Marko Kristal (born 2 June 1973) is an Estonian

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 ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

and former player. He is the assistant manager of Nõmme Kalju. Kristal played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Lõvid, Sport Tallinn,

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 ...

FC Lahti FC Lahti is a Finnish football club based in the city of Lahti. It currently plays in the Finnish Premier League (''Veikkausliiga'') after placing first in the Finnish First Division (''Ykkönen'') during season 2011. The homeground of FC Lah ...

and the Estonia national team. With Flora, he won seven Meistriliiga titles, two

Estonian Cup The Estonian Cup ( et, Eesti Karikas) is the national knockout competition in Estonian football. In 2012, the competition was unofficially rebranded as Evald Tipner's Cup. The winner will compete in UEFA Europa Conference League first qualifyi ...

s and two

Estonian Supercup The Estonian Supercup ( et, Eesti Superkarikas) is Estonian football's annual super cup, contested between the champions of the previous Meistriliiga season and the holders of the Estonian Cup. If the Meistriliiga champions also won the Estoni ...

s. Kristal made his international debut in Estonia's first official match since restoration of independence on 3 June 1992, a 1–1 draw against

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. In 2001, he became the first Estonian player to make 100 appearances for the national team. He made a total of 143 appearances for Estonia, scoring nine goals. After retiring as a player, Kristal became a manager. He has coached Tammeka, Levadia and Tulevik. Kristal won two Meistriliiga titles, two Estonian Cups and two Estonian Supercups with Levadia.

Club career

Early career

Kristal began playing football for a local club Tallinna Lõvid (''Lions of Tallinn''), where he was coached Roman Ubakivi. In 1989, he played for

Soviet Second League The Soviet Second League (russian: Чемпионат СССР по футболу (вторая лига), Soviet football championship (Second League)) was the third highest division of Soviet football, below the Soviet First League. The leagu ...

club Sport Tallinn.

Flora

In 1990, Kristal joined

, a new club founded as a successor to the Lõvid team. With Flora, he won seven Meistriliiga titles, in 1993–94, 1994–95, 1997–98, 1998,

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, two

s, in 1994–95 and 1997–98, and two

s, in 1998 and 2003. Kristal retired from professional football after the 2004 season. He made a total of 263 Meistriliiga appearances for Flora, scoring 51 goals.

IF Elfsborg (loan)

On 12 April 1999, Kristal joined

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

club

IF Elfsborg Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg (), is a professional football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Allsvenskan and have spent ...

on a two-month loan.

FC Lahti (loan)

In December 1999, Kristal moved to

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga (; sv, Tipsligan) is the premier division of Finnish football, the highest tier of the Finnish football league structure, comprising the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agency Veikkau ...

club

on a season-long loan.

International career

Kristal made his international debut for

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 ...

on 3 June 1992, replacing

Urmas Kirs Urmas Kirs (born 5 November 1966) is an Estonian football manager and a retired footballer. He lastly coached the Estonian Meistriliiga club Tarvas. He played in the position of defender. Kirs spent the most of his career in Flora. Internati ...

in the 77th minute of a historic 1–1 draw against

in a friendly at Kadriorg Stadium. The match was Estonia's first official match since restoration of independence and Slovenia's first match ever. He scored his first international goal on 24 February 1996, in a 2–2 draw against

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

in a friendly. From 1995 to 1998, Kristal played in 42 consecutive national team matches. On 28 March 2001, he became the first player to make 100 appearances for Estonia and the youngest player to make his 100th appearance for a European national team after starting in 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifier against

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

, and scored in the 2–2 away draw. Kristal finished his international career with a

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

on 20 April 2005, a 1–2 home loss to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. He made a total of 143 appearances for Estonia, scoring nine goals.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Estonia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kristal goal.''

Honours

Player

Flora *

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 ...

: 1993–94, 1994–95, 1997–98, 1998,

: 1994–95, 1997–98 *

: 1998, 2003

Manager

Levadia *

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

: 2011–12, 2013–14 *

: 2013, 2015

Individual

Order of the Estonian Red Cross The Order of the Estonian Red Cross ( et, Eesti Punase Risti teenetemärk; french: Ordre de la Croix-Rouge Estonienne) was instituted in 1920 by the Estonian Red Cross Society. The Order of the Estonian Red Cross is bestowed in order to give rec ...

, 5th Class

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kristal, Marko 1973 births Living people Footballers from Tallinn Soviet footballers Estonian footballers Estonian football managers Association football midfielders Esiliiga players JK Tervis Pärnu players Meistriliiga players FC Flora players Allsvenskan players IF Elfsborg players Veikkausliiga players FC Lahti players Estonia international footballers FIFA Century Club FCI Levadia Tallinn managers Viljandi JK Tulevik managers Estonian expatriate footballers Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate footballers in Sweden Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Finland Expatriate footballers in Finland