The 2018 Meistriliiga (known as A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons) was the 28th season of the

Meistriliiga Meistriliiga (, known as the A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons) is the highest division of the Estonian Football Association annual football (soccer), football championship. The league was founded in 1992, and was initially semi-p ...

, the highest division of

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

system. The season was scheduled to begin on 25 February 2018, but was postponed due to a

cold wave A cold wave (known in some regions as a cold snap, cold spell or Arctic Snap) is a weather phenomenon that is distinguished by a cooling of the air. Specifically, as used by the U.S. National Weather Service, a cold wave is a rapid fall in tem ...

. On 3 March, the season began with four out of five second round matches held in indoor arena. This marked the first time Estonian league football was played indoor. The season concluded on 10 November 2018.

Flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

were the defending champions. Nõmme Kalju won their 2nd Meistriliiga title completing an entire season undefeated.

Teams

10 teams competed in the league. Sillamäe Kalev lost their Meistriliiga license due to a failure to meet their financial obligations and were relegated to the

II liiga II liiga is the fourth level of football league competition in Estonia arranged by the Estonian Football Association. It consists of 28 teams, divided geographically into two divisions with 14 teams respectively in group North/East and South/Wes ...

. On 4 November 2017, it was announced that

FCI Tallinn FCI Tallinn (FC Infonet Tallinn) is a football club, based in Lasnamäe, Tallinn, Estonia. Formed in 2002, the club played in the Estonian top flight Meistriliiga from 2013 to 2017, and won the league in the 2016 season. In 2017, the club merged ...

would merge with Levadia. The two clubs were replaced by 2017 Esiliiga champions

Maardu Linnameeskond Maardu Linnameeskond is a football club based in Maardu, Estonia. The team compete in the II liiga, the fourth tier of the Estonian football league system. They adopted their current name in 2016, before being promoted to the Estonian top tier Me ...

and runners-up Tallinna Kalev. On 18 December 2017,

Kuressaare Kuressaare () is a town on Saaremaa island in Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Saaremaa Parish and the capital of Saare County. Kuressaare is the westernmost town in Estonia. The recorded population on 1 January 2018 was 13,276. Th ...

replaced Maardu Linnameeskond after the latter withdrew from the league due to financial reasons.

Venues

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

League table

Relegation play-offs

At season's end Kuressaare, the ninth place club, participated in a two-legged play-off with the runners-up (of independent teams) of the 2018 Esiliiga,

Elva Elva may refer to: Places *Elva, Estonia, town in Tartu County, Estonia *Elva Parish, municipality in Estonia *Elva (river), a river in Estonia *Elva, Illinois, unincorporated community in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States *Elva, Manitoba, u ...

, for the spot in 2019 Meistriliiga. :''Kuressaare won 2–0 on aggregate and retained their Meistriliiga spot for the 2019 season.''

Results

Each team played every opponent four times, twice at home and twice away. A total of 180 matches has been played, with 36 matches played by each team.

First half of season

Second half of season

Season statistics

Top scorers

Top assists

Hat-tricks

⁴ Player scored 4 goals

Awards

Monthly awards

Meistriliiga Player of the Year

Zakaria Beglarishvili was named

Meistriliiga Player of the Year The Meistriliiga Player of the Year is an annual award given to the best Meistriliiga Meistriliiga (, known as the A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons) is the highest division of the Estonian Football Association annual football ( ...

Goal of the Year

Tõnis Vihmoja's goal against

Paide Linnameeskond Paide Linnameeskond is a professional football club based in Paide, Estonia that competes in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian football. The club's home ground is Paide linnastaadion. Founded in 2004, the club has played in the Meistr ...

was chosen Goal of the Year.

Player transfers

* Winter 2017–18 – before the season * Summer 2018 – during the season

References

External links

Official website
{{2018 in Estonian football Meistriliiga seasons 1