Meistriliiga (pronounced[ˈmeistriliːɡ̊ɑː]), officially known as A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons, and commonly known as the Premium Liiga, is the highest division of the Estonian Football Association annual football championship. The league was founded in 1992, and was initially semi-professional with amateur clubs allowed to compete. With the help of solidarity mechanisms, the league is fully professional since the 2020 season.
As in most countries with low temperatures in winter time, the season starts in March and ends in November. Meistriliiga consists of ten clubs, all teams play each other four times. After each season the bottom team is relegated and the second last team plays a two-legged play-off for a place in the Meistriliiga.
In February 2013, A. Le Coq, an Estonian brewery company, signed a five-year cooperation agreement with the Estonian Football Association, which included Meistriliiga naming rights.
Meistriliiga started using video assistant referee (VAR) from 2023.
2024 season
The following 10 clubs will compete in the 2024 Meistriliiga.
a = Founding member of the Meistriliiga b = Played in every Meistriliiga season c = Never been relegated from the Meistriliiga
Champions
Total titles won
All-time Meistriliiga table
The table is a cumulative record of all match results, points and goals of every team that has played in the Meistriliiga since its inception in 1992. The table that follows is accurate as of the end of the 2022 season. Teams in bold play in the Meistriliiga 2023 season. Numbers in bold are the record (highest) numbers in each column.
In this ranking 3 points are awarded for a win, 1 for a draw, and 0 for a loss, although Meistriliiga awarded 2 points for a win until the 1994–95 season. Championship matches, relegation matches and relegation tournament matches involving clubs of lower leagues are not counted. In 1992 Preliminary Round matches were played in two groups. The results of the matches played between teams in same group were taken to second round, thus counted twice, in this table these results are counted once.
The table is sorted by all-time points.
Notes
Note 1: 1999–2003 FC Levadia Maardu, 2004– FC Levadia. Not to be confused with FC Levadia Tallinn 2001–2003 a separate team owned by the steel company Levadia. In 2004 the clubs were merged FC Levadia Maardu were moved to Tallinn and became FC Levadia, former FC Levadia Tallinn became their reserves as FC Levadia II.
Note 6: 2000–2003 Kohtla-Järve Lootus, 2004 Alutaguse Lootus, 2005–2012 Kohtla-Järve Lootus, then merged and became Kohtla-Järve JK Järve
Note 7: 1992 Tartu Kalev, 1992–1994 EsDAG, 1994– DAG
Note 8: 1992 Pärnu JK, 1994–1996 PJK Kalev
Note 9: 2011–2016 Infonet, 2017 FCI Tallinn
Records
All as of end of 2023 season if not stated otherwise.
Club records
Most seasons in the Meistriliiga: 33 – Flora and Narva Trans (all seasons, 1992–present)
Most consecutive seasons in the Meistriliiga: 33 – Flora and Narva Trans (all seasons, 1992–present)
Most titles: 15 – Flora
Most consecutive titles: 4 – Levadia (2006–2009)
Biggest title-winning margin: 21 points – 2009; Levadia (97 points) over Sillamäe Kalev (76 points)
Smallest title-winning margin: 0 points – 1993–94; Flora and Norma both finished on 36 points, Flora won the title in a championship play-off match 5–2.
Most points in a season: 97 – Levadia (2009), Flora (2022)
Fewest points in a season: 0 – Maardu (1992)
Most wins in a season: 31 – Levadia (2009, 36 games), Flora (2022, 36 games)