U21	1–0	1–2	1–2	0–1	3–3	1–0	—	2–0	1–0	3–0
Tarvas	2–0	1–0	0–2	3–2	0–3	0–1	0–3	—	1–2	3–1
Vaprus	2–1	3–0	0–0	1–0	1–2	3–1	4–1	5–0	—	5–1
Welco	2–2	2–5	1–5	0–2	2–4	3–2	1–1	1–1	0–2	—

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

1. The match was awarded to Tallinna Kalev U21 due to Legion fielding an ineligible player.

Matches 19–36

Home \ Away	ELV	LEV	FLO	JÄR	LEG	KAL	TAM	TAR	VAP	WEL
Elva	—	0–1	3–2	2–0	0–5	2–2	4–1	2–0	2–0	3–1
FCI Levadia U21	5–1	—	0–2	3–2	3–3	6–1	7–1	4–0	1–2	4–0
Flora U21	5–1	2–0	—	5–2	5–3	2–0	5–1	2–0	0–3	1–1
Järve	0–1	0–2	1–2	—	0–2	0–1	2–3	2–3	1–3	2–1
Legion	5–3	2–0	1–2	18–0	—	4–0	4–0	2–0	5–2	6–2
Tallinna Kalev U21	1–2	0–4	0–0	1–1	0–1	—	0–2	0–1	2–3	2–3
Tammeka U21	1–0	4–2	1–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	—	4–1	3–1	0–1
Tarvas	1–4	4–2	0–2	2–2	0–4	1–2	1–4	—	0–5	1–1
Vaprus	0–1	1–6	3–3	5–2	0–2	1–0	2–1	1–0	—	3–0
Welco	2–1	0–2	0–2	0–2	2–2	1–0	1–4	4–0	1–2	—

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

Relegation play-offs

Pärnu Jalgpalliklubi	3–2	Tarvas
Makovei 9', 85' Pärnat 77' (pen.)	Report	Rannamäe 63' (pen.), 87'

17 November 2019

13:00 (UTC+2)

Pärnu Rannastaadion, Pärnu

Attendance: 70

Referee: Martti Pukk

Tarvas	0–4	Pärnu Jalgpalliklubi
	Report	Pärnat 21' Makovei 28', 85' Kauniste 64'

23 November 2019

13:00 (UTC+2)

Rakvere artificial turf, Rakvere

Attendance: 166

Referee: Kristo Külljastinen

Pärnu Jalgpalliklubi won 7–2 on aggregate.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[19]
1	Rejal Alijev	Legion	38
2	Marek Šatov	Legion	26
3	Kristen Saarts	Vaprus	19
4	Raivo Saar	Järve	17
5	Aleksandr Šapovalov	Flora U21	16
	Karl Anton Sõerde	Tallinna Kalev U21
	Ronaldo Tiismaa	Vaprus
8	Duván Mosquera	Järve	15
9	Artjom Jermatšenko	Flora U21	14
	Erki Mõttus	Tammeka U21

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
March[20]	Denis Belov	Legion	Raivo Saar	Järve
April[21]	Andrei Škaleta	Järve	Ronaldo Tiismaa	Vaprus
May[22]	Taavi Midenbritt Kalev Pajula	Vaprus	Daaniel Maanas	Tammeka U21
June[23]	Denis Belov	Legion	Martin Thomson	Elva
July[24]	Veiko Haan	Elva	Ralf-Sander Suvinõmm	Flora U21
August[25]	Marti Pähn	Tammeka U21	Hendrik Vainu	Vaprus
September[26]	Vladimir Vassiljev	FCI Levadia U21	Marek Šatov	Legion
October[27]	Denis Belov	Legion	Rejal Alijev

Esiliiga Player of the Year

Denis Vnukov was named Esiliiga Player of the Year.^[28]

See also

• 2018–19 Estonian Cup
• 2019–20 Estonian Cup
• 2019 Meistriliiga
• 2019 Esiliiga B