Meistriliiga

Meistriliiga

Countries	Estonia
Confederation	UEFA
Founded	1992
Number of teams	10
Levels on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Esiliiga
Domestic cup(s)	Estonian Cup
International cup(s)	Champions League UEFA Europa League
Current champions	Levadia (2009)
Most championships	Flora, Levadia (7 titles)
Website	http://www.jalgpall.ee
2010 season

Meistriliiga is the highest division of the Estonian Football Association annual football championship. The league was founded in 1991 and the current, 2010 is the league's 20th season. As of 2009^[update] it is not fully professional; only six teams are professionals, and the other four teams are semi-professional.

As in most countries with low temperatures in winter time, the season starts around March and ends in late November. The championship's top division consists of ten clubs, all teams play each other four times. After each season the bottom team is relegated, with the winner of Esiliiga being promoted (unless it is a reserve team for a Meistriliiga team, in which case the next team receives automatic promotion) and the 2nd last team from Meistriliiga and the 2nd team from Esiliiga play a two-legged playoff for a place in the Meistriliiga.

Meistriliiga clubs 2010

The following ten clubs are competing in the Meistriliiga during the 2010 season.

Champions and top goalscorers

Season	Champion	Runner-Up	3rd Position	Top Goalscorer
1992	Norma	Eesti Põlevkivi	TVMK	Sergei Bragin (Norma, 18 goals)
1992-93	Norma	Flora	Nikol	Sergei Bragin (Norma, 27 goals)
1993-94	Flora	Norma	Nikol/Marlekor	Maksim Gruznov (Trans, 21 goals)
1994-95	Flora	Lantana/Marlekor	Trans	Serhiy Morozov (Lantana/Marlekor, 25 goals)
1995-96	Lantana	Flora	Tevalte/Marlekor	Lembit Rajala (Flora, 16 goals)
1996-97	Lantana	Flora	Marlekor	Sergei Bragin (Lantana, 18 goals)
1997-98	Flora	Sadam	Tulevik	Konstantin Nahk (Sadam, 18 goals)
1998	Flora	Sadam	Lantana	Konstantin Nahk (Sadam, 13 goals)
1999	Levadia	Tulevik	Flora	Toomas Krõm (Levadia, 19 goals)
2000	Levadia	Flora	TVMK	Egidijus Juška (TVMK, 24 goals) Toomas Krõm (Levadia, 24 goals)
2001	Flora	TVMK	Levadia	Maksim Gruznov (Trans, 37 goals)
2002	Flora	Levadia	TVMK	Andrei Krõlov (TVMK, 37 goals)
2003	Flora	TVMK	Levadia	Tor Henning Hamre (Flora, 39 goals)
2004	Levadia	TVMK	Flora	Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko (Flora, 28 goals)
2005	TVMK	Levadia	Trans	Tarmo Neemelo (TVMK, 41 goals)
2006	Levadia	Trans	Flora	Maksim Gruznov (Trans, 31 goals)
2007	Levadia	Flora	TVMK	Dmitry Lipartov (Trans, 30 goals)
2008	Levadia	Flora	Trans	Ingemar Teever (Kalju, 23 goals)
2009	Levadia	Sillamäe Kalev	Trans	Vitali Gussev (Levadia, 26 goals)

Performance by club

All-time table

The table is a cumulative record of all match results, points and goals of every team that has played in the Meistriliiga since its inception in 1992. The table that follows is accurate as of the end of the 2009 season. Teams in bold are part of the 2010 Meistriliiga. Numbers in bold are the record (highest) numbers in each column.

1921–1944 Champions

Bold indicates club's first championship victory.

Estonian SSR Champions

Individual all-time leaders

Appearance leaders Rank Player Apps 1 Maksim Gruznov 407 2 Stanislav Kitto 398 3 Martin Reim 385 4 Konstantin Nahk 368 5 Andrei Borissov 360 6 Vitali Leitan 344 7 Eduard Sarajev 335 8 Teet Allas 331 9 Dmitri Lipartov 330 10 Martin Kaalma 327 As of the end of 2009 season.[1] Players in bold are still active in Meistriliiga.

Goal scoring leaders Rank Player Gls 1 Maksim Gruznov 277 2 Andrei Krõlov 162 3 Dmitri Lipartov 152 4 Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko 151 5 Indrek Zelinski 146 6 Konstantin Nahk 127 7 Dmitri Ustritski 124 8 Vitali Leitan 122 9 Sergei Bragin 118 10 Toomas Krõm 95 As of the end of 2009 season.[2] Players in bold are still active in Meistriliiga.

Notable former foreign players

Records

Club

As of 28 October 2009.^[3]

• Most championships: 7 championships – Flora (1993–94, 1994–95, 1997–98, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003) and Levadia (1999, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
• Most seasons in Meistriliiga: 19 seasons – Flora and Trans (All seasons, 1992 — present)
• Longest unbeaten run: 59 matches – Levadia (10/05/2008 — present)
• Most matches won in a row: 17 matches – Norma (15/05/1992 — 02/10/1993)
• Biggest win margin: 24 goals – Tevalte (24–0 v Sillamäe Kalev on 27/05/1994)
• Most goals in a season: 138 goals – TVMK (2005)
• Fewest goals in a season: 11 goals – Sillamäe Kalev (1993–94, 22 games), Valga (2000, 28), Kuressaare (2003, 28), Lootus (2004, 28)
• Fewest goals per game in a season: 0.389 gpg – Ajax Lasnamäe (2007, 14 goals in 36 games)
• Most goals against in a season: 157 goals – Dünamo (2005)

Player

As of 1 January 2009.^[3]

• Most appearances Meistriliiga: 385 appearances – Martin Reim (1992 — 2008)
• Most goals in Meistriliiga: 269 goals – Maksim Gruznov (1992 — present)
• Most goals in a season: 41 goals – Tarmo Neemelo (2005)
• Goal scored in consecutive matches: 15 matches – Tor Henning Hamre (2003)
• Most goals scored by one player in a match: 7 goals – Tor Henning Hamre (Flora v Kuressaare in 2003)
• Longest time without conceding a goal: 946 minutes – Martin Kaalma (2007 — 2008)
• Youngest goalscorer: 16 years, 80 days – Christian Kõrtsmik (Kalev Tallinn v Ajax Lasnamäe on 28/04/2007)
• Oldest goalscorer: 43 years, 16 days – Sergei Zamogilnõi (EP Jõhvi v Vall on 15/09/1996)
• Fastest goal: 12 seconds – Aleksander Saharov (Flora v Lootus on 15/09/1996)

UEFA Rankings

UEFA Country Ranking for league participation in 2010-11 European football season (Previous year rank in italics)^[4]

• 40 (40) First Macedonian Football League
• 41 (39) Liechtenstein Football Cup
• 42 (44) Kazakhstan Premier League
• 43 (42) Meistriliiga
• 44 (43) Albanian Superliga
• 45 (45) Armenian Premier League

References

External links

• Estonian Football Association