2016 Esiliiga

The 2016 Esiliiga is the 26th season of the Esiliiga, second-highest Estonian league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992. The season began on 25 February 2016 and concluded on 6 November 2016.^[1]

Esiliiga

Season	2016
Champions	Tulevik (1st title)
Promoted	Tulevik
Relegated	Nõmme Kalju U21 Vaprus Järve
Matches played	180
Goals scored	717 (3.98 per match)
Top goalscorer	Eduard Golovljov (39 goals)
Biggest home win	Levadia U21 10–0 Vaprus (21 August 2016) Infonet II 10–0 Järve (18 September 2016)
Biggest away win	Vaprus 1–6 Levadia U21 (22 May 2016) Flora U21 0–5 Levadia U21 (9 September 2016)
Highest scoring	Levadia U21 10–0 Vaprus (21 August 2016) Infonet II 10–0 Järve (18 September 2016)
Longest winning run	9 matches Tulevik
Longest unbeaten run	14 matches Tulevik
Longest winless run	11 matches Nõmme Kalju U21
Longest losing run	8 matches Nõmme Kalju U21
← 2015 2017 →

Tulevik won the league, finishing with 89 points and were promoted to the Meistriliiga. It was their first Esiliiga title in history.

Teams

Stadia

Flora U21
Infonet II
Levadia U21
Nõmme Kalju U21
Kalev

Vaprus

Santos

Maardu

Järve

Tulevik

Locations of the 2016 Esiliiga teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Flora U21	Tallinn	A. Le Coq Arena	10,340[2]
Infonet II	Tallinn	Infonet Lasnamäe Stadium	400[3]
Järve	Kohtla-Järve	Kohtla-Järve SPK Stadium	150[4]
Levadia U21	Tallinn	Maarjamäe Stadium	30[5]
Maardu Linnameeskond	Maardu	Maardu Stadium	500[6]
Nõmme Kalju U21	Tallinn	Hiiu Stadium	330[7]
Santos	Tartu	Tamme Stadium	1,750[8]
Tallinna Kalev	Tallinn	Kalev Keskstaadion	11,500[9]
Tulevik	Viljandi	Viljandi Stadium	1,068[10]
Vaprus	Vändra	Vändra Stadium	307[11]

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Flora U21	Joel Indermitte	Tõnu Paavo	Nike	Tele2[12]
Infonet II	Sergei Bragin		Joma	Infonet
Järve	Aleksei Tikhomirov	Mikhail Kharitanovich	Adidas	Euronics
Levadia U21	Vladimir Vassiljev		Adidas	Viimsi Keevitus
Maardu Linnameeskond	Andrei Borissov	Maksim Krivošein	Adidas
Nõmme Kalju U21	Zaur Tšilingarašvili		Adidas	Optibet[13]
Santos	Siim Säesk	Taavi Vellemaa	Uhlsport	Värska
Tallinna Kalev	Marko Pärnpuu	Ando Hausenberg	Jako	ViisTek Media[14]
Tulevik	Aivar Lillevere	Tanel Lang	Joma	Viljandi Aken ja Uks
Vaprus	Ranet Lepik	Karel Otto	Macron	Møller Auto Pärnu

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Flora U21	Jürgen Henn	Signed by Flora	21 December 2015	Pre-season	Joel Indermitte	21 December 2015[15]
Järve	Andrei Škaleta	Mutual consent	31 December 2015		Aleksei Tikhomirov	1 January 2016
Levadia U21	Argo Arbeiter	Signed by Flora	13 July 2016[16]	5th	Vladimir Vassiljev	14 July 2016

Results

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Tulevik (C, P)	36	28	5	3	106	38	+68	89	Promotion to Meistriliiga
2	Flora U21[a]	36	20	8	8	78	47	+31	68
3	Infonet II[a]	36	18	2	16	98	81	+17	56
4	Maardu Linnameeskond	36	16	6	14	83	75	+8	54	Qualification for the promotion play-offs
5	Levadia U21[a]	36	15	5	16	81	69	+12	50
6	Santos	36	16	1	19	63	70	−7	49
7	Tallinna Kalev	36	13	6	17	56	58	−2	45
8	Nõmme Kalju U21[a] (R)	36	12	5	19	62	86	−24	41	Qualification for the relegation play-offs
9	Vaprus (R)	36	8	8	20	48	96	−48	32	Relegation to the Esiliiga B
10	Järve (R)	36	8	6	22	42	97	−55	30

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Esiliiga (in Estonian)
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Play-off (only if deciding champion); 3) Less matches awarded against; 4) Matches won; 5) Head-to-head points; 6) Head-to-head goal difference; 7) Goal difference; 8) Goals scored; 9) Away goals scored; 10) Fairplay ranking.^[17]
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Reserve teams are ineligible for promotion.

Result tables

First half of the season Home \ Away FLO INF JÄR LEV MAA KLJ SAN KLV TUL VÄN Flora U21 2–1 6–0 4–1 5–2 3–2 0–1 2–0 0–2 3–1 Infonet II 2–4 6–1 2–1 5–0 2–0 6–2 2–3 1–5 4–1 Järve 0–1 0–4 3–4 1–0 3–5 1–2 3–2 1–2 2–2 Levadia U21 0–3 2–0 4–0 1–3 2–0 3–2 1–2 1–1 1–5 Maardu 1–1 5–1 7–1 3–4 3–0 3–0 2–1 2–2 3–0 Nõmme Kalju U21 2–2 2–3 2–2 2–2 1–3 2–1 1–2 1–3 0–3 Santos 1–0 5–2 0–1 1–5 4–5 4–1 1–3 2–3 2–0 Tallinna Kalev 1–1 2–3 2–1 0–1 0–0 6–0 1–3 1–2 2–0 Tulevik 0–0 1–2 0–1 3–2 3–2 6–1 4–1 3–3 2–1 Vaprus 1–1 1–3 1–1 1–6 2–2 2–0 1–0 3–2 0–1 Source: Esiliiga Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of the season Home \ Away FLO INF JÄR LEV MAA KLJ SAN KLV TUL VÄN Flora U21 2–4 3–1 0–5 4–1 2–1 2–0 2–2 0–2 7–1 Infonet II 3–3 2–2 1–3 1–5 2–1 3–2 5–0 2–3 10–0 Järve 1–2 4–2 2–0 2–2 1–2 3–2 1–2 0–2 1–3 Levadia U21 1–3 0–2 10–0 2–5 0–0 1–3 1–1 2–3 1–3 Maardu 1–3 4–2 5–0 1–2 0–4 0–1 2–1 2–6 4–1 Nõmme Kalju U21 3–2 4–3 1–2 3–2 1–1 2–1 3–1 0–4 8–1 Santos 1–0 3–2 2–0 3–2 4–0 2–3 2–0 0–2 2–2 Tallinna Kalev 1–2 3–2 1–0 0–1 1–0 2–3 4–0 0–2 4–0 Tulevik 1–3 4–1 6–0 2–2 6–1 5–0 2–0 3–0 4–0 Vaprus 0–0 1–2 0–0 2–5 2–3 3–1 1–3 0–0 3–6 Source: Esiliiga Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Play-offs

Promotion play-offs

Maardu Linnameeskond, who finished 4th, faced Pärnu Linnameeskond, the 9th-placed 2016 Meistriliiga side for a two-legged play-off. The winner on aggregate score after both matches earned entry into the 2017 Meistriliiga.

First leg

Maardu Linnameeskond	1–5	Pärnu Linnameeskond
Zelentsov 59' (pen.)	Report	Aristov 8' (o.g.) Saarts 30', 54' Tutk 45' Vihmoja 71'

12 November 2016

13:00 (UTC+2)

Maardu artificial turf, Maardu

Referee: Juri Frischer

Second leg

Pärnu Linnameeskond	4–3	Maardu Linnameeskond
Saarts 22' Boldyrev 37' (o.g.) Pärnat 43' Vunk 88'	Report	Abdullajev 27' Krivošein 53' Zelentsov 89'

19 November 2016

13:00 (UTC+2)

Pärnu artificial turf, Pärnu

Referee: Kristo Tohver

Pärnu Linnameeskond won 9–4 on aggregate and retained their Meistriliiga spot for the 2017 season.

Relegation play-offs

Nõmme Kalju U21, who finished 8th, faced Welco, 3rd-placed 2016 Esiliiga B side for a two-legged play-off. The first leg originally ended 3–2 to Nõmme Kalju U21 but they were later ruled to have forfeited the match after fielding an ineligible player Henrik Pürg. According to the rules, the second leg was cancelled and Welco earned entry into the 2017 Esiliiga.

First leg

Welco	2–0 Awarded	Nõmme Kalju U21
Reinberg 10' Kaasik 52'	Report

12 November 2016

14:00 (UTC+2)

Annelinn Stadium, Tartu

Referee: Kristo Külljastinen

Second leg

Nõmme Kalju U21	Match cancelled	Welco

19 November 2016

13:00 (UTC+2)

Hiiu Stadium, Tallinn

Season statistics

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[18]
1	Eduard Golovljov	Infonet II	39
2	Vitali Gussev	Maardu Linnameeskond	31
3	Kristen Kähr	Tulevik	22
4	Peeter Klein	Nõmme Kalju U21	20
5	Erik Sorga	Flora U21	17
6	Sander Post	Tulevik	16
7	Alex Meinhard	Santos	14
8	Aleksei Belov	Tallinna Kalev	13
	Indrek Ilves	Tulevik
	Nikita Koger	Levadia U21
	Edgar Tur	Infonet II

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
March[19]	Joel Indermitte	Flora U21	Daniil Savitski	Tallinna Kalev
April[20]	Sergei Bragin	Infonet II	Ranet Lepik	Vaprus
May[21]	Aivar Lillevere	Tulevik	Nikita Brõlin	Maardu Linnameeskond
June/July[22]	Aivar Lillevere	Tulevik	Vitali Gussev	Maardu Linnameeskond
August[23]	Zaur Tšilingarašvili	Nõmme Kalju U21	Peeter Klein	Nõmme Kalju U21
September[24]	Aivar Lillevere	Tulevik	Kristen Kähr	Tulevik
October[25]	Aivar Lillevere	Tulevik	Robert Kirss	Nõmme Kalju U21

Esiliiga Player of the Year

Eduard Golovljov was named Esiliiga Player of the Year.^[26]

See also

• 2015–16 Estonian Cup
• 2016–17 Estonian Cup
• 2016 Meistriliiga
• 2016 Esiliiga B