2021 Esiliiga

Esiliiga

Season	2021
Champions	Maardu Linnameeskond (2nd title)
Promoted	Tallinna Kalev
Relegated	Maardu Linnameeskond Tammeka U21 Welco
Matches played	147
Goals scored	584 (3.97 per match)
Top goalscorer	Robi Saarma (28 goals)
Biggest home win	Maardu Linnameeskond 7–0 Welco (18 September 2021)
Biggest away win	Tammeka U21 0–8 Nõmme United (12 September 2021)
Highest scoring	Paide Linnameeskond U21 6–5 Nõmme United (20 November 2021)
← 2020 2022 →

The 2021 Esiliiga was the 31st season of the Esiliiga, the second-highest Estonian league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992. The season began on 4 March 2021 and concluded on 21 November 2021. Defending champions Maardu Linnameeskond won their second Esiliiga title.

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Levadia U21
Flora U21
Nõmme United
Kalev U21

Tammeka U21
Welco

Elva

Maardu

Paide U21

Pärnu

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Locations of the 2021 Esiliiga teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Elva	Elva	Elva linnastaadion	600 [1]
FCI Levadia U21	Tallinn	Maarjamäe Stadium	30 [2]
Flora U21		Lilleküla training ground	200 [3]
Maardu Linnameeskond	Maardu	Maardu linnastaadion	500 [4]
Nõmme United	Tallinn	Männiku Stadium	50 [5]
Paide Linnameeskond U21	Paide	Paide linnastaadion	268 [6]
Pärnu Jalgpalliklubi	Pärnu	Pärnu Rannastaadion	1,501 [7]
Tallinna Kalev	Tallinn	Kalevi Keskstaadion artificial turf	270 [8]
Tammeka U21	Tartu	Sepa Jalgpallikeskus	508 [9]
Welco		Annelinna Stadium	656 [10]

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Elva	Veiko Haan	Markus Lokk	Nike	Sportland
FCI Levadia U21	Robert Sadovski	Andrei Grigorjev	Adidas	Viimsi Keevitus
Flora U21	Ats Sillaste	Igor Ustritski	Nike	Tele2 [11]
Maardu Linnameeskond	Algimantas Briaunys	Ilja Zelentsov	Adidas
Nõmme United	Martin Klasen	Sander Alex Liit	Uhlsport	Apollo
Paide Linnameeskond U21	Erki Kesküla	Mattias Sapp	Nike	Verston
Pärnu Jalgpalliklubi	Igor Prins	Veiko Vespere	Hummel	Savi
Tallinna Kalev	Aivar Anniste Daniel Meijel	Kaspar Laur	Macron	Coolbet
Tammeka U21	Marti Pähn	Dominic Laaneots	Nike	Metec
Welco	Meelis Eelmäe	Mikk Valtna	Adidas	Holm Bank

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Tallinna Kalev	Dmitrijs Kalašņikovs	End of caretaker spell	30 November 2020 [12]	Pre-season	Aivar Anniste Daniel Meijel	1 March 2021 [13]
Welco	Janar Sagim	Resigned	22 January 2021 [14]		Meelis Eelmäe	25 January 2021 [15]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Maardu Linnameeskond (C)	30	23	4	3	99	30	+69	73
2	Tallinna Kalev	30	21	8	1	78	32	+46	71	Promotion to Meistriliiga [a]
3	Paide Linnameeskond U21	30	17	3	10	85	56	+29	54
4	Nõmme United	30	12	5	13	79	67	+12	41
5	Flora U21	27	11	6	10	38	47	−9	39
6	Elva	27	9	2	16	42	54	−12	29
7	FCI Levadia U21	30	10	5	15	52	77	−25	35
8	Pärnu Jalgpalliklubi	30	8	5	17	38	61	−23	29	Qualification for relegation play-offs [a]
9	Tammeka U21 (R)	30	6	7	17	43	82	−39	25	Relegation to Esiliiga B
10	Welco (R)	30	5	5	20	30	78	−48	20

Source: Soccerway (in English), Esiliiga (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) Fair-play points; 10) Draw
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Despite winning the league, Maardu Linnameeskond declined promotion to Meistriliiga and applied to join II liiga for the following season. Tallinna Kalev was promoted instead and Pärnu Jalgpalliklubi was able to maintain its spot in Esiliiga despite losing the relegation play-offs. ^[16]

Relegation play-offs

27 November 2021

16:00 (UTC+2)

Alliance	4–1	Pärnu Jalgpalliklubi
Yuri 25', 66' Mitsuk 45+1' Orlov 76'	Report	Simanis 38'

Kohtla-Järve artificial turf, Kohtla-Järve

Attendance: 88

Referee: Dmitri Kirilov

4 December 2021

13:00 (UTC+2)

Pärnu Jalgpalliklubi	0–0	Alliance
	Report

Pärnu Rehepapi artificial turf, Pärnu

Attendance: 50

Referee: Marko Liiva

Alliance won 4–1 on aggregate.

Results

Matches 1–18 Home \ Away ELV LEV FLO MLM NÕM PLM PJK KAL TAM WEL Elva 3–1 1–3 0–6 5–2 0–1 3–0 0–4 4–0 3–2 FCI Levadia U21 4–2 1–0 0–5 2–7 2–3 1–2 3–4 3–0 1–2 Flora U21 1–0 1–1 0–3 2–2 2–2 2–0 1–5 2–1 1–1 Maardu 2–1 3–1 1–3 5–1 2–1 5–0 1–2 2–2 6–0 Nõmme United 2–2 1–1 2–1 1–3 0–4 5–0 2–2 2–3 4–0 Paide U21 3–1 1–2 8–2 2–5 4–1 4–0 0–4 8–2 2–1 Pärnu 2–1 2–2 1–2 1–2 0–1 2–4 2–2 2–0 2–1 Tallinna Kalev 1–0 5–0 1–1 2–2 2–0 0–2 3–2 5–1 2–1 Tammeka U21 1–0 3–4 0–1 1–2 1–6 0–4 1–3 1–5 6–0 Welco 3–0 0–1 0–0 0–4 0–4 0–4 1–3 0–1 1–1 Source: Estonian Football Association (in Estonian) Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 19–30 Home \ Away ELV LEV FLO MLM NÕM PLM PJK KAL TAM WEL Elva 0–1 3–4 0–0 1–2 1–4 4–2 FCI Levadia U21 2–4 0–4 3–2 1–1 Flora U21 0–1 1–2 1–8 5–1 Maardu 4–0 2–1 1–1 1–1 4–2 7–0 Nõmme United 7–2 0–1 2–4 3–4 0–2 Paide U21 1–2 4–1 1–2 0–2 6–5 2–4 0–4 4–0 Pärnu 0–1 0–2 0–3 1–3 Tallinna Kalev 2–2 1–0 4–2 2–2 3–3 Tammeka U21 3–2 0–8 2–2 0–1 Welco 3–2 2–3 2–1 2–3 1–1 Source: Estonian Football Association (in Estonian) Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals [17]
1	Robi Saarma	Nõmme United	28
2	Ats Purje	Tallinna Kalev	24
3	Vitali Gussev	Maardu Linnameeskond	21
4	Vadim Aksjonov	Maardu Linnameeskond	16
	Kristofer Piht	Paide Linnameeskond U21
6	Roman Sobtšenko	Maardu Linnameeskond	15
7	Ilja Zelentsov	Maardu Linnameeskond	13
8	Lars-Indrek Aigro	Nõmme United	12
	Silard Simanis	Pärnu Jalgpalliklubi
10	Andreas Kiivit	Flora U21	11
	Ramol Sillamaa	Tallinna Kalev

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
May [18]	Algimantas Briaunys	Maardu Linnameeskond	Ats Purje	Tallinna Kalev
June/July [19]	Aivar Anniste Daniel Meijel	Tallinna Kalev	Kaspar Laur
September [20]	Martin Klasen	Nõmme United	Robi Saarma	Nõmme United
October [21]	Algimantas Briaunys	Maardu Linnameeskond	Lars-Indrek Aigro

Esiliiga Player of the Year

Ats Purje was named Esiliiga Player of the Year. ^[22]

See also

• 2020–21 Estonian Cup
• 2021–22 Estonian Cup
• 2021 Meistriliiga
• 2021 Esiliiga B

References

1. "Elva linnastaadion" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association.
2. "Maarjamäe jalgpallikeskus" (in Estonian). Eesti spordiregister.
3. "Lilleküla harjutusväljak I" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association.
4. "Maardu Linna staadion" (in Estonian). Eesti spordiregister.
5. "Männiku Jalgpallikeskuse jalgpalliväljakud" (in Estonian). Eesti spordiregister.
6. "Paide linna staadion" (in Estonian). Eesti Spordiregister.
7. "Pärnu Rannastaadion" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association.
8. "Kalevi Keskstaadioni kunstmuruväljak". www.spordiregister.ee. Retrieved 2025-08-05.
9. "Tartu Sepa jalgpallikeskuse kunstmuruväljak" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association.
10. "Tartu Annelinna kunstmurustaadion" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association.
11. "Flora sai koondisega sama sponsori" (in Estonian). soccernet.ee. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
12. "Kindel: Kalevi ja Kalašnikovsi teed läksid lahku" (in Estonian). soccernet.ee. 30 November 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
13. "Tallinna Kalevit juhendab uuel hooajal tuttav treeneriduo" (in Estonian). soccernet.ee. 1 March 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
14. "Ametist taandunud Welco juhendaja Sagim: võtan poliitilise vastutuse liiga mittevõitmise eest" (in Estonian). soccernet.ee. 22 January 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
15. "Santose looja asub juhendama Welco esindusmeeskonda" (in Estonian). soccernet.ee. 25 January 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
16. "Maardu Linnameeskond loobus tippliigades mängimisest" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
17. "Mängude ajalugu" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association.
18. "Esiliiga kuu parimateks valiti Purje ja Briaunys" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. 4 June 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
19. "Esiliiga kuu parimad tulevad Tallinna Kalevist" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. 10 August 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
20. "Esiliiga kuu parimad on Saarma ja Klasen" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. 13 October 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
21. "Esiliiga kuu parimad on Briaunys ja Aigro" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. 9 November 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
22. "Esiliiga parimaks mängijaks valiti Ats Purje" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. 12 December 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2022.