2008 Meistriliiga

Meistriliiga

Season	2008
Champions	Levadia (6th title)
Relegated	Vaprus (via play-off) TVMK
Champions League	Levadia Tallinn
Europa League	Flora Tallinn Narva Trans Nõmme Kalju
Goals scored	639
Average goals/game	3.55
Top goalscorer	Ingemar Teever (23)
Biggest home win	TVMK 8–0 Tallinna Kalev
Biggest away win	Tulevik 0–8 Flora
Highest scoring	Vaprus 3–10 TVMK
← 2007 2009 →

The 2008 season of Meistriliiga, the first level in the Estonian football system, was the 18th season in the league's history. It began on 8 March 2008 and ended on 15 November 2008. The defending champions were Levadia.

Promotion and relegation

10th placed Ajax Lasnamäe were directly relegated after the end of the previous season. Since reserve squads are not allowed to be promoted to Meistriliiga, third placed Esiliiga team Sillamäe Kalev were directly promoted to 2008 Meistriliiga.

Kuressaare (9th placed Meistriliiga team) and Nõmme Kalju (6th placed Esiliiga team) competed in promotion/relegation play-offs for one spot in 2008 Meistriliiga. The aggregate score was 2–2 and Nõmme Kalju were promoted due to scoring more away goals.

Clubs and venues

Flora
Kalju
Levadia
T. Kalev
TVMK

Sillamäe Kalev

Maag Tammeka

Tulevik

Vaprus

Trans

Location of teams in Meistriliiga 2008

Club	Location	Stadium	Capacity	Current manager
Flora	Tallinn	A. Le Coq Arena	9,300	Pasi Rautiainen
Kalju	Tallinn	Hiiu Stadium	500	Fredo Getulio
Levadia	Tallinn	Kadrioru Stadium	4,750	Igor Prins
Maag Tammeka	Tartu	Tamme Stadium	2,000	Sergei Zamogilnõi
Sillamäe Kalev	Sillamäe	Sillamäe Kalevi Stadium	2,000	Vadym Dobizha
Tallinna Kalev	Tallinn	Kalevi Keskstaadion	12,000	Aavo Sarap
Trans	Narva	Kreenholmi Stadium	3,000	Aleksei Yagudin
Tulevik	Viljandi	Viljandi linnastaadion	2,500	Marko Lelov
TVMK	Tallinn	Kadrioru Stadium	4,750	Sergei Ratnikov
Vaprus	Pärnu	Pärnu Kalevi Stadium	1,900	Ants Kommussaar

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation	Head-to-head
1	Levadia (C)	36	29	6	1	105	22	+83	93	2009–10 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round
2	Flora	36	28	7	1	113	28	+85	91	2009–10 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round ^1
3	Narva Trans	36	16	8	12	62	54	+8	56	2009–10 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round
4	Nõmme Kalju	36	16	7	13	65	64	+1	55
5	Sillamäe Kalev	36	13	6	17	49	79	−30	45
6	Tulevik	36	9	4	23	31	74	−43	31		TUL: 6 pts, 7–5 M-T: 6 pts, 5–7
7	Maag Tammeka	36	9	4	23	45	76	−31	31
8	Tallinna Kalev	36	6	8	22	37	70	−33	26
9	Vaprus (R)	36	5	2	29	41	125	−84	17	relegation play-off
10	TVMK (R)	36	20	6	10	91	47	+44	066^2	Relegation to Esiliiga

Source: Estonian Football Association (Estonian)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) number of wins; 3) head-to-head points; 4) head-to-head goal difference; 5) head-to-head goals scored; 6) goal difference; 7) number of goals scored
¹Flora won the 2008–09 Estonian Cup and qualified for second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. Therefore, Nõmme Kalju, fourth-placed team and cup runners-up, earned a spot in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.
²On 6 November 2008 Estonian Football Association License Commission decided not to grant TVMK a license to play in Meistriliiga or Esiliiga, due to financial difficulties during the season. The Estonian Football Association helped them to play until the end of the season and as they finished in 3rd place, the players and coaches got bronze medals, but the club itself was demoted to 10th spot.^[1][2] TVMK were eventually disbanded.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Relegation play-off

Vaprus and Esiliiga side Paide LM competed in a two-legged relegation play-off for one spot in 2009 Meistriliiga. Aggregate score was 5–5 and Paide LM secured their place in 2009 Meistriliiga because they scored more away goals (3–1).

Paide LM v Vaprus

20 November 2008 13:00 EET

Paide LM	2 – 1	Vaprus
Polyansky  22' (o.g.) Ellram  67'	Report (Estonian)	Kovalenko  90'

Paide Ühisgümnaasiumi stadium Attendance: 150 Referee: Ainar Kuusk

---

Vaprus v Paide LM

23 November 2008 12:00 EET

Vaprus	4 – 3	Paide LM
Joost  48' Pakk  70', 75' Polyansky  72'	Report (Estonian)	Saar  13' Voolaid  43' Ellram  65'

Pärnu Kalevi Stadium Attendance: 100 Referee: Jaan Roos

Results

Each team played 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	LEV	M-T	SIL	T.K	NAR	TUL	TVM	VPR
Flora		1–1	0–2	3–1	4–0	4–1	3–3	3–1	3–1	7–0
Nõmme Kalju	1–7		0–4	2–1	3–0	2–1	1–1	2–0	1–5	3–1
Levadia	2–2	2–2		1–1	4–0	3–1	3–1	2–0	2–0	7–0
Maag Tammeka	1–3	2–1	1–3		2–0	0–2	0–1	2–0	1–2	4–1
Sillamäe Kalev	0–3	2–1	0–5	1–1		2–1	1–3	1–0	1–3	1–4
Tallinna Kalev	0–3	2–0	0–2	2–0	2–5		1–2	2–1	1–1	1–2
Narva Trans	1–2	1–0	0–3	1–1	3–1	0–0		4–1	1–1	1–0
Tulevik	0–8	0–0	0–1	3–1	1–1	3–2	1–0		0–3	0–1
TVMK	0–0	0–1	3–0	1–0	5–1	5–2	1–1	6–1		2–1
Vaprus	1–6	0–2	0–4	2–4	1–3	2–0	0–6	2–4	1–5

Source: Matchday 1–9 results Matchday 10–18 results (Estonian)
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season

Home ╲ Away	FLO	NÕM	LEV	M-T	SIL	T.K	NAR	TUL	TVM	VPR
Flora		4–0	0–0	6–2	7–1	1–1	2–1	4–1	4–2	3–0
Nõmme Kalju	0–3		1–2	2–1	2–2	3–2	7–3	2–0	2–0	5–1
Levadia	0–0	1–0		4–1	5–1	2–1	7–2	5–0	1–1	4–0
Maag Tammeka	1–2	2–3	1–3		0–2	1–0	1–4	2–1	2–3	1–0
Sillamäe Kalev	0–1	2–1	1–4	2–1		2–1	4–4	0–1	0–1	3–2
Tallinna Kalev	0–1	2–3	1–5	1–1	0–0		2–0	1–2	2–2	1–1
Narva Trans	0–2	1–1	0–1	4–1	0–3	1–0		3–0	1–0	3–0
Tulevik	1–2	1–4	0–5	3–0	0–0	0–0	1–0		0–1	1–2
TVMK	1–3	2–1	1–2	6–2	1–2	8–0	0–1	2–1		6–2
Vaprus	1–6	5–5	0–4	1–2	2–4	0–1	2–4	0–2	3–10

Source: Matchday 19–27 results Matchday 28–36 results (Estonian)
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Goalscorers

Source: Estonian Football Association

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Ingemar Teever	Nõmme Kalju	23
2	Nikita Andreev	Levadia	22
3	Sander Post	Flora	19
4	Jarmo Ahjupera	Flora	17
	Felipe Nunes	Nõmme Kalju	17
6	Tarmo Kink	Levadia	16
7	Henri Anier	Flora	15
	Indrek Zelinski	Levadia	15
9	Irfan Ametov	Sillamäe Kalev	13
	Artjom Dmitrijev	TVMK	13
	Vladislav Gussev	TVMK	13
	Nikolai Lõsanov	Narva Trans	13

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month	Player of the Month
March 2008[3]	Fredo Getulio (Kalju)	Sander Post (Flora)
April 2008[4]	Igor Prins (Levadia)	Ingemar Teever (Kalju)
May 2008[5]	Pasi Rautiainen (Flora)	Konstantin Nahk (Levadia)
June 2008[6]	Igor Prins (Levadia)	Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko (Flora)
July 2008[7]	Pasi Rautiainen (Flora)	Mihhail Starodubtsev (Sillamäe Kalev)
August 2008[8]	Igor Prins (Levadia)	Juha Hakola (Flora)
September 2008[9]	Vadym Dobizha (Sillamäe Kalev)	Tarmo Kink (Levadia)
October 2008[10]	Aleksei Jagudin (Trans)	Marek Lemsalu (Levadia)

See also

• 2008 Esiliiga

References

1. FC TVMK meeskonnad langesid Meistri- ja Esiliigast välja. (Estonian)
2. TVMK kadumine ulatas Vaprusele õlekõrre (Estonian)
3. Märtsikuu parimateks tunnistati Getulio Aurelio ja Sander Post (Estonian)
4. Meistriliiga aprilli parimateks tunnistati Prins ja Teever (Estonian)
5. Maikuu parimateks tunnistati Rautiainen ja Nahk (Estonian)
6. Juunikuu parimateks tunnistati Prins ja Zahovaiko (Estonian)
7. Juuli parimaks treeneriks tunnistati Pasi Rautiainen (Estonian)
8. Meistriliiga parimateks hinnati Igor Prins ja Juha Hakola (Estonian)
9. Meistriliigas tunnistati parimateks Dobiza ja Kink (Estonian)
10. Oktoobrikuu parimateks valiti Aleksei Jagudin ja Marek Lemsalu (Estonian)

External links

• soccernet.ee (Estonian)
• soccerassociation.com