The Estonia men's national football team () 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 Lilleküla Stadium in the capital city Tallinn.
The national team's first ever match was held against Finland in 1920 and resulted in 6–0 defeat. Estonian footballers have participated only once in the Olympic Games, when they played a single match in the 1924 Olympic Games' final tournament in Paris, France. They were defeated 1–0 by the United States in first round. During World War II, in 1940, Estonia was invaded and occupied by the Soviet Union, and there was no possibility of fielding a national football team again until the country restored full independence in August 1991. After the end of the 1944–1991 Soviet occupation, Estonia's first FIFA-recognised international match was with Slovenia on 3 June 1992, a 1–1 draw at home in Tallinn.
Estonia has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup or UEFA European Championship. The team has reached the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying play-offs, by finishing second in their qualifying group, before being drawn up against Ireland for a play-off tie, making 2011 the "annus mirabilis of Estonian football". They have since repeated this feat by qualifying for the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying play-offs through being the best group winner in 2022–23 UEFA Nations League D.
Estonia has also participated in the local sub-regional Baltic Cup championship, which takes place every two years between the countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Estonia has won the three-nation Baltic Cup tournament five times — most recently in 2024 — which is less than either of the other two teams in the tournament, Latvia and Lithuania.
The record for the most international caps by an international is held by Konstantin Vassiljev with 159. Martin Reim has 157 caps, who held the European record in 2009 until November of that year. The record for most goals is held by Andres Oper with 38.
History The Republic of Estonia (1918–1940) Estonians were introduced to the game of football by English sailors in the first years of the 20th century, when the land was still part of the Russian Empire.Schwede, Indrek (2001). Väike jalgpallipiibel. Tallinn: K-Kirjastus, lk 8 The national team was formed after the war of independence (1918–1920). It played its first match on 17 October 1920 in Helsinki, Finland which ended in a 6–0 defeat. The game took place on a grass surface, which was a first for the Estonians.Eesti jalgpallikoondise 1.maavõistlus ERR Sport, 17 October 2010 The Estonian Football Association was founded on 14 December 1921 and affiliated with FIFA in 1923 joining Yugoslavia, Latvia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Turkey and Uruguay.Schwede, Indrek (2001). Väike jalgpallipiibel. Lk 9.
Estonia's only participation in a major tournament took place at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. Estonians lost their only match in the tournament to the United States 1–0.
The Estonian league season usually lasted from the end of May to September. In 1928 the first Baltic football contest was held involving all three nations, it was held nine times during this period.Schwede, Indrek (2001). Väike jalgpallipiibel. Lk 13. Four of them were held in Latvia, two in Estonia and three in Lithuania. Estonia was particularly notable for winning the edition of the tournament in 1938. In the crucial meeting between them and Latvia at the Kadrioru Stadium, 2,000 out of the 12,000 spectators were Latvians.
Estonia's first FIFA World Cup qualifying match took place on 11 June 1933 in Stockholm, Sweden, which ended with a Swedish 6–2 win. This match was also the world's first FIFA world cup qualifying match. Since later on Sweden also defeated Lithuania, the match between Estonia and Lithuania was cancelled, because Sweden had already won the group.
Estonia's first points in the FIFA World Cup qualifying rounds were gained in 1938, playing the qualification matches in 1937, the third edition of the tournament. At the time teams would play each other once in each group. Estonia were in group one, drawn with Germany, Sweden and Finland. In their first match against Sweden, the team went 2–0 up even before the game reached five minutes of play, only to lose 7–2. This was then followed up with a 1–0 success against Finland in which Richard Kuremaa scored the only goal of the game in the 56th minute. Qualification was completed with a 4–1 defeat against Germany, despite a goal from Georg Siimenson taking the teams in at half time with a 1–0 lead for the Estonians.Schwede, Indrek (2001). Väike jalgpallipiibel. Lk 119. As a result, Estonia failed to qualify for the World Cup.
The team's biggest win came on 26 July 1928 which was a 6–0 success against Lithuania in Tallinn, meanwhile their biggest defeat came on 11 August 1922 which was a 10–2 loss to Finland. Out of the team's head coaches before the Second World War, seven of them were Hungarian with Antal Mally taking this position twice. There were four foreign coaches (three Hungarians and one Austrian), while the first Estonian national team was coached by Albert Vollrat in 1932.Margus Luik, Indrek Schwede. Eesti Jalgpall 2002. Eesti Jalgpalliliidu ametlik teatmik, lk 50 Coaches also played for several seasons, who also determined the composition of the football association.
Players were mostly in Tallinn clubs, such as TJK, Sport, Kalev and Tallinn Estonia.Schwede, Indrek (2001). Väike jalgpallipiibel. Lk 17. The republic's most capped players were goalkeeper Evald Tipner (67) and the outfield players Eugen Einmann (65), Eduard Ellman-Eelma (58) and Karl-Rudolf Silberg-Sillak (52). Top goal scorers were Ellman-Eelma (21 goals in 65 matches), Richard Kuremaa (18/42), Arnold Pihlak (17/44), Georg Siimenson (14/42) and Friedrich Karm (9/13). Players received small pay for their contributions – 5 Estonian krooni in 1938. The Baltic tournament victory was 50 krooni.
On 18 July 1940 the team played their last official game as an independent nation for more than half a century. The game was played at the Kadrioru Stadium and was a 2–1 victory against Latvia.
World War II and Soviet occupation (1940–1991) In 1940, the Stalinist Soviet Union invaded and occupied Estonia and, in August 1940, when Estonia was annexed into the USSR, the national team ceased to exist along with the independent country. During German occupation (1941–1944), the team was revived and they played two unofficial friendlies (in Riga 0–4 and in Tallinn 1–8), but only few players remained from the pre-war era.Schwede, Indrek (2001). Väike jalgpallipiibel. Lk 31. When Soviet troops invaded Estonia again in 1944, some of the best footballers (Richard Kuremaa, Elmar Tepp, Valter Neeris, etc.) were mobilised; some fled to west. Many ex-nationals (Arnold Pihlak, Arnold Laasner, etc.) were in Estonia's team in Geislingen's refugee camp.
The clubs were renamed in the second half of the 1940s and the traditions started to fade. According to Uno Piir, the first national team manager after Estonia restored independence in 1991, the reason for football's downfall in Soviet-occupied Estonia was the inability to create a club competitive at the level of the Soviet Union's top clubs, hence the decrease in audience and the favouring of other sports by the governing bodies of sports.Schwede, Indrek (2001). Väike jalgpallipiibel. Lk 32–33. Formally, the Estonian SSR had its own representative team, but because of the occupation it did not take part of international competitions. Between 1948 and 1976, the Baltic Cup was held 19 times, which The Byelorussian SSR won a few times and the Estonian SSR five times. From 1969 to 1982, Soviet-occupied Estonia was the only Soviet "union republic" not participating in the Soviet Union's football league. During the 1970s, the game lost popularity in Estonia and the sport was mainly played by the Russian immigrant community.Schwede, Indrek (2001). Väike jalgpallipiibel. Lk 32–36.Reim, Olev (2002). Rahvuskoondise kümme aastat. Lk. 5.
Estonian football-life was relaunched in mid-70s by the attempts of Roman Ubakivi,Schwede, Indrek (2001). Väike jalgpallipiibel. Lk 33. who formed Estonian-language training groups. The most notable team was Lõvid () in 1980–1989, who were coached by Ubakivi and Olev Reim. Several players, such as Mart Poom and Martin Reim, became part of the national team later.Indrek Schwede, Olev Reim: Lõvid on legend, Sporditäht, 1998, nr 12, lk 20–25 Not a single Estonian reached the Soviet national team, but two Ubakivi's pupils, Ott Mõtsnik and Toomas Krõm, broke into the youth team.Schwede, Indrek (2001). Väike jalgpallipiibel. Lk 42.
The Singing Revolution, the pursuit to restore Estonian independence and to cool regional tensions, found its way to football as well. On 18 July 1990, an exhibition match was held between Estonian and Latvian footballers at Kadriorg Stadium, to remember the last official match between the two teams as independent nations 50 years previously.Schwede, Indrek (2001). Väike jalgpallipiibel. Lk 47. The principle of assembling the squad was controversial. 63 players made a public addressing (Päevaleht, 24 April 1990) calling out the football governing bodies to only select the descendants of Estonians, leaving out immigrants who came to Estonia after World War II.
Return to international football (1991–1996) Estonia restored its full independence on 20 August 1991, and returned to international football when the team debuted in the Baltic tournament which took place in Lithuania in November 1991. However, the first recognized match did not take place until June 1992 in Tallinn as a friendly against Slovenia (1–1). This historic meeting under the guidance of coach Uno Piir was overseen by a team consisting of Mart Poom, Urmas Hepner, Igor Prins, Urmas Kaljend, Meelis Lindmaa, Toomas Kallaste, Tarmo Linnumäe, Indro Olumets, Martin Reim, Sergei Ratnikov, Risto Kallaste, Viktor Alonen, Urmas Kirs, Marko Kristal and Aleksandr Puštov.Reim, Olev (2002). Rahvuskoondise kümme aastat. pg. 9. Puštov was the scorer of the Estonian goal.
At that time the composition of the squad was influenced by the country's citizenship policy. There were disputes whether the national team should include players who lived in Estonia but had not acquired Estonian citizenship. Most of those players in question were of Russian origin.Reim, Olev (2002). Rahvuskoondise kümme aastat. pg. 7–8.Indrek, Schwede 2001. Väike jalgpallipiibel. pg. 46–54. Approximately four months before the first official match against Slovenia, FC Flora presented the Estonian Football Association (EFA) an ultimatum signed by 25 players which stated that "only those who have acquired Estonian citizenship on the basis of legal continuity should be included in the national team".Schwede, Indrek (2001). Väike jalgpallipiibel. pg. 48. In July of the same year FIFA gave the right to represent Estonia to 97 non-citizens who were according to EFA born in Estonia and were in the process of acquiring Estonian citizenship.Schwede, Indrek (2001). Väike jalgpallipiibel. pg. 54. In October the board of EFA made a decision that after the date of 1 April 1993 non-citizens could no more debut in the national team.Schwede, Indrek (2001). Väike jalgpallipiibel. pg. 53.