JK Nõmme Kalju

JK Nõmme Kalju is an Estonian football club based in Nõmme, Tallinn. The club was originally established in 1923 and then re-established in 1997. Nõmme Kalju currently play in the Meistriliiga, the highest level of Estonian football after many adventures in lower divisions. Hiiu Staadion is their home stadium.

History

Nõmme Sports Club Kalju was founded on December 20, 1922. A year later Nõmme Kalju football club was founded, where local footballers played for many years successfully in Estonian top division, Meistriliiga.

In 1997 the team was re-established from Tallinna Jalgpallikool and Õhtulehe Noorte Jalgpalliklubi's youth players. The team played eight years in a row in Estonian Third League. They played twice in promotion/relegation play-offs and the second time was successful for the team, thus they got promoted to the Second League in 2004. Then they started a row of successive promotions. In 2005, Nõmme Kalju won his promotion to Esiliiga by winning Second League. In 2006, the team was unsuccessful in the fight for promotion to the Meistriliiga, eventually finishing behind FC Kuressaare and JK Tallinna Kalev. In the middle of season 2007, Nõmme Kalju hired Brazilian Fredo Getulio, who has worked with the group of coaches who led Brazilian U-17 national team to World Cup. Nõmme Kalju also bought four Brazilian footballers. They finished 6th in season 2007 and beat FC Kuressaare in promotion/relegation play-offs, thus qualifying for next year's Meistriliiga. In preparing for the next season in Meistriliiga, the team needed replenishment. Nõmme Kalju bought 16 new players, three of them were expatriate footballers and four were ex-international players.^[2][3]

They finished their first season in Meistriliiga at a surprisingly high fifth place, but after FC TVMK were disbanded they got the fourth place. The season started very well, Kalju was fighting over the positions 1–5, but they had a little ebb in the middle of the season. After signing ex-international Maksim Smirnov from FK Ventspils, the team started to do very well again, they lost the bronze position by only one point. In the 2009–10 season the team participated for the first time in their history in the UEFA Europa League first qualifying round, but were eliminated by FC Dinaburg.

Kalju made headlines before the 2011 Meistriliiga season as they acquired four Estonian internationals – Tarmo Neemelo^[4], Alo Bärengrub^[5], Kristen Viikmäe^[6] and Eino Puri^[7] – alongside with couple of players from abroad. This made them one of the favourites to win the league. They also offered contract to Andrei Stepanov, who refused as he sought a contract abroad.

Stadium

JK Nõmme Kalju's home stadium has been Hiiu Stadium since it was built in 1923. The stadium holds a capacity of only 500, but Hiiu Stadium's capacity record is 1611 against FC Narva Trans on 23 May 2009. It is a multi-use stadium, but the pitch is made from Artificial turf. The owner of the stadium is City of Tallinn.

On 27 November 2010 Nõmme Kalju signed a contract with Tallinn University of Technology and the City of Tallinn to reconstruct the old Tallinn University of Technology stadium in Mustamäe (Raja tänav 4a) and it will become the new home stadium for Kalju.^[8][9]

Nõmme Kalju in Estonian Football

EN − Eastern/Northern Zone; N − Northern Zone

UEFA club competition results

1Q – 1st Qualifying Round; home games are underlined

Players

Current squad

As of 2 November 2011.^[11]

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

Reserve team

As of 2 November 2011.^[12]

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

Notable former players

See also: Category:JK Nõmme Kalju players

References

External links

• Official website