FCI Levadia Tallinn

FCI Levadia
Full name FCI Levadia
Founded 22 October 1998 (1998-10-22)
Ground Kadriorg Stadium
Capacity 5,000[1]
President Viktor Levada
Chairman Sergei Hohlov-Simson
Manager Aleksandar Rogić
League Meistriliiga
2017 Meistriliiga, 2nd
Website Club website

FCI Levadia Tallinn, commonly known as FCI Levadia, or simply as Levadia, 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 Kadriorg Stadium.

Founded as Levadia in Maardu in 1998, the club moved to Tallinn in 2004. The club has played in the Meistriliiga since the 1999 season and have never been relegated from the Estonian top division. Levadia have won 9 Meistriliiga titles, a record 9 Estonian Cups and 7 Estonian Supercups. In 2017, Levadia's first team merged with FCI Tallinn, and became FCI Levadia.

History

Early history

Levadia was founded on 22 October 1998, when Viktor Levada's Levadia Group OÜ became the official sponsor of Maardu based Esiliiga club Olümp, which subsequently changed its name to Levadia. The club won the 1998 Esiliiga and were promoted to the Meistriliiga. In January 1999, Sergei Ratnikov was appointed as manager. In 1999, Levadia became the first team to win the Meistriliiga, the Estonian Cup and the Estonian Supercup in the same year. Levadia managed to repeat their success by winning another treble in the following year. In the 2000–01 UEFA Champions League, Levadia defeated Total Network Solutions 2–6 on aggregate in the first qualifying round, but lost to Shakhtar Donetsk 2–9 on aggregate in the second qualifying round. Following the loss to Shakhtar Donetsk, Ratnikov was sacked.[2]

In 2001, Valeri Bondarenko was appointed as a manager. Levadia failed to defend their title, finishing the 2001 season in third place and in November 2001, Bondarenko was replaced by Pasi Rautiainen. Under Rautiainen, Levadia finished the 2002 Meistriliiga as runners-up, only two points behind champions Flora. After the season, Rautiainen resigned and was replaced by Franco Pancheri in January 2003. Pancheri coached Levadia for just 9 Meistriliiga matches, before he was sacked in June 2003. He was replaced by Tarmo Rüütli and Levadia finished the 2003 season in third place.[2]

Relocation to Tallinn

In 2004, Levadia moved to Tallinn, while the club's previously Tallinn-based reserve team changed its name to Levadia II. Under Rüütli, Levadia won the league in the 2004 season, but failed to defend the title in 2005, finishing as runners-up. In the 2006–07 UEFA Cup qualifying rounds, Levadia defeated Haka and Twente, but lost to Newcastle United 1–3 on aggregate in the first round.[2] Levadia won two more Meistriliiga titles in 2006 and 2007. In March 2008, Rüütli was hired by the Estonian Football Association to coach the Estonia national team and his assistant Igor Prins took over as manager. Under Prins, Levadia won two consecutive Meistriliiga titles in 2008 and 2009 and an Estonian Cup in 2010. In August 2010, Prins was sacked due to disagreements with the board and replaced by Levadia II manager Aleksandr Puštov. Levadia finished the 2010 season as runners-up. In July 2011, Puštov was sacked after disappointing results in the Meistriliiga and the Champions League and replaced by Sergei Hohlov-Simson. Levadia finished the 2011 season in fourth place, their lowest ever league placing since the club was promoted to the Meistriliiga.

In December 2011, Marko Kristal was appointed as manager. The club won the 2011–12 Estonian Cup and finished the 2012 season as runners-up. Levadia won the Meistriliiga title in the 2013 season. The team defended their title in 2014, but finished the 2015 season as runners-up. In November 2015, it was announced that Sergei Ratnikov will return to Levadia after 15 years and replace Kristal as manager. Ratnikov's second tenure as Levadia's manager lasted until July 2016, when he was sacked following a 0–1 loss to Pärnu Linnameeskond. He was replaced by another returning manager, Igor Prins. Levadia finished the 2016 season as runners-up. Following another second-place finish in the 2017 season, Levadia and FCI Tallinn merged their first teams, becoming FCI Levadia, with FCI Tallinn's Aleksandar Rogić taking over as manager.

Stadium

Kadriorg Stadium

The club's home ground is the 5,000-seat Kadriorg Stadium. Built from 1922 to 1926 and renovated from 2000 to 2001, it is one of the oldest football stadiums in Estonia and used to be the home ground of the Estonia national team until the completion of A. Le Coq Arena in 2001.[1][3][4] The stadium is located at Roheline aas street 24, Kadriorg, Tallinn.[5]

Levadia use Sportland Arena and Maarjamäe Stadium artificial turfs for training and home matches during winter and early spring months.

Players

First-team squad

As of 16 September 2018.[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
2 Estonia DF Marko Lipp
3 Estonia DF Roman Nesterovski
4 Estonia DF Igor Morozov (vice-captain)
5 Ukraine MF Yuriy Tkachuk (on loan from Karpaty Lviv)
6 Estonia MF Rasmus Peetson
10 Cameroon MF Marcelin Gando
11 Russia MF Kirill Nesterov
12 Estonia GK Sergei Lepmets (vice-captain)
14 Estonia DF Dmitri Kruglov (captain)
15 Ukraine MF Ihor Zhurakhovskyi
16 Estonia DF Markus Jürgenson
17 Ukraine FW Roman Debelko (on loan from Karpaty Lviv)
19 Estonia FW Markus Vaherna
No. Position Player
21 Russia FW Nikita Andreev (vice-captain)
22 Estonia DF Martin Käos
23 Russia DF Igor Dudarev
24 Estonia FW Georg-Eric Kurus
25 Estonia DF Maksim Podholjuzin
27 Estonia DF Mark Edur
28 Bosnia and Herzegovina MF Muamer Svraka
33 Estonia MF Mark Oliver Roosnupp
35 Estonia GK Sergei Pareiko
80 Azerbaijan MF Cem Felek
99 Estonia FW Karl Rudolf Õigus
— Estonia MF Cristofer Kuusma
— Estonia FW Tarmo Kink

For season transfers, see transfers winter 2017–18 and transfers summer 2018.

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
Estonia MF Pavel Dõmov (at Paide Linnameeskond)
Estonia MF Pavel Marin (at KPV)

Reserves and academy

Club officials

Honours

League

Cups

Seasons and statistics

Seasons

Europe

References

  1. 1 2 "Kadrioru Staadion". Eesti spordiregister (in Estonian).
  2. 1 2 3 "Klubi ajalugu" [Club history] (in Estonian). FC Levadia.
  3. ↑ "Kadrioru staadion" (in Estonian). FC Levadia. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  4. ↑ "Ajalugu" [History]. Kadrioru staadion. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  5. ↑ "Kadrioru staadion" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association.
  6. ↑ "Tallinna FCI Levadia" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  7. ↑ "FCI LEVADIA ESINDUSMEESKOND" (in Estonian). FC Levadia. Retrieved 31 July 2018.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.