FC Kuressaare

Kuressaare

Full name	FC Kuressaare
Nickname(s)	Kure[1]
Founded	1997 (1997)[1]
Ground	Kuressaare Stadium, Kuressaare
Ground Capacity	2,000 [2]
Chairman	Priit Penu[1]
Manager	Pelle Pohlak[1]
League	Esiliiga
2014	Esiliiga, 6th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

Football Club Kuressaare is a football club, based in Kuressaare, Saaremaa, Estonia. The club's home ground is the Kuressaare Stadium.

History

Football Club Kuressaare was founded in 14 March 1997. Its predecessor was a youth club B.B. Sport, coached by Johannes Kaju. Kuressaare began playing in 1997, in the Western Conference of the III liiga. The club's first president and manager was Aivar Pohlak.

In 1998, Kuressaare was promoted to Esiliiga and finished the season 6th under the new manager Jan Važinski. Most of the team players were Saaremaa locals who were reinforced by players from the Flora system, to which Kuressaare itself also belonged to. Kuressaare won the 1999 Esiliiga and were promoted to Meistriliiga. Mark Švets was chosen player of the year.

Kuressaare finished 2000 Meistriliiga, its first season in the top-flight Estonian league, 7th. Goalkeeper Rain Vessenberg was chosen player of the year. In 2001, Kuressaare went through a rejuvenation period under the new manager Zaur Tšilingarašvili and as a result finished the league 10th with just 7 points and were relegated to Esiliiga.

In 2002, Sergei Zamogilnõi became the manager of Kuressaare and finished 2002 Esiliiga 2nd after Valga, qualifing to the promotion play-offs. Kuressaare won the play-offs against Lootus Kohtla-Järve and were promoted to Mesitriliiga.

Kuressaare stay in the top-flight league was cut short yet again as the club finished 2003 Meistriliiga season 8th and were relegated.

The team was restructured in 2004, using players from Sörve and were promoted back to the Meistriliiga despite finishing only 5th due to the expansion of the league.

2005 Meistriliiga season was the most successful in the club's history, winning 7 and drawing 6 games out of 36. The 8–1 victory over Dünamo Tallinn became the new club record. Nonetheless, the team finished 8th and were relegated after losing the relegation play-offs against Ajax Lasnamäe.

Kuressaare earned its way back to the Meistriliiga in 2006 Esiliiga but were once again relegated in the following Meistriliiga season. The team finished 2008 Esiliiga 2nd and were promoted to Meistriliiga. Kuressaare remained in the Meistriliiga for 5 seasons from 2009 to 2013 when the club was relegated to Esiliiga after finishing the season 10th.^[3]

History in Estonian football

Season	League	Pos	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Top Goalscorer	Cup
1997–98	4	1	6	5	1	0	18	3	+15	16
1998	2	6	14	4	5	5	20	19	+1	17
1999	2	1	28	21	4	3	92	25	+67	67
2000	1	7	28	5	4	19	25	68	+43	19
2001	1	8	28	2	1	25	18	114	–96	7
2002	2	2	28	17	2	9	82	50	+32	53	Tiit Tikenberg (17 goals)
2003	1	8	28	1	2	25	11	121	–110	5
2004	2	5	28	11	2	15	56	35	+21	35	Martti Pukk (13 goals)
2005	1	9	36	7	6	23	40	96	–56	27	Martti Pukk (11 goals)
2006	2	2	36	22	5	9	64	44	+20	71	Rainer Veskimäe (12 goals)
2007	1	9	36	5	3	28	25	94	–69	18	Dmitri Kulikov Rainer Veskimäe (5 goals)
2008	2	2	36	21	8	7	67	35	+32	71	Martti Pukk (14 goals)
2009	1	8	36	7	3	26	21	99	–78	24	Dmitri Skiperski (8 goals)
2010	1	9	36	7	3	26	32	93	–61	24	Dmitri Skiperski (9 goals)
2011	1	9	36	7	5	24	28	68	–40	26	Martti Pukk (8 goals)
2012	1	8	36	5	11	20	31	80	–49	26	Andre Ilves (6 goals)
2013	1	10	36	2	5	29	22	87	–65	11	Andre Ilves Karl Mööl Elari Valmas (4 goals)
2014	2	6	36	14	5	17	69	81	–12	47	Tõnis Koppel Sander Laht Maarek Suursaar (10 goals)

Players

Current squad

As of 9 November 2014.^[4] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Rait Hansen 2 DF Reivo Vinter 3 DF Jaanis Kriska 4 DF Märt Kluge 5 DF Reio Alt 6 MF Kristo Salumaa 9 FW Martti Pukk 10 MF Sander Seeman 11 MF Tõnis Koppel 12 GK Roland Kütt

No. Position Player 13 FW Maarek Suursaar 14 MF Ott Torn 15 DF Urmas Rajaver 19 FW Mario Stern 20 MF Margus Rajaver 23 MF Amor Luup 25 DF Sander Viira (captain) 26 MF Sander Laht 33 DF Märten Pajunurm 39 MF Elari Valmas

Reserve squad

See Sörve^[5]

Player records

As of 9 November 2014.^[6] Active players in bold.

Most club appearances Rank Player Games 1 Martti Pukk 276 2 Märt Kluge 253 3 Taavi Azarov 216 4 Sander Viira 199 5 Urmas Rajaver 194 6 Jaanis Kriska 162 7 Elari Valmas 155 8 Roland Kütt 151 Amor Luup 151 10 Andrus Koplimäe 143 Pelle Pohlak 143

Most club goals Rank Player Goals 1 Martti Pukk 68 2 Dmitri Kulikov 39 3 Svajūnas Raučkis 36 4 Aivar Pohlak 28 Dmitri Skiperski 28 6 Tiit Tikenberg 26 7 Tarmo Neemelo 24 8 Märt Kluge 22 Elari Valmas 22 10 Sander Laht 20

Managers

Position	Name
Manager	Pelle Pohlak
Assistant manager	Jan Važinski
Youth coach	Maikko Mölder
Physiotherapist	Martin Seeman

References

External links

• FC Kuressaare official website (Estonian)