Andres Oper (born 7 November 1977) 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 ...

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 * Coac ...

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 is ...

. He is currently an assistant manager of Estonia national team. Oper played as a forward for Lelle,

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''. ...

, Tervis Pärnu, AaB, Torpedo Moscow, Roda JC,

Shanghai Shenhua Shanghai Shenhua F.C. () is a Chinese professional football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under license from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The term ''shen hua'' literally translates as "the Flower of Shanghai" in ...

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegatio ...

AEK Larnaca AEK Larnaca FC ( el, AEK; for short Αθλητική Έvωση Κίτιον Λάρνακας , translit=''Athletiki Enosi Kition Larnakas'', "Athletic Union Kition of Larnaca") is a Cypriot professional football club based in Larnaca. The club ...

Nea Salamina Nea Salamis Famagusta or Nea Salamina Famagusta ( el, Νέα Σαλαμίνα Αμμοχώστου) is a Cypriot sports club based in Ammochostos (also known by its romanized name, Famagusta), Cyprus. The club is named after Salamis (or Salam ...

and the Estonia national team. With 38 goals in 134 appearances, Oper is Estonia's all-time record goalscorer. Oper was named

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 ...

three times, in 1999, 2002 and 2005, and won the Estonian Silverball award twice, in 2001 and 2005.

Early life

Oper 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 '' ...

. He graduated from the Tallinn Secondary School No. 37. He started playing football with Tallinna Jalgpallikool ( en, Tallinn Football Academy) under Aivar Tiidus, before moving to Taivo Uibo's Uibo Poisid and then LMSK/Pantrid, coached by Aavo Sarap.

Club career

Flora

In 1995, Oper signed for

. He won his first

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

title in the 1994–95 season. Oper soon became a first team regular and one of the team's leading goalscorers. He won two more league titles in the 1997–98 and the 1998 seasons, as well as the 1997–98 Estonian Cup and the Estonian Supercup in 1998.

AaB

On 2 July 1999, Oper signed for

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each yea ...

champions AaB, on a five-year contract for a transfer fee of $1 million (EEK 15 million).

Torpedo Moscow

On 10 July 2003, Oper signed a two-year contract with

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

club Torpedo Moscow. Often inconsistent in Russia, scoring 8 goals in 53 appearances, Oper was placed on the transfer list after he suffered an injury to his right foot. In 2005, he was linked with a transfer to Sunderland in England, but the contract was never signed.

Roda JC

On 31 August 2005, Oper signed a one-year contract with Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

club Roda JC for an undisclosed fee. He scored his first Eredivisie goal on 1 October 2005, in a 3–2 win against

Vitesse Arnhem Vitesse may refer to: * Vitesse Models, a diecast model car company * Vitesse (band), Dutch rock band * Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, a car * Rover 216 Vitesse, a car * Rover 3500 Vitesse, a car * Rover 800 Vitesse, a car * Triumph Vi ...

. Oper finished the

2005–06 Eredivisie The 2005–06 season of the Eredivisie began in August 2005 and ended in May 2006. PSV Eindhoven became champion on April 9, 2006. The season was overshadowed by the death of FC Utrecht player David di Tommaso. Promoted teams These teams wer ...

season as the team's joint top scorer alongside Simon Cziommer with 8 goals and signed a contract extension for two more seasons. He was the team's top scorer in the

2006–07 Eredivisie The 2006–07 Eredivisie season began on August 18, 2006. The season saw PSV Eindhoven quickly building a gap with the other teams. After 20 matches, the club was 11 points ahead of AZ and 12 points ahead of Ajax. The lead quickly dissipated in ...

season, scoring 12 goals in the league and 1 in the play-offs. On 16 May 2007, he signed another contract extension with Roda JC until summer 2009.

Shanghai Shenhua

On 19 July 2009, Oper signed a half-year contract with

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional football in ...

club

. He made his debut for the club on 2 August 2009, in an away match against Jiangsu Sainty. However, he suffered an injury and eventually terminated his contract with the club.

ADO Den Haag

After an unsuccessful spell in China, Oper returned to the Netherlands and on 21 January 2010, he signed a half-year contract with an option for another year with

. He made his debut for the club on 13 February 2010 in a home match against Willem II. Oper scored his first goal for ADO Den Haag on 18 April 2010, in a 4–0 win against RKC Waalwijk. His contract extension stalled due to negotiations over personal terms, eventually no agreement was settled and the extension was cancelled. The contract expired in summer.

AEK Larnaca

On 9 September 2010, Oper signed a one-year contract with

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

club

. He scored on his debut against

Ethnikos Achna Ethnikos Achna Football Club ( el, Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Εθνικός Άχνας), commonly known as Ethnikos Achna, or simply Ethnikos, is a Cypriot football club based in the village of Achna. Founded in 1968, the club curren ...

Nea Salamina

In January 2012, Oper joined

club

. He scored his first goal for the club on 3 March in a 2–0 win against

Enosis Neon Paralimni Enosis Neon Paralimni Football Club ( el, Ένωση Νέων Παραλιμνίου, ''Enosi Neon Paralimniou'', "Youth Union of Paralimni"), commonly referred to as ENP, is a Cypriot football team from Paralimni. Currently playing in the fi ...

International career

Oper made his international debut for the

Estonia national football team The Estonia national football team ( et, Eesti jalgpallikoondis) represents Estonia in international football matches and is controlled by the Estonian Football Association, the governing body for football in Estonia. Estonia's home ground is ...

on 19 May 1995, in a 0–2

1995 Baltic Cup The 1995 Baltic Cup football competition was the 15th season of the Baltic Cup and took place from 19 to 21 May 1995 at the Daugava Stadium in Riga, Latvia. It was the fifth annual competition of the three Baltic states – Latvia, Lithuani ...

defeat against

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. He scored his first goal for Estonia on 8 June 1997, in a 2–3

1998 FIFA World Cup qualification 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

loss against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

. He won the Estonian Silverball award twice, in 2001 and 2005. On 2 September 2006, Oper played his 100th match for Estonia, a 0–1 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying defeat against

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. He 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 26 May 2014, after a 1–1 friendly draw against

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = "Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gibr ...

at A. Le Coq Arena. With 38 goals in 134 international appearances, Oper is Estonia's all-time record goalscorer. He played for the Estonia national team for eighteen years in a row.Эстонский экс-футболист Андрес Опер: в Москве мне моментально объяснили, что означает по-русски моя фамилия!
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Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Flora *

: 1994–95, 1997–98,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

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 qualifyin ...

: 1997–98 * Estonian Supercup: 1998 Individual *

: 1999, 2002, 2005 * Estonian Silverball: 2001, 2005

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oper, Andres 1977 births Living people Footballers from Tallinn Estonian footballers FC Flora players Meistriliiga players Estonia international footballers JK Tervis Pärnu players AaB Fodbold players Estonian expatriate footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Danish Superliga players FC Torpedo Moscow players Expatriate footballers in Russia Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Russian Premier League players Roda JC Kerkrade players Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Estonian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Eredivisie players FIFA Century Club Shanghai Shenhua F.C. players Expatriate footballers in China Estonian expatriate sportspeople in China Chinese Super League players ADO Den Haag players AEK Larnaca FC players Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Cypriot First Division players Nea Salamis Famagusta FC players Association football forwards