2012 Meistriliiga

Meistriliiga

Season	2012
Champions	Nõmme Kalju
Champions League	Nõmme Kalju
Europa League	Levadia Flora Narva Trans
Matches played	180
Goals scored	536 (2.98 per match)
Top goalscorer	Vladislav Ivanov (23 goals)
Biggest home win	Levadia 7–0 Kuressaare (30 July) Nõmme Kalju 7–0 Tallinna Kalev (4 September)
Biggest away win	Kuressaare 0–9 Nõmme Kalju (28 August)
Highest scoring	Viljandi 1–9 Nõmme Kalju (2 October)
← 2011 2013 →

The 2012 season of the Meistriliiga the first level in the Estonian football system is the 22nd season in the league's history. The competition started on 10 March 2012 and will end on 3 November 2012.^[1] The defending champions are Flora, who won their ninth league championship last year.

Teams

Ajax finished the 2011 season in 10th place and were directly relegated to the Esiliiga, ending a one-year stay in the Estonian top flight. They were replaced by Tallinna Kalev, who return to the league after a two-year absence.

In addition, the 9th-placed Meistriliiga club, Kuressaare, faced the runners-up of the Esiliiga, Infonet, in a two-legged play-off for a spot in this season's competition. Kuressaare won the play-off, 5–1 on aggregate, retaining their spot in the league.

Stadiums and locations

Kuressaare

Trans

Paide

Sillamäe

Flora
Levadia
Kalju
Tallinna Kalev

Tammeka

Viljandi

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Locations of the 2012 Meistriliiga teams

Club	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Flora	Tallinn	A. Le Coq Arena	9,692
Nõmme Kalju	Tallinn	Kadriorg Stadium	5,000
Kuressaare	Kuressaare	Kuressaare linnastaadion	2,000
Levadia	Tallinn	Maarjamäe Stadium	1,000
Paide Linnameeskond	Paide	Paide linnastaadion	368
Sillamäe Kalev	Sillamäe	Sillamäe Kalev Stadium	2,000
Tallinna Kalev	Tallinn	Kalev Keskstaadion	12,000
Tammeka	Tartu	Tartu Tamme Stadium	1,600
Narva Trans	Narva	Narva Kreenholm Stadium	3,000
Viljandi	Viljandi	Viljandi linnastaadion	1,006

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Flora	Marko Lelov	Andre Frolov	Nike	KH Energia Konsult
Nõmme Kalju	Igor Prins	Alo Bärengrub	Adidas	Maxima
Kuressaare	Sergei Zamogilnõi	Sander Viira	Joma	—
Levadia	Marko Kristal	Igor Morozov	Adidas	Viimsi Keevitus
Paide Linnameeskond	Meelis Rooba	Carl Tubarik	Nike	Verston
Sillamäe Kalev	Algimantas Briaunys	Mihhail Starodubtsev	Uhlsport	Alexela
Tallinna Kalev	Sergei Ratnikov	Aleksei Savitski	Jako	—
Tammeka	Joti Stamatopoulos	Kaspar Kaldoja	Nike	Mäe-kodu
Narva Trans	Aleksei Yagudin	Stanislav Kitto	Nike	Sportland
Viljandi	Zaur Tšilingarašvili	Ott Ottis	Joma	Express Hotline

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Levadia	Sergei Hohlov-Simson	End of contract	30 November 2011	Pre-season	Marko Kristal	1 December 2011[2]
Narva Trans	Aleksei Yagudin	End of contract	9 January 2012	Pre-season	Sergei Prikhodko	10 January 2012[3]
Narva Trans	Sergei Prikhodko	Sacked	June	?	Aleksei Yagudin	June
Tammeka	Kristjan Tiirik	Sacked	18 July 2012	10th	Joti Stamatopoulos	19 July 2012[4]
Sillamäe Kalev	Valeri Bondarenko	Sacked	7 September 2012	4th	Algimantas Briaunys	8 September 2012[5]
Flora	Martin Reim	Mutual agreement	14 October 2012	2nd	Marko Lelov	15 October 2012[6]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Nõmme Kalju (C)	36	29	5	2	106	17	+89	92	Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round
2	Levadia	36	25	8	3	85	22	+63	83	Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round[a]
3	Flora	36	26	3	7	87	24	+63	81
4	Narva Trans	36	16	7	13	52	44	+8	55
5	Sillamäe Kalev	36	15	10	11	51	43	+8	55
6	Paide	36	11	9	16	34	52	−18	42
7	Viljandi	36	6	8	22	33	88	−55	26	Dissolved at the end of the season
8	Kuressaare	36	5	11	20	31	80	−49	26
9	Tallinna Kalev (O)	36	4	9	23	27	87	−60	21	Qualification for relegation play-offs
10	Tammeka	36	4	8	24	30	79	−49	20	Relegation to Esiliiga[b]

Source: Estonian Football Association (in Estonian)
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd least withdrawals or annulled matches; 3rd overall wins; 4th head-to-head points; 5th head-to-head goal difference; 6th goal difference; 7th goals scored.
If two or more teams on the top have the same number of points by the end of the season, the aforementioned rules will not apply and additional game(s) will be played to determine the champions^[7]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners
Notes:

1. Narva Trans qualified for the UEFA Europa League since 3rd-placed Flora qualified for the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League as Cup winner and Cup finalist Kalju had qualified for the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League.
2. Tammeka escaped relegation due to dissolving of seventh placed Viljandi at the end of season

Relegation play-off

At season's end, the ninth place club in the Meistriliiga will participate in a two-legged playoff with the runners-up of the 2012 Esiliiga for one spot in next year's competition.

11 November 2012

13:00 EET (GMT+2)

Tarvas	1–2	Tallinna Kalev
Hang 23'	Report	Tomson 70' Kase 74'

Rakvere artificial turf, Rakvere

Attendance: 324

Referee: Jaan Roos

17 November 2012

13:00 EET (GMT+2)

Tallinna Kalev	1–0	Tarvas
Ratnikov 38'	Report

Kalev Keskstaadion, Tallinn

Attendance: 377

Referee: Hannes Kaasik

Tallinna Kalev retains their place in the league, winning 3–1 on aggregate.

Results

Each team plays every opponent four times, twice at home and twice on the road, for a total of 36 games.

First half of season Home \ Away FLO NÕM KUR LEV PAI SIL T.K TAM NAR VIL Flora 1–0 0–1 0–1 1–0 3–0 5–0 4–0 2–1 5–0 Nõmme Kalju 2–0 2–0 0–0 1–0 5–0 3–1 3–0 4–1 4–0 Kuressaare 1–3 0–1 0–2 0–1 2–2 3–3 1–1 0–0 0–0 Levadia 1–1 1–1 5–0 1–0 1–1 0–0 1–0 4–0 2–0 Paide 0–5 1–3 2–1 1–5 1–1 1–0 2–0 0–0 0–1 Sillamäe Kalev 0–2 0–2 0–0 0–0 1–1 4–1 2–0 2–0 2–0 Tallinna Kalev 0–3 0–5 2–1 1–2 1–0 1–2 1–0 0–0 2–1 Tammeka 0–2 0–4 0–0 0–1 1–2 0–0 2–1 2–3 1–1 Narva Trans 1–2 1–2 1–3 1–2 2–0 1–0 5–1 2–0 3–1 Viljandi 0–2 0–3 3–1 0–3 0–2 0–3 1–1 3–2 0–1 Source: Estonian Football Association Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season Home \ Away FLO NÕM KUR LEV PAI SIL T.K TAM NAR VIL Flora 1–0 2–0 1–2 3–0 4–0 3–1 5–1 0–1 5–0 Nõmme Kalju 2–0 6–1 2–2 1–1 2–2 7–0 5–1 1–0 3–0 Kuressaare 0–2 0–9 0–1 1–1 1–2 2–1 3–2 0–3 3–3 Levadia 5–4 0–1 7–0 4–0 0–2 4–1 3–0 0–2 2–1 Paide 0–6 0–2 1–1 1–2 2–0 0–0 4–1 2–3 0–2 Sillamäe Kalev 1–2 0–2 2–1 1–1 1–2 3–0 3–1 0–3 2–2 Tallinna Kalev 1–1 1–3 0–3 0–6 0–3 0–3 1–4 0–1 2–2 Tammeka 0–3 1–4 2–2 0–3 1–1 0–3 1–1 2–1 4–0 Narva Trans 2–2 0–2 2–0 0–6 0–0 0–1 1–1 4–0 1–1 Viljandi 0–2 1–9 6–0 0–5 0–2 0–5 2–1 0–0 2–5 Source: Estonian Football Association Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[8]
1	Vladislav Ivanov	Sillamäe Kalev/Narva Trans	23
2	Tarmo Neemelo	Nõmme Kalju	22
3	Zakaria Beglarishvili	Flora	17
4	Jüri Jevdokimov	Nõmme Kalju	13
5	Igor Morozov	Levadia	12
6	Rimo Hunt	Levadia	11
7	Aleksandr Alekseev	Narva Trans	10
	Andre Frolov	Flora
	Artur Rättel	Levadia
	Hidetoshi Wakui	Nõmme Kalju

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Vitali Leitan	Levadia	Kuressaare	5–0	10 April 2012
Artur Rättel	Levadia	Paide Linnameeskond	1–5	28 April 2012
Zakaria Beglarishvili	Flora	Paide Linnameeskond	0–5	12 May 2012
Zakaria Beglarishvili	Flora	Tallinna Kalev	5–0	19 May 2012
Artur Rättel	Levadia	Tallinna Kalev	0–6	23 July 2012
Albert Taar	Levadia	Kuressaare	7–0	30 July 2012
Igor Morozov	Levadia	Flora	5–4	20 August 2012
Tarmo Neemelo	Nõmme Kalju	Kuressaare	0–9	28 August 2012
Rauno Alliku	Flora	Viljandi	5–0	18 September 2012
Vladislav Ivanov	Narva Trans	Kuressaare	0–3	22 September 2012
Tarmo Neemelo ^5	Nõmme Kalju	Viljandi	1–9	2 October 2012
Ousmane Barry	Tammeka	Tallinna Kalev	1–4	20 October 2012
Damiano Quintieri	Nõmme Kalju	Tammeka	5–1	3 November 2012
Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko	Sillamäe Kalev	Viljandi	0–5	3 November 2012

• ⁵ Player scored 5 goals.

Awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
March[9]	Sergei Zamogilnõi	Kuressaare	Igor Morozov	Levadia
April[10]	Igor Prins	Nõmme Kalju	Janar Toomet	Levadia
May[11]	Martin Reim	Flora	Zakaria Beglarishvili	Flora
June[12]	Meelis Rooba	Paide Linnameeskond	Hidetoshi Wakui	Nõmme Kalju
July[10]	Igor Prins	Nõmme Kalju	Joel Indermitte	Viljandi
August[13]	Aleksei Yagudin	Narva Trans	Sergei Terehhov	Nõmme Kalju
September[14]	Igor Prins	Nõmme Kalju	Carl Tubarik	Paide Linnameeskond
October[15]	Marko Kristal	Levadia	Zakaria Beglarishvili	Flora

See also

• 2011–12 Estonian Cup
• 2012–13 Estonian Cup

References

1. "Mängude kalender (2012)". Estonian Football Association. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
2. "FC Levadia esindusmeeskonna uued juhendajad on Marko Kristal ja Indrek Zelinski" (in Estonian). FC Levadia. November 2011. Archived from the original on 1 January 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
3. "Narva Transi uus peatreener tuleb Venemaalt". Põhjarannik (in Estonian). 7 January 2012. Archived from the original on 9 January 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
4. "Tammeka uus peatreener on Joti Stamatopoulos" (in Estonian). JK Tammeka. 19 July 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
5. "Briaunysest sai ametlikult Sillamäe peatreener" (in Estonian). Soccernet.ee. 13 September 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
6. "FC Flora esindusmeeskonda juhendavad hooaja lõpuni Lelov ja Hurt" (in Estonian). FC Flora. 14 October 2012. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
7. "Eesti 2011.a meistrivõistluste Meistri- ja Esiliiga juhend" (PDF). jalgpall.ee (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. 15 June 2011. p. 9. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
8. "VÄRAVALÖÖJATE EDETABEL (2012)" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association.
9. "Meistriliiga esimesel parimate valimisel edukad Zamogilnõi ja Morozov" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. 5 April 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
10. "Meistriliiga kuu parimad Prins ja Indermitte" (in Estonian). Soccernet.ee. 3 August 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
11. "Mai parimad olid Reim ja Beglarišvili" (in Estonian). FC Flora Tallinn. 1 May 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
12. "Meistriliiga 19. vooru kolme mängu tulemused" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. 14 July 2012. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
13. "Jalgpalli Meistriliiga augusti parimad olid Jagudin ja Terehhov" (in Estonian). ERR Sport. 3 September 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
14. "Meistriliiga XXXII vooru tulemused" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. 2 October 2012. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
15. "Meistriliiga oktoobri parimad on Kristal ja Beglarishvili" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. 29 October 2012. Retrieved 29 October 2012.