2021 Meistriliiga

Meistriliiga 2021
Season information
Dates	13 March–5 December 2021
Winners	FCI Levadia (10th title)
Relegated	Tulevik
Continental cup qualifiers
Champions League	FCI Levadia
Europa Conference League	Flora
Season statistics
Matches played	156
Goals scored	518
Top goalscorer	Henri Anier (26 goals)
Biggest home win	Flora 9–0 Tammeka (27 October 2021)
Biggest away win	Vaprus 1–7 Nõmme Kalju (19 May 2021)
Highest scoring	Flora 9–0 Tammeka (27 October 2021)
← 2020	2022 →

The 2021 Meistriliiga (known as A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons) was the 31st season of the Meistriliiga, the top Estonian league for association football clubs. The season was scheduled to begin on 5 March 2021, but was delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic until 13 March and concluded on 5 December.

Flora were the defending champions. The title was decided in the last round match between Flora and FCI Levadia. FCI Levadia drew the game, holding on to their one point lead over Flora and winning their 10th Meistriliiga title, their first since 2014.

Teams

Ten teams were competing in the league, nine clubs from the 2020 season and 2020 Esiliiga champions Vaprus who had earned a promotion after a two-year absence. Vaprus were to be relegated at the end of the 2021 season after finishing in the bottom of the table, however 8th Tulevik chose voluntary relegation to due financial difficulties. Tammeka retained their Meistriliiga spot after winning a relegation playoff against Esiliiga runners-up Tallinna Kalev.

Venues

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Flora	Tallinn	A. Le Coq Arena	&0000000000014336.00000014,336
Kuressaare	Kuressaare	Kuressaare linnastaadion	&0000000000001000.0000001,000
TJK Legion	Tallinn	Kadrioru staadion	&0000000000004750.0000004,750
FCI Levadia	Tallinn	A. Le Coq Arena	&0000000000014336.00000014,336
Narva Trans	Narva	Narva Kreenholm Stadium	&0000000000001065.0000001,065
Nõmme Kalju	Tallinn	Kadrioru staadion	&0000000000004750.0000004,750
Paide Linnameeskond	Paide	Paide linnastaadion	&0000000000001000.0000001,000
Tammeka	Tartu	Tartu Tamme Stadium	&0000000000001500.0000001,500
Tulevik	Viljandi	Viljandi linnastaadion	&0000000000001084.0000001,084
Vaprus	Pärnu	Pärnu Rannastaadion	&0000000000001501.0000001,501

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Flora	Jürgen Henn	Konstantin Vassiljev	Nike	Optibet
Kuressaare	Roman Kozhukhovskyi	Sander Seeman	Nike
TJK Legion	Denis Belov	Pavel Londak	Uhlsport
FCI Levadia	Vladimir Vassiljev Marko Savić	Brent Lepistu	Adidas	Viimsi Keevitus
Narva Trans	Igor Pyvin	Elysée	Nike	Sportland
Nõmme Kalju	Sergei Frantsev	Aleksandr Kulinitš	Adidas	Rämmar
Paide Linnameeskond	Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko	Andre Frolov	Nike	Verston
Tammeka	Dmitrijs Kalašņikovs	Karl Johan Pechter	Nike	Metec
Tulevik	Sander Post	Kaimar Saag	Joma	Fenix
Vaprus	Taavi Midenbritt	Magnus Villota	Nike	Coolbet

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Tulevik	Sander Post	Resigned	6 December 2020	Pre-season	Jaanus Reitel	6 December 2020
Nõmme Kalju	Marko Kristal	Resigned	7 December 2020		Sergei Frantsev	7 December 2020
Narva Trans	Oleg Kurotškin	End of contract	6 December 2020		Igor Pyvin	3 January 2021
Tammeka	Kaido Koppel	Sacked	1 September 2021	10th	Dmitrijs Kalašņikovs	1 September 2021
Tulevik	Jaanus Reitel	Mutual consent	20 September 2021	8th	Sander Post	20 September 2021

Format changes

Due to delayed season opening and many postponed matches, the season was shortened. Instead of the regular format of each team playing each of the other teams four times, the league table will be split after the third playthrough (27th match) into two sections of top 6 and bottom 4, with each team playing each other in that section.

League table

Template:2021 Meistriliiga table

Relegation play-offs

At season's end Tammeka, the ninth place club, participated in a two-legged play-off with the runners-up (of independent teams) of the 2021 Esiliiga, for the spot in 2022 Meistriliiga.

27 November 2021	Tallinna Kalev	0–0	Tammeka	Tallinn
16:00 (UTC+2)		Report		Stadium: Kalevi Keskstaadioni kunstmuruväljak Referee: Joonas Jaanovits

4 December 2021	Tammeka	3–0	Tallinna Kalev	Tartu
16:00 (UTC+2)	Koskor  33' Veelma  34' Uljanov  87'	Report		Stadium: Tartu Sepa jalgpallikeskuse kunstmuruväljak Referee: Juri Frischer

Tammeka won 3–0 on aggregate and retained their Meistriliiga spot for the 2022 season.

Results

A total of four rounds will be played. In the first three rounds teams play each other three times. In the fourth round the league was split into 2 groups – top 6, and bottom 4, where they play each team in their group one more time.

Rounds 1–18

Teams play each other twice, once at home and once away.

Home \ Away	FLO	KUR	LEG	LEV	NAR	NÕM	PAI	TAM	TUL	VAP
Flora		2–2	2–1	0–0	5–0	1–0	3–3	9–0	3–0	2–0
Kuressaare	0–4		1–1	2–3	1–2	0–2	2–2	1–3	2–3	2–1
TJK Legion	1–2	1–0		2–3	0–0	0–1	1–1	3–1	2–1	7–1
FCI Levadia	2–4	3–0	4–3		3–2	4–1	0–4	2–1	4–1	5–0
Narva Trans	0–2	2–0	0–0	1–4		1–2	0–1	2–1	6–2	1–1
Nõmme Kalju	1–2	0–3	3–1	0–1	0–1		0–0	4–1	5–1	0–1
Paide	0–0	1–0	1–0	1–2	5–1	2–1		1–1	0–1	2–1
Tammeka	0–3	0–1	0–1	1–2	3–2	2–2	0–2		1–1	2–2
Tulevik	3–3	1–2	1–0	0–4	0–1	1–3	0–1	5–3		3–1
Vaprus	0–4	2–1	1–4	0–4	2–1	1–7	1–3	1–2	AWD

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

Rounds 19–27

Teams play each other once, either home or away.

Home \ Away	FLO	KUR	LEG	LEV	NAR	NÕM	PAI	TAM	TUL	VAP
Flora			5–1		5–2	2–0		3–0
Kuressaare	1–0		0–2			0–2		2–0	1–0	6–0
TJK Legion				1–2			1–2		3–1	2–1
FCI Levadia	1–5	3–0			3–0	2–1		4–0		5–0
Narva Trans		2–2	0–3						0–1	3–0
Nõmme Kalju			2–2		1–1		3–2		3–1
Paide	1–1	4–1		0–3	4–0				3–1
Tammeka			0–2		2–1	0–3	2–5
Tulevik	2–2			3–2				4–1		1–0
Vaprus	0–6					1–4	1–1	1–2

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

Top six rounds 28–32

Teams play each other once, either home or away.

Home \ Away	FLO	LEG	LEV	NAR	NÕM	PAI
Flora			2–2			3–0
TJK Legion	0–2			0–2	2–2
FCI Levadia		2–2				1–0
Narva Trans	0–2		0–2		0–0	1–5
Nõmme Kalju	0–1		1–2
Paide		4–0			5–3

Updated to match(es) played on 4 December 2021. Source: Estonian Football Association
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Bottom four rounds 28–30

Teams play each other once, either home or away.

Home \ Away	KUR	TAM	TUL	VAP
Kuressaare
Tammeka	1–0		2–0	2–3
Tulevik	0–2
Vaprus	0–4		1–2

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

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Henri Anier	Paide Linnameeskond	26
2	Zakaria Beglarishvili	FCI Levadia	24
3	Rauno Sappinen	Flora	23
4	Robert Kirss	FCI Levadia	17
5	Sergei Zenjov	Flora	14
6	Kaimar Saag	Tulevik	12
7	Tristan Koskor	Tammeka	11
	Mattias Männilaan	Kuressaare
	Aleksandr Šapovalov	TJK Legion
10	Aleksandr Zakarlyuka	Narva Trans	10

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Zakaria Beglarishvili	FCI Levadia	Tulevik	4–0 (A)	4 April 2021
Eduard Golovljov	Narva Trans	Tulevik	6–2 (H)	11 April 2021
Aleksandr Zakarlyuka
Henri Anier	Paide Linnameeskond	Vaprus	3–1 (A)	25 April 2021
Aleksandr Šapovalov	TJK Legion	Vaprus	7–1 (A)	11 May 2021
Henri Anier	Paide Linnameeskond	Tammeka	5–2 (A)	19 September 2021
Rauno Sappinen4	Flora	Narva Trans	5–2 (H)	22 September 2021
Sergei Zenjov	Flora	Tammeka	9–0 (H)	27 October 2021
Henri Anier	Paide Linnameeskond	Legion	4–0 (H)	30 October 2021
Otto-Robert Lipp	Kuressaare	Vaprus	4–0 (A)	6 November 2021

Notes
⁴Player scored four goals
(H) – Home team
(A) – Away team

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
March/April	Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko	Paide Linnameeskond	Henri Anier	Paide Linnameeskond
May	Jürgen Henn	Flora	Zakaria Beglarishvili	FCI Levadia
June/July	Marko Savić Vladimir Vassiljev	FCI Levadia	Robert Kirss
August			Joseph Saliste	Paide Linnameeskond
September	Roman Kozhukhovsky	Kuressaare	Rauno Alliku	Flora
October	Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko	Paide Linnameeskond	Ken Kallaste	Flora
November	Jürgen Henn	Flora	Zakaria Beglarishvili	FCI Levadia

External links

• Official website

Template:2021 in Estonian football