Tartu Jalgpalliklubi Welco is a professional football club based in Tartu, Estonia. The club was founded in 2008 when a group of university students decided to participate in IV liiga South, which is the 6th and lowest tier of the Estonian football pyramid. The first team of JK Welco currently competes in Esiliiga, the second-highest division in Estonian football. The club moved to their current home ground, Holm Park, after its completion in 2023.
Tartu Welco is the largest community-owned football club in Estonia, meaning the club is owned by its players and fans, who make up a general assembly of approximately 150 members. The club also has a reserve team in II Liiga as well as men's and women's amateur teams in lower tiers. Since 2019, the club has cooperated with Tartu Santos, which acts as the club's youth department. Tartu Welco's supporter group is known as Electric Legion and is one of the biggest and most prominent supporter groups in the Estonian club football scene.
History
Formation The history of the club began in November 2007, a year before its official founding, when a group of football enthusiasts led by Mirko Kikkamägi gathered under the name JK Masuudinaine to compete in a local Tartu football championship. After an unsuccessful debut in the competition, the team decided to enter the Estonian football championship and registered the team as JK Welco Elekter to play in IV Liiga South. The club's new name was taken from OÜ Welco Elekter, a local electricity company, which became the name sponsor of the club. In its first season, JK Welco Elekter's squad was mainly composed of inexperienced players. One exception was trequartista Mikk Valtna, a former Tartu JK Tammeka player who had briefly played in the Meistriliiga before joining.
Season 2008 The club's debut season was challenged by squad problems and lack of organizational knowledge. As such, JK Welco Elekter finished its first season in IV Liiga South in 9th place, scoring 21 points across 22 games. The club played in the Estonian Small Cup, but only advanced to the 2nd round. JK Welco Elekter won its first trophy in the annual Estonian Football Association end-of-year tournament, finishing 3rd. Mikk Valtna was named MVP of the tournament.
Season 2009 The players were much more experienced in the club's second season, and the experimental strategies of head coach Mirko Kikkamägi resulted in more success for the club. Also, the addition of Timo Kuus (who had previously also played for Meistriliiga on Tartu JK Tammeka) to the team made the defensive line much more confident and improved the team's performances. JK Welco Elekter finished the season in 3rd place with 11 wins and 35 points across 20 games. The team advanced to the play-off round to play for promotion to III Liiga, but lost 1 - 6 to JK Koeru. In the Estonian Small Cup, the team advanced to the quarterfinals, where they lost to Tallinna JK Piraaja 0 - 3.
Season 2010 Season 2010 saw many organizational and squad changes in the club. The most significant of these was the hiring of experienced head coach Boris Hrabrov. Important additions to the squad included Eldar Rassulov and Sergei Ottšik, who both entered with years of experience in the Meistriliiga. Right back Priit Raamat took on the position of club chairman. JK Welco Elekter managed to finish the 2010 season 2nd in the league, with 52 points across 20 games. Mikk Valtna scored 35 goals in the league, the most of any Estonian footballer that year. This finish ensured the club's promotion into III Liiga. The club was less successful in the Estonian Cup and Estonian Small Cup, but they finished 3rd in the end-of-year tournament.
Season 2011 Welco debut season in III Liiga South proved to be quite difficult for the team. Addition of experienced centre-back Juri Avdonin and former member of Estonian youth national team, winger Marti Pähn, gave the squad much needed depth, but Welco still struggled to find the back of the net in the 1st round, with star striker Mikk Valtna abroad. The club improved the performances in 2nd round and eventually finished the season with 4th place. Estonian Cup was a success for the team, since Welco advanced to 1/16-final and just narrowly missed the target, by losing away to Meistriliiga side FC Kuressaare 1–2. End of Year tournament gave yet another 3rd-place trophy to the team.
Season 2012 The season 2012, which marks an anniversary 5th season of the club, proved to be very difficult. The team saw the departure of beloved lean mean goal machine Mikk Valtna, who joined inner-town rivals Meistriliiga side JK Tammeka Tartu. Also infamous midfield fighter Eldar Rassulov was unable to help the team in the first round. Additionally, squad problems occurred due to the fact that for the first time its history, club had to find players for two teams. All things considered, spring round was unsuccessful for the team and club's chair decided to part ways with head coach Boris Hrabrov. Debutant head coach Mikk Valtna took over the job and squad's performances started to improve. The return of Rassulov and addition of former Estonian u-14 youth national team player Marten Kihho helped to achieve 5th place in the league at the end of season. Both, the Estonian Small Cup and Estonian cup were unsuccessful – the team failed to record a win in cup competitions in 2012. The End of Year tournament brought a traditional 3rd place to the team.
Season 2013 In the wake of the 2013, Welco's chair decided to take the challenge offered by the Estonian Football Association. Due to the reforms to the Estonian football league system, Welco had an opportunity to join the II Liiga. Welco decided to take on the challenge, though this meant that the season will be difficult. The management made a considerable amount of additions to the squad and the depth of the roster proved to be vital for the success for the team. In the league, Welco was constantly in the relegation zone, but due to the strong finish to the season, electricians managed to finish on the 11th spot, just out of the relegation. The Estonian Small Cup was much more successful to the team then on the previous seasons – team advanced to the 1/4 finals, but the team could not improve its best accomplishment in the competition and were held down by Saue JK 2–3. Also, the Estonian Cup was a huge success for the club – team advanced to 1/8-final and missed further stage of the competition by only the narrowest of margins – Esiliiga side FC Puuma defeated Welco in front Tartu home crowd 4–3.
Season 2014 Season 2014 started with high ambitions – new off-season acquisitions Erki Kade, former Estonian U19 national team winger Siim Sillaots and Siim Kaasik from the in-town rivals Tartu SK 10 gave the electricians starting 11 a level of quality that proved to be enough to play for the highest places in the league. Also, some changes were made on the coaching staff – after a successful debut season as the head coach of Welco's reserves, the club chair decided to share the head coaching position between the Valtna brothers, bringing former Welco II coach Siim to the first team coaching staff. The season ended with 3rd place – and the team just missed the opportunity to play for the promotion to Esiliiga B. The team could not mirror the success in 2014–15 Estonian Cup nor in Estonian Small Cup – both competitions ended for Welco in the 1st round.
Season 2015 In the wake of 2015 season, the general assembly of MTÜ JK Welco decided that all three teams managed by MTÜ JK Welco are competing under new name – Tartu JK Welco. Significant changes were also done in coaching and Siim Valtna took over as lone head coach, while his brother Mikk came back home and joined the proud Black-White Army on the field where he was given the privilege to be el capitan once again. Additionally, centre-back Lehar, Savikink and target-man Hannes Tiru from FC Levadia joined the ranks.
The season, ended with 2nd place and Welco played for promotion to Esiliiga B. In the first leg Welco won Tallinna FC Puuma 5–0 and although in the second leg the team had to face 0–2 loss, Welco ensured a place in Esiliiga B.
In 2015–16 Estonian Cup Welco made it to 1/16-final where the team faced Premium League team FC Flora. The game was played in Welco's homecourt in front of 747 spectators which set the record for recent years in Tartu – it was also Welco's record for home crowd. Welco lost the game to Flora 0–2. In Estonian Small Cup Welco made it to quarterfinal where FC Merkuur defeated Welco 4–1.
Season 2016 The first season in the top leagues of Estonian football pyramid was a challenge for the club, since it brought more games, higher playing level and requirements for the organization. The team coped surprisingly well with higher league – with much help from new signings of Kristofer Reinberg, Hendrik Vellama and Kaarel Torop – and finished season on a third place which granted the team a play-off round for a place in Esiliiga against Nõmme Kalju FC U21 team.
Although Welco lost the first game at home 2:4, the Estonian football community was rocked by the infamous Hendrik Pürg Scandal. The aforementioned player was not eligible to play, but the managerial staff of Kalju still sent Pürg on pitch. This eventually meant that Kalju U21 was given a technical loss and Welco headed to Esiliiga for 2017 season.
The cup season was not a success for Welco as for second year in a row the team was drawn to play against FC Flora in the 1/32-round. The electricians did not hold their own on the pitch and lost 0:8 at home.
Season 2017 The first season at the second-highest tier in Estonian football system proved to be a too tough bone to chew for the Electricians. Even though season started with a good win against inner-county rivals FC Elva, the team was able to pick up only three wins with remaining 35 games. Not surprisingly, 19 points were not enough to keep JK Welco out from relegation. As winter 2017 were turbulent times for Estonian football – two Meistriliiga clubs FCI Tallinn and FC Levadia decided to merge and JK Sillamäe Kalev were relegated to II liiga due to financial troubles, JK Welco was still able to keep the spot in Esiliiga for 2018 season.
2018–present In 2019, Tartu Welco started a cooperation with Tartu Santos, during which the first teams of the two clubs merged and Santos started to act as a youth academy to Tartu Welco. In 2023, the club moved to their new home ground Holm Park.
Seasons and statistics SeasonLeaguePositionGamesWonDrawnLostGoal DifferencePointsTop Scorer2008 IV Liiga South 9th 22 6 3 13 40:67 21 Kristjan Noormets (12)2009 IV liiga South 3rd 20 11 2 7 58:26 35Mikk Valtna (19)2010 IV liiga South 2nd 20 17 1 2 100:16 52Mikk Valtna (35)2011 III liiga South 4th 22 12 6 4 36:24 42 Mikk Valtna (14)2012 III liiga South 5th 22 11 1 10 35:40 34 Ragnar Suurmets (8)2013 II liiga West/South 11th 26 7 5 14 39:59 26 Marten Kihho (9)2014 II liiga East/North 3rd 26 15 6 5 49:31 51 Marten Kihho (8)2015 II liiga East/North 2nd 26 17 5 4 64:36 56 Mikk Valtna (15)2016 Esiliiga B 3rd 36 20 4 12 74:50 64 Mikk Valtna (14)2017 Esiliiga 10th 36 4 7 25 30:100 19 Mikk Valtna (6)2018 Esiliiga 6th 36 12 6 18 47:68 42 Mikk Valtna (12)2019 Esiliiga 10th 36 6 6 24 39:89 24 Andree Porila and Karl Joosep Mark (7)2020 Esiliiga B 2nd 30 20 2 8 81:50 62 Mikk Valtna (16)2021 Esiliiga 10th 30 5 5 20 30:78 20 Karl Joosep Mark (6)2022 Esiliiga B 4th 36 17 10 9 68:47 61 Karl Joosep Mark (11)2023 Esiliiga B 1st 36 23 5 8 92:42 74 Martin Jõgi (31) ChampionsRunners-upPromotedRelegated
Players Current squad As of 24 July 2026
Managerial history
Mirko Kikkamägi (2008–2010) Boris Hrabrov (2010–2012) Mikk Valtna (2012–2014) Siim Valtna (2014–2017) Yusuf Erdogan (2018–2019) Janar Sagim (2019–2020) Meelis Eelmäe (2021) Jaanus Reitel (2022–2025) Alo Bärengrub (2026–present)