Mart Poom (born 3 February 1972) 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 ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and former professional

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...

regarded as one of the greatest Estonian footballers of all time. He is currently the goalkeeping coach of the Estonia national team. Poom played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Lõvid, Sport Tallinn,

KuPS Kuopion Palloseura (or KuPS) is a Finnish football club, based in the ninth most populated city of Finland, Kuopio. KuPS plays in Finland's Premier League, Veikkausliiga. KuPS has won the Finnish championship six times, the Finnish Cup 4 times ...

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 ...

Wil Wil () is the capital of the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Wil in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Wil is the third largest city in the Canton of St. Gallen, after the city of St. Gallen and Rapperswil-Jona, a twin city that merged in ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, and

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

. Poom made his international debut on 3 June 1992 in the Estonia national team's first official match since restoration of independence, 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 a friendly. He made a total of 120 appearances for Estonia and was the team's

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. Poom won the

Estonian Footballer of the Year The Estonian Footballer of the Year ( et, Eesti aasta parim jalgpallur) is an annual award given to the best performing Estonian footballer of the respective year. The award has been presented since 1992. From 1992 to 1994, the winner was chosen ...

award six times, in 1993, 1994, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2003, the second most times won, behind only

Ragnar Klavan Ragnar Klavan (born 30 October 1985) is an Estonian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Estonian club Paide Linnameeskond and the Estonia national team. A left-footed centre back, he has also played as a left back during his car ...

. In November 2003, Poom was named Estonia's Golden Player. He ended his career on 10 June 2009, after a 0–0 draw against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Early life

Poom was born 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 ' ...

and grew up in

Mustamäe Mustamäe (Estonian for ''Black Hill'') is one of the 8 administrative districts ( et, linnaosa) of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. The smallest by area (it covers only 8.1 km²), it is at the same time the second largest district by popula ...

. He graduated from the Tallinn Secondary School No. 49 with a gold medal and enrolled at the

Tallinn University of Technology Established in 1918, Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech; et, Tallinna Tehnikaülikool) is the only technical university in Estonia. TalTech, in the capital city of Tallinn, is a university for engineering, business, public administratio ...

, but didn't finish his studies, focusing on football.

Club career

Early career

Poom started playing football with Tallinna Lõvid ( en, Lions of Tallinn), before moving to

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 in 1989.

KuPS

In 1992, Poom joined Finnish

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

. He played only 9 games in Finland, before returning to Estonia.

Flora

Back in Estonia, Poom and signed for

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 ...

club

, the successor of the Lõvid team.

Wil

On 1 August 1993, Poom left Flora and joined Nationalliga B side

for a reported transfer fee of £128,000.

Portsmouth

On 4 August 1994, Poom moved to England and signed for First Division side

for a reported transfer fee of £170,000. He made four league appearances for Portsmouth.

Flora (loan)

In 1995, Poom joined his former club Flora on loan, where he broke the club record by keeping a clean sheet for 756 minutes.

Derby County

On 26 March 1997, Poom joined

for a reported transfer fee of £595,000, following a strong performance for Estonia (a 0–0 draw against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, in a rearranged match played in

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

). He made his debut in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

on 5 April 1997, against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in Derby's 3–2 away win at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

, becoming the first player from

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 ...

to play in the PL. Poom soon became a fan favourite, with supporters often confusing unfamiliar commentators with a low chant of 'Pooooom' before games, which sounded like booing. Poom was named Derby County's Player of the Year in the 1999–2000 season and in 2022, the best footballer of the 2000s decade by Derby County

Sunderland

On 18 November 2002, following Derby County's relegation to the First Division in the 2001–02 season, Poom joined

on loan. The move was made permanent on 10 January 2003, for a fee of £3.19 million. On 20 September 2003, he headed a 90th-minute equaliser for Sunderland against Derby County at

Pride Park Pride Park is a business park on the outskirts of the city centre of Derby, England. Developed in the 1990s, It covers 80 hectares of former industrial land between the River Derwent and railway lines. Pride Park Stadium and Derby Arena are both ...

. This was described as "the best goal ever scored by a goalkeeper in the 90th minute on his first match against his former club" by the commentator. The goal was cheered by both sets of fans. Poom's career in Sunderland was beset by several injuries, and he was forced to spend much of the 2004–05 season on the sidelines, making 11 league appearances as Sunderland won the 2004–05 Football League Championship.

Arsenal

On 31 August 2005, Poom was signed by

on loan as temporary cover for

Jens Lehmann Jens Gerhard Lehmann (; born 10 November 1969) is a German former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was a member of Arsenal's " Invincibles", playing every match of their unbeaten title-winning season. He holds the UEFA Ch ...

and

Manuel Almunia Manuel Almunia Rivero (born 19 May 1977) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He competed mainly in the Spanish lower leagues in his early years, only appearing in 26 La Liga games over the course of two seasons with Rec ...

. The move was made permanent on 23 January 2006. He was Arsenal's third-choice keeper, and did not play a single match in the 2005–06 season. However, he became the first Estonian to receive a Champions League runners-up medal after Arsenal lost to

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final. Poom did not play nor did he make the substitutes' bench for the final, but was in Arsenal's 25-man European squad, each of whom won a silver medal. He made his debut for Arsenal on 8 November 2006 in a

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

match against Everton, replacing the injured Manuel Almunia at half-time. Arsenal won the match 1–0 from an

Emmanuel Adebayor Sheyi Emmanuel Adebayor (; born 26 February 1984) is a Togolese professional footballer who plays as a striker for Togolese Championnat National club Semassi. He previously played for English clubs Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham Ho ...

goal. His first and only appearance for Arsenal in the Premier League, came on the last day of the 2006–07 season, against his former club,

, in a 0–0 draw.

Watford

On 26 May 2007, Poom signed for

, who had recently been relegated from the Premier League, for an undisclosed fee. He started the new season as Watford's first choice, but went on to lose his place to Richard Lee. Poom returned to the side for the start of the 2008–09 season, but sustained a dislocated shoulder in a game against

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

on 20 September 2008 that ruled him out for the majority of the season. Although he returned to training before the end of the season, he was not considered for the first-team squad and he was released from his contract, which was due to end in June, on 30 April 2009.

International career

Poom made his international debut for the Estonia national team on 3 June 1992, in a historic 1–1 friendly draw against

. The match was Estonia's first official match since restoration of independence and Slovenia's first match ever. In November 2003, 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 ...

named Poom Estonia's greatest player of the last 50 years. Poom ended 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 10 June 2009, after a 0–0 friendly draw against

. He made 120 appearances, keeping a clean sheet in 31 matches.

Personal life

Poom and his wife, Lissel, have three sons:

Markus Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to: * Marcus (name), a masculine given name * Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name Places * Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44 * Mărcuş, a village in Dobârl� ...

, Andreas and Patrick. Markus is also a footballer, while Andreas is a music artist.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Sunderland *

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

: 2004–05 Arsenal *

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

runner-up: 2005–06 *

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

runner-up: 2006–07 Individual *

: 1993, 1994, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003 *

Derby County F.C. Player of the Year Derby County's Player Of The Season award is voted for by the club's supporters and named in honour of Jackie Stamps (The Jack Stamps Trophy) – who scored two goals in Derby's sole FA Cup final victory in 1946. It was first introduced in the 196 ...

: 1999–2000 *

UEFA Jubilee Awards To celebrate the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)'s 50th anniversary in 2004, each of its member associations was asked by UEFA to choose one of its own players as the single most outstanding player of the past 50 years (1954–2003). ...

– Greatest Estonian Footballer of the last 50 Years (Golden Player): 2003 * EST Order of the White Star - 4th Class BAR

Order of the White Star The Order of the White Star ( et, Valgetähe teenetemärk; french: Ordre de l'Etoile Blanche) was instituted in 1936. The Order of the White Star is bestowed on Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic ...

, 4th Class

References

External links

* * * *
Watford official profileArsenal official profileMart Poom on The North StandYouTube Video of Mart Poom's equalising headerPoominator
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poom, Mart 1972 births Living people Footballers from Tallinn Estonian footballers Men's association football goalkeepers UEFA Golden Players Soviet footballers Kuopion Palloseura players FC Flora players Meistriliiga players FC Wil players Portsmouth F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Watford F.C. players Veikkausliiga players English Football League players Premier League players Estonia men's international footballers FIFA Men's Century Club Estonian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Finland Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Finland Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in England Estonian expatriate sportspeople in England Recipients of the Order of the White Star, 4th Class Association football goalkeeping coaches