Meistriliiga


Meistriliiga, officially known as A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons, and commonly known as the Premium Liiga, is the highest division of the Estonian Football Association annual football championship. The league was founded in 1992, and was initially semi-professional with amateur clubs allowed to compete. With the help of solidarity mechanisms, the league is fully professional since the 2020 season.
As in most countries with low temperatures in winter, the season starts in March and ends in November. Meistriliiga consists of ten clubs, all teams play each other four times.
After each season, the bottom team is relegated to the Esiliiga, the Estonian second division league. The second last team plays a two-legged play-off with the second team in the Esiliiga for a place in the Meistriliiga.

History

Origins

The first Estonian Football Championship title was played out in 1921 and was won by Sport, who later went on to lift nine league titles and was the most successful Estonian football club during the country's first period of independence. The championship was initially played as a knock-out tournament, before league format was adapted in 1929. During the last 1939–40 season, Tartu Olümpia became the first club outside of capital city Tallinn to be crowned the Estonian champions, and have remained to be the only non-Tallinn club to do so until present day.
Estonia lost its independence through Soviet occupation in World War II, after which former clubs were forced to dissolve and Estonian SSR Championship was established. During the occupation, native Estonians started to desist from practicing football and the local championships were mostly played by teams consisting of local Russians.

Meistriliiga

Estonia restored its independence in 1991 and in the following year, Meistriliiga was established. After 52 years, Estonian clubs could once again play for the Estonian Football Championship title. The number of teams participating in the league varied from [|8] to 14 until 2005, since then the league has been played with 10 teams. First live TV broadcasts began in 2008, and in 2020, first league matches were broadcast on foreign TV channels.
In February 2013, A. Le Coq, an Estonian brewery company, signed a five-year cooperation agreement with the Estonian Football Association, which included Meistriliiga naming rights. Since then, the league has been known as the Premium Liiga.
In 2020, the league became fully professional as the Estonian Football Association began financially supporting clubs that do not qualify for European spots.
Premium Liiga started using video assistant referee from 2023.

2026 season

The following 10 clubs will compete in the 2026 Meistriliiga.
ClubPosition
in 2025		First season
in Meistriliiga		Seasons in
Meistriliiga		First season of
current spell		Number of
seasons of
current spell		TitlesLast title
Levadia Tallinn|FCI Levadia]c2nd199928199928112024
Flora Tallinn|Flora]a, b, c1st199236199236162025
Harju7th2023[|3]2025[|2]0–
Kuressaare9th2000192018[|9]0–
Narva Transa, b, c5th1992361992360–
Nõmme Kaljuc3rd20081920081922018
Nõmme United1st 202422026[|1]0–
Paide Linnameeskondc4th2009182009180–
Tammekac8th2005222005220–
Vaprus6th200611202160–

a = Founding member of the Meistriliiga

b = Played in every Meistriliiga season

c = Never been relegated from the Meistriliiga

Champions

Total titles won

All-time Meistriliiga 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 2022 season. Teams in bold play in the Meistriliiga 2023 season. Numbers in bold are the record numbers in each column.
In this ranking 3 points are awarded for a win, 1 for a draw, and 0 for a loss, although Meistriliiga awarded 2 points for a win until the 1994–95 season. Championship matches, relegation matches and relegation tournament matches involving clubs of lower leagues are not counted. In 1992 Preliminary Round matches were played in two groups. The results of the matches played between teams in same group were taken to second round, thus counted twice, in this table these results are counted once.
The table is sorted by all-time points.

Club
Seasons
Titles









1Flora32149696821651222577768180922112.28
2Levadia12410805578143842140591154918772.33
3Narva Trans3209704341903461742134140114921.54
[|4]Nõmme Kalju152530313111106114150263910501.98
[|5]TVMK Tallinn|TVMK]21714522558211510735165578471.87
6Tulevik32206551871123567921283−4916731.02
[|7]Paide Linnameeskond14049418887219734845−1116511.32
8Tammeka1706341761173417671235−4686451.02
9Sillamäe Kalev13041318365165741681606141.49
10Kuressaare15050488753414271283−8563390.67
11FCI Tallinn9511809041493432121313111.73
12Tallinna Kalev1003546855231341860−5192590.73
13Lantana Tallinn|Lantana]5721608838343411531883021.89
14Tallinna Sadam601326719462711681032201.67
15Eesti Põlevkivi Jõhvi|Eesti Põlevkivi]90162504072224276−521901.17
16Norma Tallinn|Norma]4278497222231111121541.97
17Merkuur460153412884204404−2001510.99
18Vaprus702463521190235760−5251260.51
19Legion3098252251109174−65930.95
20Lootus6501482219107104394−290850.57
21Warrior501562118117120425−305810.52
22Levadia II Tallinn|Levadia II]13084201450106211−105740.88
23Lelle408016194572155−83670.84
24Dünamo Tallinn|Dünamo]408916116292277−185590.66
25DAG740681694385199−114570.84
26Viljandi |Viljandi]207214144470157−87560.78
27Vigri Tallinn|Vigri]20321679815526551.72
28Pärnu Linnameeskond207211105162185−123430.60
29Tervis Pärnu2046115303892−54380.83
30Keemik2031106154172−31361.16
31Ajax301087138860449−389340.31
32Pärnu83038552836120−84200.53
33Lokomotiv1036462635115−80180.50
34Maardu Linnameeskond1036452730118−88170.47
35Pärnu Levadia|Pärnu Levadia]102815221996−7780.29
36Tarvas1036033315113−9830.09
37Vall10140113944−3510.07
38Maardu109009659−5300

;Notes
  • Note 1: 1999–2003 FC Levadia Maardu, 2004– FC Levadia. Not to be confused with FC Levadia Tallinn 2001–2003 a separate team owned by the steel company Levadia. In 2004 the clubs were merged FC Levadia Maardu were moved to Tallinn and became FC Levadia, former FC Levadia Tallinn became their reserves as FC Levadia II.
  • Note 2: 1992 TVMV, 1992-1994 Nikol, 1995–1996 Tevalte-Marlekor, 1996–1997 Marlekor, 1997–2008 TVMK
  • Note 3: 1992 Viljandi JK, 1993– Viljandi Tulevik
  • Note 4: 1992–2005 Merkuur, 2006 Maag
  • Note 5: 1993–1994 Tevalte, 1995–1999 Lantana
  • Note 6: 2000–2003 Kohtla-Järve Lootus, 2004 Alutaguse Lootus, 2005–2012 Kohtla-Järve Lootus, then merged and became Kohtla-Järve JK Järve
  • Note 7: 1992 Tartu Kalev, 1992–1994 EsDAG, 1994– DAG
  • Note 8: 1992 Pärnu JK, 1994–1996 PJK Kalev
  • ''Note 9: 2011–2016 Infonet, 2017 FCI Tallinn''

    Records

Club records

RankPlayerGamesGoals
1Andre Frolov52170
2Andrei Kalimullin51722
3Stanislav Kitto51555
4Sander Sinilaid49739
5Maksim Gruznov494304
6Konstantin Nahk481153
7Markus Jürgenson47263
8Rauno Alliku470126
9Tarmo Neemelo450196
10Maksim Podholjuzin44914

RankPlayerGoalsGamesAverage
1Maksim Gruznov304494
2Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko211309
3Tarmo Neemelo196450
4Andrei Krõlov162287
4Vitali Leitan162418
6Ingemar Teever157296
7Dmitri Lipartov153333
7Konstantin Nahk153481
9Indrek Zelinski146276
9Zakaria Beglarishvili146343

The Estonian Football Championship was first established in 1921 and the title for the Estonian champion was played out on 19 occasions, before Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940. The league was named A-klass from 1921 to 1923, I klass from 1924 to 1926 and Liiduklass from 1927 until 1940.
Bold''' indicates club's first championship victory.

Total titles won

ClubWinnersRunners-upWinning seasons
Sport941921, 1922, 1924, 1925, 1927, 1929, 1931, 1932, 1933
JS Estonia521934, 1935, 1936, 1937–38, 1938–39
Kalev241923, 1930
TJK241926, 1928
Tartu Olümpia101939–40

Estonian SSR champions