2023 Meistriliiga

Meistriliiga
Season	2023
Champions	Flora
Relegated	Harju
Champions League	Flora
Conference League	FCI Levadia; Paide Linnameeskond; Tallinna Kalev
Matches played	120
Goals scored	296 (2.47 per match)
Biggest home win	Flora 5–0 Narva Trans; (14 March 2023); FCI Levadia 6–1 Harju; (15 April 2023)
Biggest away win	Vaprus 1–5 Flora; (10 June 2023); Narva Trans 0–4 Vaprus; (8 July 2023); Kuressaare 0–4 Paide Linnameeskond; (23 July 2023)
Highest scoring	Paide Linnameeskond 6–3 Tammeka; (19 August 2023)
Longest winning run	7 matches; Flora
Longest unbeaten run	12 matches; Flora
Longest winless run	10 matches; Harju
Longest losing run	8 matches; Harju
Highest attendance	3,510; FCI Levadia 0–0 Flora; (28 June 2023)
Lowest attendance	101; FCI Levadia 3–0 Tammeka; (15 March 2023)
	← 2022 2024 → All statistics correct as of 30 September 2023.

The 2023 Meistriliiga, also known as A. Le Coq Premium Liiga due to sponsorship reasons,^[1] was the 33rd season of the Meistriliiga, the top Estonian league for association football clubs since its establishment in 1992. It was the first Meistriliiga season with video assistant referee (VAR).^[2]

The winners (Flora, their second consecutive title and fifteenth overall) qualified for the 2024–25 Champions League first qualifying round. The runners-up (FCI Levadia), third-placed team (Tallinna Kalev), and fourth-placed team (Paide Linnameeskond) qualified for the 2024–25 Conference League first qualifying round. The ninth-placed team (Tammeka) qualified for the Meistriliiga play-off, winning to retain their place in the league. The bottom-placed team (Harju) were relegated to the 2024 Esiliiga.

Teams

The league consisted of ten teams; the top nine teams of the previous season, and one team promoted from the Esiliiga. Flora entered the season as defending champions.

Team changes

Promoted from 2022 Esiliiga	Relegated to 2023 Esiliiga
Harju	Legion

Stadiums and locations

Flora
Kalev
Kalju
Levadia

Locations of the 2023 Meistriliiga teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
FCI Levadia	Tallinn	A. Le Coq Arena	14,336^[3]
Flora	Tallinn	A. Le Coq Arena	14,336^[3]
Harju	Laagri	Laagri Stadium	40^[4]
Kuressaare	Kuressaare	Kuressaare linnastaadion	1,000^[5]
Narva Trans	Narva	Narva Kreenholm Stadium	1,065^[6]
Nõmme Kalju	Tallinn	TNTK Stadium	800^[7]
Paide Linnameeskond	Paide	Paide linnastaadion	500^[8]
Tallinna Kalev	Tallinn	Kadriorg Stadium	5,000^[9]
Tammeka	Tartu	Tartu Tamme Stadium	1,500^[10]
Vaprus	Pärnu	Pärnu Rannastaadion	1,501^[11]

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
FCI Levadia	Curro Torres	Rasmus Peetson	Macron^[12]	Admirals, Viimsi Keevitus
Flora	Jürgen Henn	Konstantin Vassiljev	Nike	Optibet^[13]
Harju	Victor Silva	Andre Järva	Adidas	Enemat
Kuressaare	Roman Kozhukhovskyi	Märten Pajunurm	Nike	Visit Saaremaa
Narva Trans	Aleksei Eremenko	Elysée	Nike	Sportland
Nõmme Kalju	Nikita Andreev	Yohan Mannone	Adidas	Marsbet^[14]
Paide Linnameeskond	Ivan Stojković	Andre Frolov	Nike	Exmet, Verston
Tallinna Kalev	Aivar Anniste Daniel Meijel	Marek Kaljumäe	Macron	Unibet^[15]
Tammeka	Marti Pähn	Taijo Teniste	Nike	Giga Ehitus
Vaprus	Igor Prins	Magnus Villota	Nike	Coolbet

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in the table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Vaprus	Dmitrijs Kalašņikovs^[16]	End of contract	12 November 2022	Pre-season	Igor Prins^[17]	14 November 2022
FCI Levadia	Nikita Andreev	End of interim spell	1 December 2022		Curro Torres^[18]	1 December 2022
Narva Trans	Aleksei Yagudin	End of interim spell	31 December 2022		Sergei Terehhov^[19]	31 December 2022
Nõmme Kalju	Kaido Koppel^[20]	Contract terminated	28 April 2023	4th	Nikita Andreev	28 April 2023
Paide Linnameeskond	Karel Voolaid^[21]	Contract terminated	25 May 2023	7th	Ats Sillaste (interim)^[22]	27 May 2023
Paide Linnameeskond	Ats Sillaste	End of interim spell	30 May 2023	7th	Ivan Stojković^[23]	30 May 2023
Narva Trans	Sergei Terehhov^[24]	Contract terminated	8 August 2023	8th	Valeri Bondarenko (interim)	11 August 2023
Narva Trans	Valeri Bondarenko	End of interim spell	20 August 2023	8th	Aleksei Eremenko^[25]	20 August 2023

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Flora (C)	36	23	10	3	74	24	+50	79	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	FCI Levadia	36	22	11	3	67	24	+43	77	Qualification for the Conference League first qualifying round^[a]
3	Tallinna Kalev	36	14	11	11	49	41	+8	53^[b]
4	Paide Linnameeskond	36	13	14	9	50	34	+16	53^[b]
5	Nõmme Kalju	36	12	13	11	50	42	+8	49
6	Vaprus	36	12	12	12	40	43	−3	48
7	Kuressaare	36	12	7	17	36	60	−24	43
8	Narva Trans	36	12	2	22	32	64	−32	38
9	Tammeka (O)	36	5	12	19	33	65	−32	27	Qualification for the Meistriliiga play-off
10	Harju (R)	36	5	8	23	27	61	−34	23	Relegation to the Esiliiga

Source: Premium Liiga, Soccerway
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) Fair-play points; 10) Draw^[26]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

Results

Home \ Away	LEV	FLO	HAR	KUR	NAR	NÕM	PLM	KAL	TAM	VAP	LEV	FLO	HAR	KUR	NAR	NÕM	PLM	KAL	TAM	VAP
FCI Levadia	—	0–0	6–1	4–1	3–0	2–1	2–0	2–1	3–0	0–0	—	2–1	1–1	4–0	3–0	3–0	1–0	1–1	2–1	0–0
Flora	0–2	—	4–0	4–0	5–0	3–1	0–0	3–0	1–1	4–0	2–2	—	2–0	3–0	1–4	0–0	2–1	1–0	3–0	1–1
Harju	2–1	0–1	—	1–1	1–2	1–2	0–1	0–2	2–3	1–2	0–1	2–3	—	1–1	0–2	1–0	0–1	0–2	3–0	0–4
Kuressaare	0–2	1–4	1–1	—	3–0	2–0	1–4	1–2	3–1	1–2	2–1	0–3	1–1	—	1–0	0–2	0–4	1–1	1–1	1–0
Narva Trans	0–2	0–1	2–0	0–1	—	0–2	0–0	2–1	2–0	0–2	0–1	1–3	1–3	2–0	—	2–1	1–3	2–1	2–0	0–4
Nõmme Kalju	0–1	2–2	1–1	2–0	2–0	—	1–1	1–2	1–2	1–0	4–3	0–0	1–0	4–1	4–0	—	3–3	1–2	4–1	1–1
Paide Linnameeskond	1–1	1–3	1–0	0–1	2–1	0–0	—	0–1	0–0	0–1	2–2	0–0	4–0	1–0	1–2	2–0	—	1–1	6–3	3–0
Tallinna Kalev	0–2	0–2	1–1	0–3	0–1	0–0	1–1	—	1–1	1–1	1–2	1–1	2–1	1–3	5–0	1–1	2–1	—	1–1	1–0
Tammeka	2–2	0–3	2–0	0–0	1–1	0–2	0–0	1–2	—	2–3	0–0	1–2	2–1	0–1	3–0	1–1	1–2	2–7	—	0–0
Vaprus	0–0	1–5	0–1	1–2	1–0	1–1	2–2	0–2	1–0	—	0–3	0–1	0–0	3–1	3–2	3–3	1–1	0–2	2–0	—

Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Meistriliiga play-off

The ninth-placed club (Tammeka) faced the second-placed club from the 2023 Esiliiga (Viimsi) for the final place in the following season's Meistriliiga.

First leg

29 November 2023	Viimsi	0–5	Tammeka	Tallinn
16:00 BST			Adebayo 11', 37' Uggeri 46' Tammik 64' Laaneots 89'	Stadium: Sportland Arena

Second leg

3 December 2023	Tammeka	1–1 (6–1 agg.)	Viimsi	Tartu
10:30 BST	Adebayo 71'		Lehtmets 20'	Stadium: Tartu Tamme Stadium

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals^[27]
1	Tristan Koskor	Narva Trans	16
2	Konstantin Vassiljev	Flora	14
3	Mollo	FCI Levadia	13
4	Sergei Zenjov	Flora	12
5	Ernest Agyiri	FCI Levadia	11
6	Kevin Mätas	Tammeka	10
6	Tristan Toomas Teeväli	Tallinna Kalev	10
8	Sten Reinkort	Flora/Kuressaare	9
9	Bourama Fomba	FCI Levadia	8
	Kevin Kauber	Vaprus
	Mattias Männilaan	Kuressaare
	Foday Trawally	Tallinna Kalev

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Ernest Agyiri	FCI Levadia	Nõmme Kalju	3–0 (H)^[28]	9 July 2023
Herol Riiberg	Paide Linnameeskond	Tammeka	6–3 (H)^[29]	19 August 2023

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
Month	Manager	Club	Player	Club
March^[30]	Igor Prins	Vaprus	Uku Kõrre	Vaprus
April^[31]	Curro Torres	FCI Levadia	Ernest Agyiri	FCI Levadia
May^[32]	Jürgen Henn	Flora	Sergei Zenjov	Flora
June/July^[33]	Curro Torres	FCI Levadia	Ebrima Jarju	Paide Linnameeskond
August^[34]	Nikita Andreev	Nõmme Kalju	Andre Fortune II	Nõmme Kalju
September^[35]	Victor Silva	Harju	Mollo	FCI Levadia
October^[36]	Aivar Anniste Daniel Meijel	Tallinna Kalev	Konstantin Vassiljev	Flora

Annual awards

Award	Winner	Club
Player of the Season^[37]	Konstantin Vassiljev	Flora
Goalkeeper of the Season	Karl Andre Vallner	FCI Levadia
Defender of the Season	Bourama Fomba	FCI Levadia
Midfielder of the Season	Konstantin Vassiljev	Flora
Forward of the Season	Mollo	FCI Levadia
Under-21 Player of the Season	Mollo	FCI Levadia
Manager of the Season^[38]	Aivar Anniste Daniel Meijel	Tallinna Kalev
Goal of the Season^[39]	Mark Maksimkin	Narva Trans

References

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