Joel Lindpere (born 5 October 1981) 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 is ...

. Lindpere 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 Nõmme Kalju,

Lelle Lelle is a small borough (') in Kehtna Parish, Rapla County, in central Estonia. It has a station on the Tallinn - Viljandi railway line operated by Elron, and until December 2018 was the junction with the former branch to Pärnu. As of 2011 C ...

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 ...

, Valga,

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia ( bg, ЦСКА София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sport ...

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies ...

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

, Chicago Fire, and

Baník Ostrava ''Baník'' is a Slovak word meaning "miner". Since the 1950s it has been part of the name of various sports clubs in Czechoslovakia associated mostly with coal mining regions. In Poland, the same practice was conducted with the name ''górnik''. ...

. He also made 107 appearances for the Estonia national team, scoring 7 goals.

Club career

Early years

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 ' ...

, Lindpere made his first-team debut for Nõmme Kalju at the age of 15 in 1997. He then moved to

, and scored 5 goals in 23 appearances with the club.

Flora

In 2000, Lindpere signed for

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 ...

. In 2001, he was loaned to Valga, playing 20 games and scoring 17 goals. After his impressive goal scoring display with Valga, he moved back to Flora during the 2002 season. Upon his return to Flora, Lindpere quickly established himself as one of the best midfielders in 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 ...

and helped his club to win the Meistriliiga 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 ...

. In February 2005, Lindpere was loaned to Bulgarian

A Group The First Professional Football League ( bg, Първа професионална футболна лига, Parva Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for spon ...

club

for the remainder of the season. In September 2006, Lindpere was released from the club after an incident with a 4th referee in a Cup match against Levadia.

Tromsø

In February 2007, Lindpere signed a three-year contract with Norwegian

Eliteserien Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

club

. His first goal for Tromsø came against

Molde Molde () is a town and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord. The administrative centre of the m ...

in a training match only a few days after he had signed his contract. On 20 August 2009 Lindpere scored against top Spanish side

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...

in a 3–2 loss in a

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

match played at San Mamés Stadium.

New York Red Bulls

After the 2009 season, Lindpere turned down a contract extension from Tromsø and underwent trials at German

Hansa Rostock FC Hansa Rostock () is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from the forme ...

and Russian clubs

Anzhi Makhachkala Football Club Anzhi Makhachkala (russian: link=no, Футбо́льный клуб «Анжи́» Махачкала́, ), known simply as FC Anji, was a Russian professional football club based in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala. Founded ...

and Sibir Novosibirsk before eventually signing with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

club

on 25 January 2010. His contract was for two years with options for two additional years. He scored his first goal for the club in a friendly against

Santos FC Santos Futebol Clube (), commonly known simply as Santos or Santos FC and nicknamed the ''Peixe'' (; "fish"), is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a '' bairro'' in the city of Santos. It is also the team with the most goals i ...

on 20 March 2010, becoming the first player to score a goal at the new Red Bull Arena. He followed this up with the Red Bulls first goal of the

2010 Major League Soccer season The 2010 Major League Soccer season was the 98th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer, the 32nd with a national first-division league, in the United States and Canada, and the 15th in Major League Soccer, MLS history. It began on March 25 at Seatt ...

, scoring the winning goal of the season opener against the Chicago Fire. On 22 July 2010, Lindpere played in the Red Bulls friendly against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

where he sent a low cross in to the 6 yard box (5 Meters) which New York Red Bulls new signing,

Thierry Henry Thierry Daniel Henry (born 17 August 1977) is a French professional football coach, pundit, and former player who is an assistant coach for the Belgium national team. Considered one of the best strikers of all time and one of the best players ...

, cleverly clipped past the goalkeeper to score his first goal for the club. On 21 October 2010 Lindpere scored the Red Bulls second goal in a 2–0 victory over

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

which helped New York clinch its second regular season Eastern Conference title. On 30 October 2010 Lindpere scored the only goal in the Red Bull's 1–0 victory in the first leg of their First Round Playoff against the

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

in the 55th minute at

Buck Shaw Stadium Stevens Stadium is a 7,000-seat soccer stadium on the west coast of the United States, located on the campus of Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California. The stadium is the current home of the Santa Clara Broncos soccer teams and was the ...

in Santa Clara. During the 2010 MLS season Lindpere scored 3 goals and led the club in assists with 6. Lindpere earned two awards for his play in MLS. At mid-season, he was added to the 2010 MLS All-Star roster as an inactive member for the match against

Manchester United F.C. Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd), or simply United, is a professional football club based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. The club competes in the Premier League, ...

, and the end of the season Lindpere was named 2010 Most Valuable Player for New York Red Bulls. Joel Lindpere was voted

Player of the Week by the North American Soccer Reporters for Week 16 of the

2011 Major League Soccer season Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''El ...

. Lindpere set team season records in games played (34), games started (34), and minutes played (3,048). He missed only 12 minutes of game action. His seven goals and seven assists were ranked third and first on the team. On 26 October 2011 Lindpere helped New York to a 2–0 victory over

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise be ...

Pizza Hut Park Toyota Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium located in Frisco, a suburb of Dallas, Texas, United States. Built and owned by the city of Frisco, the 20,500-seat stadium opened in 2005. Its primary tenants are Major League Soccer club FC Dallas ...

in a 2011 MLS Cup Playoffs match by scoring the club's first goal of the night. Lindpere signed a multi-year contract extension with New York on 31 January 2012.

Chicago Fire

On 4 January 2013, Lindpere was traded to Chicago Fire in exchange for an international roster spot.

Baník Ostrava

Lindpere joined Czech club

in January 2014 on a deal until 30 June 2016. He made his debut in a 4–0 win against

Znojmo Znojmo (; german: Znaim) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 33,000 inhabitants. Znojmo is the historical and cultural centre of southwestern Moravia and the second most populated town in the South Moravian R ...

. Although he was a valuable players for Baník Ostrava, Lindpere left in the winter break of the 2014–15 season.

Nõmme Kalju

Lindpere returned to Estonia and on 5 March 2015, Estonian transfer window deadline day, signed for his first club, Nõmme Kalju. He ended his career after the 2015 season.

International career

Lindpere 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 1 November 1999, when he was 18 years old, in a friendly match against

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

, when he substituted

Andres Oper Andres Oper (born 7 November 1977) is an Estonian football coach and former professional player. He is currently an assistant manager of Estonia national team. Oper played as a forward for Lelle, Flora, Tervis Pärnu, AaB, Torpedo Moscow, Rod ...

in the 46th minute. Since his debut, Lindpere has been a prominent member of the national team. He scored his first goal for the team in a 1–0 friendly win over

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

in the 58th minute. In the beginning of 2010, he announced that he will not play for the national team because he wants to focus on his club career. In 2011, he stated the same. However, after Estonia finished in second place in Group C in

UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held over 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012, held in Poland and Ukraine. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held ...

in October 2011, Lindpere left the door open to return to the national team for their play-off series against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. He stated that his decision to play would heavily depend on whether his club team qualified for the MLS play-offs and that they were his main priority at the moment. After New York's elimination from the play-offs, Lindpere was given permission to join the Estonia squad for its matches against Ireland. Lindpere gained his 100th cap on 14 June 2015, in a

UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from September 2014 to November 2015 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams joining the automatically qualified host team France in the UEFA Euro 2 ...

match against

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

, setting up

Sergei Zenjov Sergei Zenjov (born 20 April 1989) is an Estonian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Meistriliiga club Flora and the Estonia national team. Besides Estonia, Zenjov has played in England, Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Azerbaijan and Ka ...

's opener in a 2–0 home win. Lindpere 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 1 June 2016 against

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

, having made 107 appearances and scoring 7 goals.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Estonia score listed first, score column indicates score after each Lindpere goal.''

Honours

Club

Flora *

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 ...

: 2002, 2003 CSKA Sofia *

: 2004–05 New York Red Bulls *

Emirates Cup The Emirates Cup is a pre-season association football invitational competition hosted by English club Arsenal at their home ground, Emirates Stadium, in Highbury, London. The two-day competition was inaugurated in 2007 and is named after Arsena ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

* Atlantic Cup: 2010, 2011 *

Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic The Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic is an annual preseason soccer tournament for clubs in North America. Hosted by Disney, it is contested at Hess Sports Fields' Field 17, part of the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fl ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Chicago Fire *

Carolina Challenge Cup The Carolina Challenge Cup, officially the Breeze Airways™ Carolina Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a four-team round robin pre-season competition hosted by the Charleston Battery. It was started in 2004 and features teams from Major ...

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 ...

Nõmme Kalju *

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 ...

: 2014–15

Individual

All Star: 2010, 2011 *Most Valuable Player for New York Red Bulls: 2010

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lindpere, Joel 1981 births Living people Footballers from Tallinn Association football midfielders Estonian footballers Estonia international footballers Nõmme Kalju FC players Meistriliiga players Esiliiga players FC Flora players FC Valga players PFC CSKA Sofia players Tromsø IL players New York Red Bulls players Chicago Fire FC players Estonian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Bulgaria Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Expatriate footballers in the Czech Republic Estonian expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Czech First League players Expatriate footballers in Norway Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Norway Eliteserien players Expatriate soccer players in the United States Major League Soccer players Estonian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Major League Soccer All-Stars FIFA Century Club JK Tervis Pärnu players FC Baník Ostrava players

Club career

Early years

Flora

Tromsø

New York Red Bulls

Chicago Fire

Baník Ostrava

Nõmme Kalju

International career

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

Honours

Club

Individual

See also

References

External links