This page summarizes Estonian football in 2020. It contains information about the league system, national teams, beach football and futsal. On 13 March 2020, football was suspended in Estonia due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Meistriliiga was resumed on 19 May and Esiliiga and Esiliiga B were continued a week later.
National teams Men Senior
Under 23 No arranged fixtures.
Under 21
Under 19
Under 18
Under 17
Under 16 No arranged fixtures.
Under 15 No arranged fixtures.
Women
Senior
Under 19 No arranged fixtures.
Under 17 No arranged fixtures.
Under 15 No arranged fixtures.
Futsal
Beach No arranged fixtures.
League system Men Meistriliiga
The 2020 season saw one new team. Maardu Linnameeskond finished last in 2019, and as such, were automatically relegated to the Esiliiga. They were replaced by Tallinna Legion, a team that had been promoted three seasons in a row. Manager Denis Belov said that the club were aiming for a top four position, with the debutant making several high-profile signings (these being Maksim Gussev, Pavel Londak and Andrei Sidorenkov). Additionally, two of the top three teams from the previous season hired a new manager. FCI Levadia hired former national team coach Martin Reim, while Nõmme Kalju's new manager was Marko Kristal. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Estonian FA decided to split the league into 'champion' (top six teams) and 'relegation (bottom four teams) groups after the 27th round. On the 7th of November it was decided that instead of the top six teams playing each other after the 27th round, only the league's four best teams will play with each other once more. The 5th and 6th placed clubs will play a match if the 6th team has a possibility of catching the 5th placed team.
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Relegation play-off:
Esiliiga There were four changes of clubs compared to the 2019 season. Esiliiga B's reigning champion Nõmme United were promoted to the second tier for the first time in their history, while Pärnu and Vändra Vaprus were also promoted, returning to the league after twelve and four years respectively in lower divisions. The three clubs replaced Tartu Welco, Tallinna Kalev U21 and Rakvere Tarvas, who were relegated after the 2019 season. Maardu Linnameeskond was relegated from the top division, taking the place of 2019 Esiliiga champion Tallinna Legion. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Estonian FA decided to split the league into 'promotion' (top six teams) and 'relegation (bottom four teams) groups after the 27th round.
Relegation play-off:
Esiliiga B
The 2020 Esiliiga B season introduced four new clubs to the division: for the first time a team from Lääne County - Läänemaa, and three bottom teams of the 2019 Esiliiga season - Rakvere Tarvas, Tallinna Kalev U21 and Tartu Welco. These clubs replace the worst team of last season - Põhja-Tallinna Volta - and the three best teams - Pärnu JK, Vändra Vaprus and Nõmme United. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Estonian FA decided to split the league into 'promotion' (top four teams) and 'relegation (bottom four teams) groups after the 27th round. The fifth and sixth team will play another match if the sixth team has a possibility of catching the fifth team.
Relegation play-off:
II liiga
Group A (North & East) Compared to the 2019 season, there were three changes of teams. FC Tallinn, winner of the III liiga East, and play-off winner Tartu Helios were promoted from the III liiga, replacing Tartu Santos and Tallinna Ararat, who were both relegated. Meanwhile, Põhja-Tallinna Volta were relegated from the Esiliiga B after just one season. They took their reserve team's spot in the league, who were hence relegated to the III liiga. While two clubs (FCI Tallinn and Sillamäe Kalev) would have been promoted to the Esiliiga B from the results of the previous season, both remained in the fourth tier of Estonian football. FCI Tallinn could not be promoted as they were the second reserve team of FCI Levadia and would have been required to compete in the third tier as Tallinna FCI Levadia U19. Sillamäe Kalev, on the other hand, was yet to pay its debts and was forbidden from entering the top three leagues.
The 2020 season ended with Tallinna JK Legion II winning its first title. They were ahead of the second-placed debutant FC Tallinn by only head-to-head points (5:2 and 3:2 to Legion II) and FCI Tallinn, who were the reigning champions, finished third with 57 points, which is the most points for a bronze medalist. Jõgeva Wolves withdrew their last two games (in addition to one in the middle of the season) and was therefore disqualified from the league. The second to last team was Tartu Tammeka III, who was passed by Tartu Helios in the last rounds. The season's most-watched game was held on 29 July, when Narva Trans U21 defeated Tallinna Legion II. The match, which was played on the Narva Kalev-FAMA stadium, had 202 people in attendance.
Group B (South & West) While in previous years the league had seen many arrivals and departures every season, in 2020, only two clubs joined the league. Two clubs from the Saue Parish were victorious in their respective leagues: Saue, champions of the 2019 III liiga West, made its return to the league after three years, while Harju Laagri made its debut in the fourth tier of Estonian football after winning the III liiga North in 2019. These two clubs will replace Läänemaa, who got promoted to the Esiliiga B (as neither Paide Linnameeskond III nor Tallinna Kalev III could have been promoted), and Kose, who finished the 2019 season in last place and were relegated to the III liiga West. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic previous season's second-best team, Tallinna Kalev III, decided against taking part this season. They got replaced by Kose, who was originally supposed to play in III liiga.
The season was comfortably won by Paide Linnameeskond III, who won its third title in a row. In addition, it is the best result – only one draw and zero losses from 26 games – in the league's history (Pärnu Vaprus also amassed 76 points in 2004 but had two games more). Due to the fact that Paide Linnameeskond III would have to change its name to Paide Linnameeskond U19, the club opted against getting promoted. Therefore, second-placed Harju Laagri got promoted instead. Also, none of the following three teams (Raasiku Joker, Saue and Kuressaare II) wanted to participate in the promotion play-offs and thus II liiga N/E second-placed Tallinn got to play with Esiliiga B's 8th team. The season's relegated teams were Pärnu Poseidon and Kose, who were in the bottom two for most of the year. Põhja-Sakala was third from last and had to compete in the relegation play-offs. In the end they decided against playing and were thus also relegated. The league's top scorer was Kuressaare II's Maarek Suursaar with his 38 goals. The most-viewed game of the 2020 season was held in the second to last round when the champions beat the home team Raplamaa in front of 132 fans.
Champion's match:
Relegation play-off: The play-offs for the last places in the next season's II liiga were held on four separate occasions: first the preliminary rounds on the 8th and 14 November and later the finals on the 18th and 22 November. The preliminary rounds are held between the second-placed teams in the fifth division (the South and West as well as the North and East silver medalists play each other). Due to the fact that the South league's second team Otepää did not wish to get promoted, Rummu Dünamo reached the finals without a game. In addition, their next opponent Põhja-Sakala also forfeited the duel and thus the team playing in Paldiski Arena was promoted to the higher tier. In the North-East side there were more play-off games: while the III liiga North second-placed Tallinna Zenit also opted against promotion, they were replaced by the sixth placed Saku Sporting. In the end the club situated in Saku managed to defeat Paide Linnameeskond IV and reach the finals, where they went against Lasnamäe Ajax, who competed in the Esiliiga B two years before. Saku won their first match at home, but suffered a 0–3 loss in Tallinn.
III liiga
Group A (North) Estonian's fifth tier North division, which has mostly clubs from the capital, had three new teams in 2020. Tallinna Ararat, who got relegated from II liiga after last season, joined the league after nine seasons in upper divisions. In addition, IV liiga's champion Nõmme Kalju III and Toompea got promoted and therefore replaced Harju Laagri (promoted), Tallinna Olympic Olybet and Maarjamäe Igiliikur (both relegated). Tallinna Štrommi, who finished last in 2019, got to stay in the division.
The season finished with Lilleküla Retro winning its third title in the III liiga. The team, who was managed by Tarmo Rüütli, only lost three games during the whole season and ended the year with an eleven-point gap to the nearest rival Tallinna Zenit. The league's top scorer was Retro's striker Dmitry Skiperskiy with his 37 goals in 22 games. The two teams who got relegated where Toompea, who lost 13 games in a row, and Rumori Calcio, who got passed by Nõmme Kalju III in the penultimate round. Due to the fact that none of the teams above the sixth-placed Saku Sporting wished to get promoted, the Harjumaa-based team got to participate in the promotion play-offs.
Group B (South) III liiga South had four changes in comparison to the previous year: both Tartu Helios II and Tartu TRT77 will be debuting in the fifth division, Põlva Lootos returns after a year in the IV liiga and Imavere joins the league after having skipped last season entirely. These teams replace Tartu Helios (promoted), Illi & Jõgeva Noorus-96 ÜM (relegated) as well as EMÜ and Võru Helios II, who will not participate in the league system this year.
The season, which was extremely close-fought, ended with Elva II's winning its first title. They were four points ahead of Otepää, who were the reigning champions of III liiga South. One of the season's best performers were Vastseliina, who managed to be at the top of the table for the first fourteen rounds. Their downfall came in the autumn, when they lost four of their last eight matches. The relegation battle was between three teams - Tartu TRT77, Põlva Lootos and Äksi Wolves. While for most of the season, the trio was extremely close, then in the last few rounds, the Jõgevamaa based team fell behind. Due to the fact that in the 17th round, Tarvastu & Tõrva ÜM withdrew for a second time, they were instantly disqualified from the season. Therefore, them as well as Wolves got relegated. In addition to them, 10th placed Lootos lost to Tallinna Jalgpallihaigla in the relegation play-offs and was also relegated. The season's top scorer was Elva's Karl-Ernst Saal with his 33 goals.
Group C (East) In this season's East division there are four new members. Kohtla-Järve Järve III (promoted), Rakvere Tarvas II, Tartu Kalev and Jõhvi Phoenix, who all have not participated in any division in the last few years. They replace Tallinna Augur (relegated), Tallinn (promoted), and Kadrina as well as Põhja-Tallinna Volta III. After the COVID-19 outbreak two teams - Sillamäe and Koeru - decided also not to take part in the league this year. Therefore, there are only ten teams competing this year. One remarkable addition was made by Phoenix, who signed Vladimir Aga, former Zimbru Chișinău head coach, as their new manager.
Group D (West)