Aivar Pohlak (born 19 October 1962 in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

, Republic 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 ...

) is an Estonian football official, a former football player (striker), referee, and football coach. Since March 2007, he has been the President of the

Estonian Football Association The Estonian Football Association (EJL; et, Eesti Jalgpalli Liit) is the governing body of football, beach soccer and futsal in Estonia, established on 14 December 1921. It organizes the football league, including the championship which is calle ...

(EJL) after being its Vice President for four years. In 1990, Pohlak founded the

FC Flora FC Flora, commonly known as Flora Tallinn, or simply as Flora, is a professional football club based in Tallinn, Estonia, that competes in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian football. The club's home ground is Lilleküla Stadium. For ...

, Estonia's most successful football club, based in Tallinn. In 1997, he founded the

FC Kuressaare FC Kuressaare, commonly known as Kuressaare, is a professional football club, based in Kuressaare, Saaremaa, Estonia. The club's home ground is Kuressaare linnastaadion. Founded on 14 March 1997, the club competes in the Meistriliiga, the top tie ...

, current top-division football club based in

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 ...

. In the same year, he also began to build the

Lilleküla Lilleküla () is a subdistrict of the district of Kristiine in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. It has a population of 24,939 (). On the eastern side of Lilleküla there's a train station " Lilleküla" on the Elron's western route. One of th ...

's sports stadium. This is currently the Estonia's largest stadium, opened in 2001. He formally handed over FC Flora to his son Pelle Pohlak in 2016, stating that they practice family-club model. Pohlak received a national award for his work in January 2002. He also was a children’s author in former times.

Critisism and scandals

Pohlak is higly criticized in Estonian media for corruption and unethical involvement with the footbal club

as the president of

, especially with the deals the two made with

Lilleküla Stadium The Lilleküla Stadium (known as A. Le Coq Arena for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Tallinn, Estonia. It is the home ground of football club Flora and the Estonia national football team. With a capacity of 14,336, it is the largest ...

. On 30 March 2022 at a

Kose Kose is a small borough ( et, alevik) in Harju County, 39 kilometers (24 miles) southeast of Tallinn, Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Kose Parish and lies next to Pirita River. At the 2011 Census, the settlement's population wa ...

municipal council meeting, Pohlak insulted and attacked another board member. After divorce from her ex-wife Signe, she accused Aivar Pohlak of domestic violance: humiliating and beating her throughout their marriage. The case was dismissed by criminal court for being expired.

Personal

In 2012 Pohlak married Triin Edasi, FC Flora information specialist. They started living together 14 years earlier and they also have a daughter. From his first marriage with Signe Meisalu, Pohlak has 4 children. The couple divorced in 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pohlak, Aivar Estonian football managers Estonian footballers FC Flora Footballers from Tallinn Living people 1962 births FC Kuressaare Association football forwards Association football executives