JK Tallinna Kalev

Tallinna Kalev

Full name	Jalgpalliklubi Tallinna Kalev
Founded	1911
Ground	Kalev Central Stadium, Tallinn
Ground Capacity	11,500[1]
Manager	Marko Pärnpuu
League	Esiliiga
2016	Esiliiga, 7th
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

Jalgpalliklubi Tallinna Kalev (Football Club Kalev Tallinn) is an Estonian football club, based in Tallinn, that plays in the Esiliiga, the 2nd level in Estonian football league system. Founded as Jalgpalliselts Meteor in 1909, the club changed its name to Tallinna Kalev in 1911. They play their home matches at the 11,500 seater Kalev Central Stadium, Tallinn.^[2]

History

Early years

Tallinna Kalev in 1923.

The first official football game in Estonia between JS Meteor, predecessor of JK Tallinna Kalev, and Merkuur on 6 June 1909

Jalgpalliselts Meteor (Football Union Meteor) was formed in 1909 by Tallinn students Julius Reinans and Bernhard Adams. The first coach of the team was an English flax merchant John Urchard, who also ordered first set of football shirts. The first official football game in Estonia was played between JS Meteor and Merkuur Tallinn on 6 June 1909, Meteor won the match 4–2.^[3] Two years later, in 1911 the team joined Estonian Sports Association Kalev and changed its name to JK Tallinna Kalev.^[4]

Sport Tallinn rivalry

On the 1920s the biggest opposition of Estonian football was between JK Tallinna Kalev and Sport Tallinn. The first derby of Tallinn was played in a friendly match between the two teams on 9 May 1920. From this game on, the stadiums with capacity of 3,000 were almost always sold out for the matches between Kalev and Sport. In 1923, Kalev managed to win their first Estonian championship, when they defeated Sport Tallinn 1:0 in the decisive match. Most of the squad, with players like Eduard Ellman-Eelma, Arnold Pihlak and Johannes Brenner, formed core of the Estonia national football team, which competed in the football event of the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. In 1925, a misunderstanding and conflict between the key people of ESA Kalev and players culminated with disqualification of the club from Meistriliiga and disappointed players joined Tallinna Jalgpalliklubi.^[5]

Second championship

1930 Estonian Champions.

Against all odds Tallinna Kalev achieved their second championship. This time the old rival Tallinna Sport seemed to be better, but in the competition of best four teams they could not beat young team of Kalev. With the game ending 0:0 and SK Tallinna Sport went on to beat Jalgpalliklubi Tallinn 3:0, Tallinna Kalev now needed to win Võitleja Narva with at least 8 goals. By half-time, Kalev led 7:0 and adding four with the remainder of the game meant that Kalev clinched their second Estonian championship after 7 years.^[6]

There is a speculation circling around Estonian historians, that Kalev won the championship thanks to match fixing. "Võitleja Narva and their goalkeeper Viruvere looked paralyzed, they let Kalev score 11 goals. Aleksander Lugenberg-Mändvere came up with an idea to help Kalev win championship, he was a member of the JK Kalev board and from Narva. Somebody asked him after the game, 'How much did you pay for a goal?' and Lugenberg reportedly answered '250 krones'."

Kalev in the Soviet League

Tallinna Kalev in a 2–2 draw against FC Spartak Moscow in 1961.

In 1960, Kalev became the first and the only Estonian club to appear in the Soviet Top League. An opportunity arose when Football Federation of the Soviet Union decided to involve more Soviet Republics and regions to the Top League, including Baltics. Their stint in Class A, as it was also known at the time, lasted for two years. The club finished 19th in 1960 and 22nd in the 1961 season in 22-team league. In their first season, they managed to finish 19th of 22 teams, finishing in front of only three teams, Spartak Vilnius, Neftyanik Baku and Chişinău Moldova. The following season remained their last season in the top tier of Soviet football, as they were placed at the last, 22nd place and were relegated. Despite poor results, Kalev managed to play some good games, for instance 0:0 against Lev Yashin's led Dynamo Moscow and a 2:2 with Spartak Moscow, who finished 3rd that season.^[7]

Achievements

• Estonian Champion (2)

1923, 1930

Tallinna Kalev in Estonian Football

Season	League	Pos	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Top Goalscorer	Cup
2003	III Liiga	1	18	14	3	1	56	11	+45	45	Vitali Kosterev (20 goals)
2004	II Liiga	1	28	22	3	3	90	32	+58	69	Tiit Tikenberg (27 goals)
2005	Esiliiga	4	36	18	9	9	85	71	+14	63	Andrei Afanasov (15 goals)
2006	Esiliiga	3	36	20	6	10	84	63	+21	66	Tiit Tikenberg (16 goals)
2007	Meistriliiga	6	36	13	4	19	44	74	−30	43	Tiit Tikenberg (20 goals)	Quarterfinals
2008	Meistriliiga	8	36	6	8	22	37	70	−33	26	Tiit Tikenberg (10 goals)	R4
2009	Meistriliiga	10	36	4	4	28	32	89	−57	16	Vahur Vahtramäe (6 goals)	R4
2010	Esiliiga	5	36	17	6	13	67	65	+2	53	Ilja Monakov (12 goals)	Quarterfinals
2011	Esiliiga	1	36	21	10	5	102	39	+63	73	Rimo Hunt (35 goals)	R4
2012	Meistriliiga	9	36	4	9	23	27	87	−60	21	Hiroyuki Mitsuyama (5 goals)	R2
2013	Meistriliiga	8	36	10	4	22	35	77	−42	34	Maksim Paponov Aladin Šišić (8 goals)	R2
2014	Meistriliiga	10	36	3	3	30	21	146	−125	12	Lasha Omanidze (7 goals)	R4
2015	Esiliiga	6	36	13	7	16	47	59	−12	46	Silver Alex Kelder (14 goals)	R1
2016	Esiliiga	7	36	13	6	17	56	58	−2	45	Aleksei Belov (17 goals)

Players

Current squad

As of 11 April, 2017.^[8]

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 Daniil Savitski 3 DF Martin Naggel 5 DF Juhan Lilleorg 7 MF Mike Kõiv 10 MF Innar Paal 12 GK Karl Andre Vallner 13 DF Ranon Kriisa 14 MF Patrick Peinar 15 FW Silver Alex Kelder 16 DF Hans-Kristjan Hansberg

No. Position Player 17 DF Juri Gavrilov 18 DF Gert Heinala 19 FW Gregor Wahl 20 FW Sergei Bilinski 22 DF Ando Hausenberg (captain) 23 DF Kaspar Tilga 24 MF Tauno Mõttus -- MF Mark Dubinin -- FW Artur Makarov -- DF Kiur Mägiste

Reserve squad

As of 8 March 2016.^[9]

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 Daniil Savitski 12 GK Karl Andre Vallner 2 DF Andi Kivirand 4 DF Aleksei Savitski 22 DF Ando Hausenberg 25 DF Juhan Lilleorg 6 DF Andre Saareli 17 MF Juri Gavrilov

No. Position Player 18 MF Gert Heinala MF Mark Dubinin MF Mark-Sandor Kolts 7 MF Mike Koiv 16 FW Raiko Karpov 3 FW Karl Anton Soerde 15 FW Silver Alex Kelder

Notable former players

1924 Summer Olympics

Player records in Meistriliiga

As of 8 November 2014.^[10] Active players in bold.

Most league appearances Rank Player Career Games 1 Aleksei Savitski 2009– 99 2 Edwin Stüf 2008–09, 2011–14 95 3 Vahur Vahtramäe 2005–09 90 4 Johannes Kukebal 2009–11, 2012, 2013–14 83 5 Janno Hermanson 2006–09 81 6 Rasmus Tomson 2009, 2011–13 75 7 Marek Kahr 2004– 72 8 Sean Whalen 2010– 69 9 Mario Mõistlik 2005–10 67 10 Tiit Tikenberg 2004–08, 2010 66

Most league goals Rank Player Career Goals 1 Tiit Tikenberg 2004–08, 2010 30 2 Edwin Stüf 2008–09, 2011–14 13 3 Maksim Paponov 2009, 2013 10 4 Mait Nõmme 2007–09 8 Aladin Šišić 2013 8 6 Andrei Afanasov 2004–10 7 Vahur Kiis 2004–10 7 Lasha Omanidze 2014 7 Rasmus Tomson 2009, 2011–13 7 Stefan Tripković 2013 7 Vahur Vahtramäe 2005–09 7

Managers

Name	Career
Aavo Sarap
Daniel Meijel
Sergei Ratnikov	1 February 2010 – 4 December 2012
Frank Bernhardt	4 December 2012 – 31 December 2013
Tarmo Rüütli	1 January 2014 – 6 March 2014
Sergei Zamogilnõi	10 March 2014 – 8 November 2014
Marko Pärnpuu	25 November 2014 –

Women's team

Tallinna Kalev women's team are currently playing in Naiste Esiliiga, the second level in the Estonian women's football system.

References

External links

• Official website (in Estonian)