2020 in Estonian football

8 September 2020 Friendly

Estonia

Cancelled

Faroe Islands

11 November 2020 Euro 2021 quali.

Republic of Ireland

Postponed

Estonia

14 November 2020 Euro 2021 quali.

Poland

Postponed

Estonia

17 November 2020 Euro 2021 quali.

Estonia

Postponed

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Under 18[edit]

2 September 2020 Euro 2022 quali.

Kosovo

Postponed

Estonia

5 September 2020 Euro 2022 quali.

Armenia

Postponed

Estonia

8 September 2020 Euro 2022 quali.

Estonia

Postponed

Luxembourg

Under 17[edit]

28 August 2020 Baltic Cup	Latvia	4–0	Estonia	Jelgava, Latvia
17:00	Dario Šits 3' Daniels Nosegbe Suško 11' Armans Muradjans 46' Gleb Patika 48'	Report		Stadium: Zemgale Olympic Center Attendance: 0 Referee: Kristaps Ratnieks

29 August 2020 Baltic Cup	Estonia	0–1	Lithuania	Jelgava, Latvia
15:00		Report	Martin Perveinis 41'	Stadium: Zemgale Olympic Center Attendance: 0 Referee: Arturs Vitolins

21 October 2020 Euro 2021 quali.

Republic of Ireland

Postponed

Estonia

24 October 2020 Euro 2021 quali.

Slovakia

Postponed

Estonia

27 October 2020 Euro 2021 quali.

Estonia

Postponed

Northern Ireland

Under 16[edit]

No arranged fixtures.

Under 15[edit]

No arranged fixtures.

Women[edit]

Senior[edit]

6 March 2020 Friendly	Wales	2–0	Estonia	Wrexham, Wales
21:00	Wynne 69' Lawrence 69'	Report		Stadium: Racecourse Ground Attendance: 2,015 Referee: Lorraine Watson

9 March 2020 Friendly	Faroe Islands	1–1	Estonia	Tórshavn, Faroe Islands
19:00	Andreasen 88'	Report	Bannikova 61'	Stadium: Tórsvøllur Referee: Alex Trolels

18 September 2020 Euro 2021 quali.	Kosovo	2–0	Estonia	Pristina, Kosovo
19:00	Biqkaj 7', 27'	Report		Stadium: Fadil Vokrri Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Olivia Tschon (Austria)

22 September 2020 (2020-09-22) Euro 2021 quali.	Estonia	0–3	Russia	Jūrmala, Latvia
15:00 (16:00 EEST)		Report	Yakovleva 23' Mashina 76' Korovkina 90+4'	Stadium: Slokas Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Simona Ghisletta (Switzerland)

23 October 2020 Euro 2021 quali.	Netherlands	7–0	Estonia	Groningen, Netherlands
19:30	Van de Donk 7', 16' Groenen 26', 65' Spitse 38' (pen.) Nouwen 76' Snoeijs 83'	Report		Stadium: Euroborg Attendance: 0 Referee: Tess Olofsson (Sweden)

February 2021 (2021-02)^[3]^{[note 2]} Euro 2021 quali.	Estonia	Postponed	Slovenia	Tallinn, Estonia
		Report		Stadium: A. Le Coq Arena Referee: Volha Tsiareshka (Belarus)

26 November 2020 Friendly	Estonia	Cancelled	Belarus	Tallinn, Estonia
				Stadium: EJL Sisehall

27 November 2020 Euro 2021 quali.	Estonia	0–4	Turkey	Tallinn, Estonia
17:00 (18:00 EET)		Report	Türkoğlu 29' Civelek 55' Hız 76' Uraz 81'	Stadium: Sportsland Attendance: 127 Referee: Volha Tsiareshka (Belarus)

29 November 2020 Friendly	Estonia	Cancelled	Belarus	Tallinn, Estonia
				Stadium: EJL Sisehall

1 December 2020 Euro 2021 quali.	Slovenia	2–0	Estonia	Koper, Slovenia
18:00	Kralj 27' Kork 59' (o.g.)	Report		Stadium: Bonifika Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Maria Marotta (Italy)

Under 19[edit]

No arranged fixtures.

Under 17[edit]

No arranged fixtures.

Under 15[edit]

No arranged fixtures.

Futsal[edit]

30 January 2020 Euro 2022 quali.	Estonia	1–6	Latvia	Jelgava, Latvia
19:00 (UTC+3)	E. Stüf 22'	Report	Kulešovs 2', 11' Babris 5', 19' Matjušenko 25' J. Pastars 37'	Stadium: Zemgale Olympic Center Referee: David Schaerli

31 January 2020 Euro 2022 quali.	Denmark	4–2	Estonia	Jelgava, Latvia
19:00 (UTC+3)	Mengel 9', 16' Falck 13' Laursen 33'	Report	Babjak 24' Haagh 40' (o.g.)	Stadium: Zemgale Olympic Center Referee: Vasilios Christodoulis

Beach[edit]

No arranged fixtures.

League system[edit]

Men[edit]

Meistriliiga[edit]

The 2020 season saw one new team. Maardu Linnameeskond finished last in 2019, and as such, were automatically relegated to the Esiliiga. They were replaced by Tallinna Legion, a team that had been promoted three seasons in a row. Manager Denis Belov said that the club were aiming for a top four position,^[4] with the debutant making several high-profile signings (these being Maksim Gussev, Pavel Londak and Andrei Sidorenkov). Additionally, two of the top three teams from the previous season hired a new manager. FCI Levadia hired former national team coach Martin Reim, while Nõmme Kalju's new manager was Marko Kristal. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Estonian FA decided to split the league into 'champion' (top six teams) and 'relegation (bottom four teams) groups after the 27th round.^[5] On the 7th of November it was decided that instead of the top six teams playing each other after the 27th round, only the league's four best teams will play with each other once more. The 5th and 6th placed clubs will play a match if the 6th team has a possibility of catching the 5th placed team.^[6]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Tallinna Flora (C)	29	26	2	1	76	17	+59	80	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Paide Linnameeskond	30	21	1	8	80	43	+37	64	Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round
3	Tallinna Levadia	29	17	6	6	66	37	+29	57
4	Nõmme Kalju	30	14	7	9	52	31	+21	49

5	Tartu Tammeka	28	8	8	12	33	44	−11	32
6	Viljandi Tulevik	28	9	4	15	30	46	−16	31

7	Tallinna Legion	30	8	7	15	26	44	−18	31
8	Narva Trans	30	6	7	17	31	49	−18	25
9	Kuressaare (O)	30	5	9	16	28	63	−35	24	Qualification for the relegation play-offs
10	Tallinna Kalev (R)	30	5	5	20	20	68	−48	20	Relegation to the Esiliiga

Source: UEFA, Estonian FA (in Estonian)
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) Fairplay ranking.^[7]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated

Flora / Levadia

Kalev / Legion

Kalju

Paide

Tammeka

Trans

Tulevik

Kuressaare

Locations of the 2020 Meistriliiga teams

Relegation play-off:

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Maardu Linnameeskond (Esiliiga 2nd)	5–9	Kuressaare (Meistriliiga 9th)	3–5	2–4

Esiliiga[edit]

There were four changes of clubs compared to the 2019 season. Esiliiga B's reigning champion Nõmme United were promoted to the second tier for the first time in their history, while Pärnu and Vändra Vaprus were also promoted, returning to the league after twelve and four years respectively in lower divisions. The three clubs replaced Tartu Welco, Tallinna Kalev U21 and Rakvere Tarvas, who were relegated after the 2019 season. Maardu Linnameeskond was relegated from the top division, taking the place of 2019 Esiliiga champion Tallinna Legion. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Estonian FA decided to split the league into 'promotion' (top six teams) and 'relegation (bottom four teams) groups after the 27th round.^[8]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Pärnu Vaprus (C, P)	32	19	8	5	72	30	+42	65	Promotion to the Meistriliiga
2	Maardu Linnameeskond	32	20	4	8	68	45	+23	64	Qualification for promotion play-offs
3	Nõmme United	32	16	7	9	76	43	+33	55
4	Tallinna Flora U21^[a]	32	15	6	11	64	46	+18	51
5	Elva	32	14	7	11	54	52	+2	49
6	Tartu Tammeka U21^[a]	32	12	3	17	47	68	−21	39

7	Tallinna Levadia U21^[a]	30	12	5	13	42	41	+1	41
8	Pärnu (O)	30	11	7	12	61	56	+5	40	Qualification for relegation play-offs
9	Vändra Vaprus (R)	30	10	2	18	47	72	−25	32	Relegation to Esiliiga B
10	Kohtla-Järve Järve (R)	30	1	3	26	13	91	−78	3^[b]	Relegation to Esiliiga B

Source: Soccerway (in English), Estonian FA (in Estonian)
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) Fairplay ranking.^[7]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ ^a ^b ^c Reserve teams are ineligible for promotion.
^ Kohtla-Järve Järve were deducted 3 points for financial troubles.^[9]

Tammeka U21

Elva

Maardu LM

Järve

Vändra Vaprus

Locations of the 2020 Esiliiga teams

Relegation play-off:

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Tabasalu (Esiliiga B 4th)	2–8	Pärnu (Esiliiga 8th)	1–3	1–5

Esiliiga B[edit]

The 2020 Esiliiga B season introduced four new clubs to the division: for the first time a team from Lääne County - Läänemaa, and three bottom teams of the 2019 Esiliiga season - Rakvere Tarvas, Tallinna Kalev U21 and Tartu Welco. These clubs replace the worst team of last season - Põhja-Tallinna Volta - and the three best teams - Pärnu JK, Vändra Vaprus and Nõmme United. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Estonian FA decided to split the league into 'promotion' (top four teams) and 'relegation (bottom four teams) groups after the 27th round. The fifth and sixth team will play another match if the sixth team has a possibility of catching the fifth team.^[8]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Paide Linnameeskond U21 (C, P)	30	23	2	5	112	40	+72	71	Promotion to the Esiliiga
2	Tartu Welco (P)	30	20	2	8	81	50	+31	62	Promotion to the Esiliiga
3	Tallinna Kalev U21^[a]	30	19	1	10	81	59	+22	58
4	Tabasalu	30	16	3	11	58	46	+12	51	Qualification for promotion play-offs

5	Viimsi	28	12	5	11	60	44	+16	41
6	Läänemaa	28	11	3	14	55	64	−9	36

7	Nõmme Kalju U21	30	11	2	17	49	78	−29	35
8	Võru Helios (R)	30	10	5	15	55	68	−13	35	Qualification for relegation play-offs
9	Keila (R)	30	8	6	16	61	93	−32	30	Relegation to II Liiga
10	Rakvere Tarvas (R)	30	3	1	26	26	96	−70	10	Relegation to II Liiga

Source: Soccerway (in English), Estonian FA (in Estonian)
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) Fairplay ranking.^[7]
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ Tallinna Kalev U21 is ineligible for promotion because their first team got relegated to Esiliiga.

Locations of the 2020 Esiliiga B teams

Relegation play-off:

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Tallinn (II N/E 2nd)	—	Raasiku Joker (II S/W 2nd)	—	—

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Tallinn (II league play-off winner)	1–0	Võru Helios (Esiliiga B 8th)	1–0	0–0

II liiga[edit]

Maardu II

TALLINN

Järve II

Sil. Kalev

Trans II

Noorus-96

Wolves

Helios / Welco II

Tammeka III

Viimsi II

Joker

Saue / Harju

Raplamaa

Paide III

Põhja-Sakala

Tulevik U21

Poseidon / Vaprus II

Kuressaare II

Kose

Locations of the 2020 II liiga teams

Group A (North & East)
Compared to the 2019 season, there were three changes of teams. FC Tallinn, winner of the III liiga East, and play-off winner Tartu Helios were promoted from the III liiga, replacing Tartu Santos and Tallinna Ararat, who were both relegated. Meanwhile, Põhja-Tallinna Volta were relegated from the Esiliiga B after just one season. They took their reserve team's spot in the league, who were hence relegated to the III liiga. While two clubs (FCI Tallinn and Sillamäe Kalev) would have been promoted to the Esiliiga B from the results of the previous season, both remained in the fourth tier of Estonian football. FCI Tallinn could not be promoted as they were the second reserve team of FCI Levadia and would have been required to compete in the third tier as Tallinna FCI Levadia U19.^[10] Sillamäe Kalev, on the other hand, was yet to pay its debts and was forbidden from entering the top three leagues.^[11]

The 2020 season ended with Tallinna JK Legion II winning its first title. They were ahead of the second-placed debutant FC Tallinn by only head-to-head points (5:2 and 3:2 to Legion II) and FCI Tallinn, who were the reigning champions, finished third with 57 points, which is the most points for a bronze medalist. Jõgeva Wolves withdrew their last two games (in addition to one in the middle of the season) and was therefore disqualified from the league. The second to last team was Tartu Tammeka III, who was passed by Tartu Helios in the last rounds. The season's most-watched game was held on 29 July, when Narva Trans U21 defeated Tallinna Legion II. The match, which was played on the Narva Kalev-FAMA stadium, had 202 people in attendance.

Group B (South & West)

While in previous years the league had seen many arrivals and departures every season, in 2020, only two clubs joined the league. Two clubs from the Saue Parish were victorious in their respective leagues: Saue, champions of the 2019 III liiga West, made its return to the league after three years, while Harju Laagri made its debut in the fourth tier of Estonian football after winning the III liiga North in 2019. These two clubs will replace Läänemaa, who got promoted to the Esiliiga B (as neither Paide Linnameeskond III nor Tallinna Kalev III could have been promoted^[10]), and Kose, who finished the 2019 season in last place and were relegated to the III liiga West.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic previous season's second-best team, Tallinna Kalev III, decided against taking part this season. They got replaced by Kose, who was originally supposed to play in III liiga. The season was comfortably won by Paide Linnameeskond III, who won its third title in a row. In addition, it is the best result – only one draw and zero losses from 26 games – in the league's history (Pärnu Vaprus also amassed 76 points in 2004 but had two games more). Due to the fact that Paide Linnameeskond III would have to change its name to Paide Linnameeskond U19, the club opted against getting promoted. Therefore, second-placed Harju Laagri got promoted instead. Also, none of the following three teams (Raasiku Joker, Saue and Kuressaare II) wanted to participate in the promotion play-offs and thus II liiga N/E second-placed Tallinn got to play with Esiliiga B's 8th team.^[12] The season's relegated teams were Pärnu Poseidon and Kose, who were in the bottom two for most of the year. Põhja-Sakala was third from last and had to compete in the relegation play-offs. In the end they decided against playing and were thus also relegated. The league's top scorer was Kuressaare II's Maarek Suursaar with his 38 goals. The most-viewed game of the 2020 season was held in the second to last round when the champions beat the home team Raplamaa in front of 132 fans.

Group A (North & East)
Pos	Team	Pld	Pts
1	Tallinna Legion II (C, P)	26	60
2	Tallinn (P)	26	60
3	FCI Tallinn	26	57
4	Narva Trans U21	26	53
5	Tartu Welco II	26	45
6	Sillamäe Kalev	26	42
7	Põhja-Tallinna Volta	26	33
8	Jõgeva Noorus-96	26	33
9	Kohtla-Järve Järve U21	26	32
10	Maardu Linnameeskond II	26	30
11	Tartu Helios	26	28
12	Lasnamäe Ajax	26	24
13	Tartu Tammeka III (R)	26	21
14	Jõgeva Wolves (D, R)	26	10

Source: EJL
(C) Champions; (D) Disqualified; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Group B (South & West)
Pos	Team	Pld	Pts
1	Paide Linnameeskond III (C)	26	76
2	Harju Laagri (P)	26	59
3	Raasiku Joker	26	57
4	Saue	26	55
5	Kuressaare II	26	51
6	Viimsi II	26	41
7	Raplamaa	26	37
8	Tallinna Piraaja	26	33
9	Tallinna Flora U19	26	31
10	Viljandi Tulevik U21	26	27
11	Pärnu Vaprus II	26	26
12	Põhja-Sakala (R)	26	20
13	Kose	26	9
14	Pärnu Poseidon (R)	26	6

Source: EJL
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Champion's match:

21 November Final	Paide Linnameeskond III	0–0 (4–5 p)	Tallinna JK Legion II	Paide, Estonia
13:00 UTC+03		Report		Stadium: Paide kunstmuruväljak Attendance: 80 Referee: Karl Kena

Relegation play-off:
The play-offs for the last places in the next season's II liiga were held on four separate occasions: first the preliminary rounds on the 8th and 14 November and later the finals on the 18th and 22 November. The preliminary rounds are held between the second-placed teams in the fifth division (the South and West as well as the North and East silver medalists play each other). Due to the fact that the South league's second team Otepää did not wish to get promoted, Rummu Dünamo reached the finals without a game. In addition, their next opponent Põhja-Sakala also forfeited the duel and thus the team playing in Paldiski Arena was promoted to the higher tier. In the North-East side there were more play-off games: while the III liiga North second-placed Tallinna Zenit also opted against promotion, they were replaced by the sixth placed Saku Sporting. In the end the club situated in Saku managed to defeat Paide Linnameeskond IV and reach the finals, where they went against Lasnamäe Ajax, who competed in the Esiliiga B two years before. Saku won their first match at home, but suffered a 0–3 loss in Tallinn.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Saku Sporting (III N 6th)	8–7	Paide Linnameeskond IV (III E 2nd)	5–3	3–4
Saku Sporting (play-off winner)	4–6	Lasnamäe FC Ajax (II N/E 12th)	4–3	0–3

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Rummu Dünamo (III W 2nd)	w/o	Otepää (III S 2nd)	—	—
Rummu Dünamo (play-off winner)	w/o	Põhja-Sakala (II S/W 12th)	—	—

III liiga[edit]

Aliens

Loo

Järve III

Kalev

Anija

Järva-Jaani

Phoenix

Paide IV

Ganvix

Tarvas II

Keila II

Rummu

Kernu / Zenit

Hiiumaa

Märjamaa

Pärnu II

Tabasalu II

Vastseliina

Äksi

TARTU

TRT77

Elva II

Tarvastu

Lootos

Otepää

Warrior

Imavere

TALLINN

Saku