2020 Meistriliiga

The 2020 Meistriliiga (known as A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons^[1]) was the 30th season of the Meistriliiga, the top Estonian league for association football clubs. The season began on 6 March 2020,^[2] but was suspended after the first round due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[3] The league continued on 19 May 2020.^[4] The season concluded on 6 December, with the last match between Flora and FCI Levadia cancelled due to COVID-19 cases in both teams.^[5] The defending champions Flora successfully defended their title, winning second title in a row and their 13th in total.^[6]

Meistriliiga

Season	2020
Dates	6 March – 8 March 19 May – 6 December
Champions	Flora 13th title
Relegated	Tallinna Kalev
Champions League	Flora
Europa Conference League	Paide Linnameeskond
Matches played	147
Goals scored	442 (3.01 per match)
Top goalscorer	Rauno Sappinen (26 goals)
Biggest home win	Tulevik 5–0 Kuressaare (7 June 2020)
Biggest away win	Kalev 1–8 Paide (7 March 2020)
Highest scoring	Paide 7–4 Nõmme Kalju (6 December 2020)
← 2019 2021 →

Teams

Ten teams competed in the league, nine sides from the 2019 season and 2019 Esiliiga champions TJK Legion. Legion made their debut in the top tier after consecutive promotions from fourth tier in three seasons.^[7] Maardu Linnameeskond were relegated at the end of the 2019 season after finishing in the bottom of the table. Kuressaare retained their Meistriliiga spot after winning a relegation play-off against Esiliiga runners-up Vaprus.^[8]

Venues

Tallinn

Paide

Tammeka

Narva Trans

Tulevik

Kuressaare

Tallinn teams:
FCI Levadia
Flora
TJK Legion
Nõmme Kalju
Tallinna Kalev

Locations of the 2020 Meistriliiga teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
FCI Levadia	Tallinn	A. Le Coq Arena	14,336[9]
Flora
Kuressaare	Kuressaare	Kuressaare linnastaadion	1,000[10]
TJK Legion	Tallinn	Kadriorg Stadium	5,000[11]
Narva Trans	Narva	Narva Kreenholm Stadium	1,065[12]
Nõmme Kalju	Tallinn	Hiiu Stadium	650[13]
Paide Linnameeskond	Paide	Paide linnastaadion	268[14]
Tallinna Kalev	Tallinn	Kadriorg Stadium	5,000[11]
Tammeka	Tartu	Tartu Tamme Stadium	1,500[15]
Tulevik	Viljandi	Viljandi linnastaadion	1,084[16]

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
FCI Levadia	Vladimir Vassiljev	Dmitri Kruglov	Adidas	Viimsi Keevitus
Flora	Jürgen Henn	Konstantin Vassiljev	Nike	Tele2
Kuressaare	Roman Kozhukhovskyi	Märten Pajunurm	Nike
TJK Legion	Denis Belov	Denis Vnukov	Uhlsport
Narva Trans	Oleg Kurotškin	Roman Nesterovski	Nike	Sportland
Nõmme Kalju	Marko Kristal	Igor Subbotin	Adidas	Paf[17]
Paide Linnameeskond	Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko	Andre Frolov	Nike	Verston
Tallinna Kalev	Dmitrijs Kalašņikovs	Marek Kaljumäe	Macron	Coolbet
Tammeka	Kaido Koppel	Tauno Tekko	Nike	Metec
Tulevik	Sander Post	Kaimar Saag	Joma	Espak[18]

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
FCI Levadia	Vladimir Vassiljev	Caretaker spell over	11 November 2019[19]	Pre-season	Martin Reim	11 November 2019[19]
Narva Trans	Oleg Kurotškin	Caretaker spell over	15 November 2019[20]		Cenk Özcan	15 November 2019[20]
Nõmme Kalju	Roman Kozhukhovskyi	End of contract	28 November 2019[21]		Marko Kristal	2 December 2019[22]
Kuressaare	Dmitrijs Kalašņikovs	End of contract	16 December 2019[23]		Roman Kozhukhovskyi	16 December 2019[23]
Tallinna Kalev	Aleksandr Dmitrijev	Mutual consent	18 March 2020[24]	10th	Liivo Leetma	18 March 2020[24]
Narva Trans	Cenk Özcan	Mutual consent	19 June 2010[25]	10th	Oleg Kurotškin	19 June 2010[25]
Levadia	Martin Reim	Resigned	10 July 2020[26]	3rd	Vladimir Vassiljev	10 July 2020[26]
Tallinna Kalev	Liivo Leetma	Sacked	31 August 2020[27]	10th	Dmitrijs Kalašnikovs	31 August 2020[27]

Format changes

Due to the long pause, the season was shortened. Instead of the regular format of each team playing each of the other teams four times, the league were to be split after the third playthrough into two sections of top 6 and bottom 4, with each team playing each other in that section.^[28]

On 7 November, due to the second wave of COVID-19, the season was shortened even more with the league split into three sections after the 27th round – top 4, 5th & 6th, and bottom 4, with each team playing each other in that section.^[29]

On 11 December the season's last match between Flora and FCI Levadia was cancelled.^[5]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Flora (C)	29	26	2	1	76	17	+59	80	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Paide Linnameeskond	30	21	1	8	80	43	+37	64	Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round[a]
3	FCI Levadia	29	17	6	6	66	37	+29	57
4	Nõmme Kalju	30	14	7	9	52	31	+21	49
5	Tammeka	28	8	8	12	33	44	−11	32
6	Tulevik	28	9	4	15	30	46	−16	31
7	TJK Legion	30	8	7	15	26	44	−18	31
8	Narva Trans	30	6	7	17	31	49	−18	25
9	Kuressaare (O)	30	5	9	16	28	63	−35	24	Qualification for the Relegation play-offs
10	Tallinna Kalev (R)	30	5	5	20	20	68	−48	20	Relegation to the Esiliiga

Source: Estonian Football Association (in Estonian), UEFA
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.^[30]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. FCI Levadia qualified for the Europa Conference League as the other finalist of the 2020–21 Estonian Cup, Flora, has already qualified to the UEFA Champions League

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 2020 Esiliiga, Maardu Linnameeskond, for the spot in 2021 Meistriliiga.

Maardu Linnameeskond v Kuressaare

10 December 2020	Maardu Linnameeskond	3–5	Kuressaare	Maardu
18:00 (UTC+2)	Anton Aristov 23' Maksim Krivošein 44' Ilja Zelentsov 47'	Report	Märten Pajunurm 8' Sander Laht 11' Sören Kaldma 61' Michael Schjønning-Larsen 64' Rasmus Saar 81'	Stadium: Maardu kunstmuruväljak Referee: Kristo Külljastinen

Kuressaare v Maardu Linnameeskond

13 December 2020	Kuressaare	4–2	Maardu Linnameeskond	Kuressaare
13:00 (UTC+2)	Sten Penzev 32' Mattias Männilaan 59', 81' Sander Laht 78'	Report	Vladislav Ogorodnik 7' Vadim Aksjonov 86'	Stadium: Kuressaare kunstmurustaadion Referee: Karl Koppel

Kuressaare won 9–5 on aggregate and retained their Meistriliiga spot for the 2021 season.

Fixtures and results

A total of four rounds was played. In the first three rounds teams played each other three times. In the fourth round the league was split into 3 groups – top 4, 5th and 6th, and bottom 4, where they played each team in their group one more time.^[31]

Rounds 1–18

Home \ Away	FLO	PAI	LEV	NÕM	TAM	TUL	LEG	TRA	KUR	KLV
Flora	—	3–1	4–0	2–1	0–0	3–0	3–1	3–1	3–0	3–0
Paide Linnameeskond	1–3	—	4–2	1–3	3–0	1–2	2–0	2–1	2–0	4–0
FCI Levadia	1–3	4–1	—	1–1	2–2	5–1	4–0	3–0	1–0	4–0
Nõmme Kalju	1–2	0–1	2–0	—	1–1	0–0	1–2	3–0	1–0	2–0
Tammeka	1–3	0–2	1–1	0–2	—	2–1	1–3	2–2	1–2	0–2
Tulevik	2–1	1–3	1–3	0–6	2–0	—	0–2	0–1	5–0	2–1
TJK Legion	1–3	0–3	0–2	0–6	0–1	0–2	—	0–0	1–1	0–0
Narva Trans	2–3	1–0	4–4	0–1	0–1	0–2	2–0	—	1–0	0–0
Kuressaare	0–4	0–4	2–2	0–2	2–4	3–0	0–0	3–2	—	2–2
Tallinna Kalev	0–3	1–8	0–4	0–4	0–2	0–2	1–0	1–1	0–2	—

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

Rounds 19–27

Home \ Away	FLO	PAI	LEV	NÕM	TAM	TUL	LEG	TRA	KUR	KLV
Flora	—	1–0	—	0–0	—	2–1	1–0	—	—	—
Paide Linnameeskond	—	—	1–0	—	3–1	—	—	4–2	6–2	4–1
FCI Levadia	0–2	—	—	2–1	3–2	2–0	—	—	—	3–0
Nõmme Kalju	—	1–3	—	—	—	—	1–1	2–1	—	—
Tammeka	0–1	—	—	0–0	—	—	—	0–0	4–2	—
Tulevik	—	1–4	—	0–1	0–1	—	0–0	—	1–1	—
TJK Legion	—	0–2	1–2	—	3–1	—	—	2–1	—	2–0
Narva Trans	1–2	—	1–2	—	—	0–1	—	—	0–0	—
Kuressaare	0–4	—	1–5	1–1	—	—	2–2	—	—	0–1
Tallinna Kalev	1–4	—	—	1–4	1–2	1–0	—	4–1	—	—

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

Top four rounds 28–30

Home \ Away	FLO	LEV	NÕM	PAI
Flora	—	Cancelled	—	—
FCI Levadia	—	—	—	2–2
Nõmme Kalju	0–3	0–2	—	—
Paide Linnameeskond	1–7	—	7–4	—

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

Fifth & sixth round 28

Home \ Away	TAM	TUL
Tammeka	—	3–3
Tulevik	—	—

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

Bottom four rounds 28–30

Home \ Away	KUR	LEG	TRA	KLV
Kuressaare	—	—	0–3	—
TJK Legion	0–1	—	—	—
Narva Trans	—	1–3	—	1–1
Tallinna Kalev	1–1	0–2	—	—

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[32]
1	Rauno Sappinen	Flora	26
2	Edrisa Lubega	Paide Linnameeskond	14
3	Tristan Koskor	Tammeka	12
4	Marcelin Gando	FCI Levadia	11
5	Henri Anier	Paide Linnameeskond	10
	Deabeas Owusu Sekyere	Paide Linnameeskond
	Konstantin Vassiljev	Flora
8	Vladyslav Khomutov	Nõmme Kalju	9
	Yuriy Kolomoyets	FCI Levadia
	Siim Luts	Paide Linnameeskond
	Pavel Marin	Tulevik
	Edgar Tur	Paide Linnameeskond
	Aleksandr Volkov	Nõmme Kalju

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Joseph Saliste	Paide Linnameeskond	Tallinna Kalev	8–1 (A)	7 March 2020[33]
Kaspar Paur	Nõmme Kalju	Tulevik	6–0 (A)	31 May 2020[34]
Edgar Tur	Paide Linnameeskond	Kuressaare	6–2 (H)	1 November 2020[35]
Rauno Sappinen	Flora	Paide Linnameeskond	7–1 (A)	29 November 2020[36]

Average attendance

Most games were held before empty stands due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Different teams played a different amount of home games before the lockdown.

Club	Average attendance[37]
Tallinna FC Flora	698
Tartu JK Tammeka	402
Viljandi JK Tulevik	400
FCI Levadia	383
Nõmme Kalju FC	326
JK Narva Trans	285
Paide Linnameeskond	257
JK Tallinna Kalev	241
FC Kuressaare	220
Tallinna JK Legion	163
League average	327

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
May[38]	Martin Reim	Levadia	Pedro Victor	Nõmme Kalju
June[39]	Jürgen Henn	Flora	Pavel Marin	Tulevik
July[40]			Amir Natkho	Nõmme Kalju
August[41]	Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko	Paide Linnameeskond	Märten Kuusk	Flora
September[42]	Denis Belov	Legion	Sergei Mošnikov	Paide Linnameeskond
October[43]	Kaido Koppel	Tammeka	Brent Lepistu	FCI Levadia

Team of the season

Source:^[44]

Position	Player	Club	Previous Appearances
GK	Matvei Igonen	Flora	2019, 2016
DF	Michael Lilander	Flora	none
DF	Karl Mööl	Paide	2019, 2017
DF	Märten Kuusk	Flora	2019
DF	Muhammed Sanneh	Paide	none
MF	Sergei Mošnikov	Paide	2016, 2014, 2013, 2011
MF	Konstantin Vassiljev	Flora	2019, 2006
MF	Vladislav Kreida	Flora	2019
MF	Pavel Marin	Tulevik	none
FW	Rauno Sappinen	Flora	2017, 2015
FW	Henri Anier	Paide	none

Player transfers

• Winter 2019–20 – before the season

See also

• 2020 in Estonian football