2012 Esiliiga

The 2012 season of the Esiliiga, the second level in the Estonian football system, is the twenty-third season in the league's history. The season officially began on 11 March 2012 and concluded on 4 November 2013.^[1] The previous league champions Tallinna Kalev were promoted to the Meistriliiga while Legion and Warrior were relegated to the II Liiga. For this season those three teams were replaced by Rakvere Tarvas from II liiga East/North division and Tartu SK 10 and Tammeka II from II liiga West/South division.

Esiliiga

Season	2012
Champions	Infonet
Promoted	Infonet
Relegated	Tammeka II Pärnu Linnameeskond Lootus
Matches played	180
Goals scored	639 (3.55 per match)
Top goalscorer	Manucho (31 goals)
Biggest home win	Kiviõli Tamme Auto 8–0 Puuma (8 September 2012)
Biggest away win	Tarvas 0–5 Levadia II (29 July 2012) Tammeka II 0–5 Levadia II (26 August 2012)
Highest scoring	Levadia II 8–2 Pärnu Linnameeskond (19 August 2012)
← 2011 2013 →

Teams

Stadiums and locations

 

 

Flora II
Levadia II
Puuma
Infonet

 

Tartu SK 10
Tammeka II

 

Kiviõli Tamme Auto

 

Tarvas

 

Pärnu

 

Lootus

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Locations of the 2012 Esiliiga teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Flora II	Tallinn	Sportland Arena	600
Infonet	Tallinn	Lasnamäe KHJ Stadium	1,000
Kiviõli Tamme Auto	Kiviõli	Kiviõli Stadium	255
Levadia II	Tallinn	Maarjamäe Stadium	1,000
Lootus	Kohtla-Järve	Kohtla-Järve Stadium	780
Pärnu Linnameeskond	Pärnu	Pärnu Kalev Stadium	1,900
Puuma	Tallinn	Lasnamäe SPK Stadium	666
Tammeka II	Tartu	Tamme Stadium	1,500
Tartu SK 10	Tartu	Tamme Stadium	1,500
Tarvas	Rakvere	Rakvere linnastaadion	2,500

Personnel and kits

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

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Flora II	Norbert Hurt	Ragnar Piir	Nike	KH Energia Konsult
Infonet	Aleksandr Puštov	Jevgeni Gurtšioglujants	Joma	Infonet
Kiviõli Tamme Auto	Erik Šteinberg	Dmitri Kirilov	Adidas
Levadia II	Argo Arbeiter	Kristjan Tamme	Adidas	Viimsi Keevitus
Lootus	Anatoli Šuganov	Igor Tomaševski	Uhlsport
Pärnu Linnameeskond	Kalev Pajula	Robert Kirss	Uhlsport
Puuma	Dmitri Krasilnikov	Kert Haavistu	Adidas
Tammeka II	Ivan O'Konnel-Bronin	Mikk Valtna	Nike	Mäe-kodu
Tartu SK 10	Andrei Borissov	Rodion Aleksejev	Adidas
Tarvas	Reijo Kuusik	Alari Tovstik	Joma	Hotell Wesenbergh

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Infonet (C, P)	36	26	5	5	94	33	+61	83	Promotion to Meistriliiga
2	Flora II^[a]	36	20	9	7	66	32	+34	69
3	Tarvas	36	21	5	10	66	58	+8	68	Qualification for promotion play-offs
4	Tartu SK 10	36	15	9	12	65	58	+7	54
5	Levadia II	36	15	8	13	77	56	+21	53
6	Kiviõli Tamme Auto	36	12	8	16	78	83	−5	44
7	Puuma	36	12	7	17	55	61	−6	43
8	Tammeka II^[a] (O)	36	10	7	19	55	83	−28	37	Qualification for relegation play-offs
9	Pärnu Linnameeskond (R)	36	9	9	18	43	72	−29	36	Relegation to Esiliiga B
10	Lootus (R)	36	6	1	29	40	103	−63	19

Source: Estonian Football Association (in Estonian)
Rules for classification: Points; Least withdrawals or annulled matches; Overall wins; Head-to-head points; Head-to-head goal difference; Goal difference; Goals scored. If two or more teams on the top have the same number of points by the end of the season, the aforementioned rules will not apply and additional game(s) will be played to determine the champions.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Reserve teams are ineligible for promotion.

Promotion play-off

At season's end, the runners-up of the 2013 Esiliiga will participate in a two-legged play-off with the ninth place club of the 2013 Meistriliiga for the spot in next year's competition.

11 November 2012

13:00 (UTC+2)

Tarvas	1–2	Tallinna Kalev
Hang   23'	vana.jalgpall.ee/news.php?st=style_m.css&news_id=4463	Tomson   70' Kase   74'

Rakvere kunstmurustaadion, Rakvere

Referee: Jaan Roos

17 November 2012

13:00 (UTC+2)

Tallinna Kalev	1–0	Tarvas
Ratnikov   38'	vana.jalgpall.ee/news.php?st=style_fp.css&news_id=4478

Kalevi Keskstaadion, Tallinn

Referee: Hannes Kaasik

Relegation play-off

11 November 2012

13:00 (UTC+2)

Tulevik	1–1	Tammeka II
Kübar   48'	vana.jalgpall.ee/lprotocol.php?st=&proto_id=46123&b=%C3%9Cleminek.meeste	Peedo   22'

Viljandi kunstmuru, Viljandi

Referee: Mart Martin

17 November 2012

13:00 (UTC+2)

Tammeka II	1–2	Tulevik
Paju   59'	vana.jalgpall.ee/lprotocol.php?st=&proto_id=46139&b=%C3%9Cleminek.meeste	Kübar   76' Roman   117'

Annelinna Stadium, Tartu

Referee: Toomas Nõmmiste

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Team	Goals^[2]
1	Manucho	Infonet	31
2	Maksim Lipin	Infonet	21
	Tõnis Starkopf	Kiviõli Tamme Auto
4	Nikita Koger	Levadia II	14
	Joonas Ljaš	Tarvas
	Aleksei Mamontov	Tartu SK 10
7	Henri Hang	Tarvas	13
	Georgi Ivanov	Tammeka II/Tartu SK 10
9	Marten Saarlas	Levadia II	12
	Marek Šatov	Kiviõli Tamme Auto

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
March^[3]	Norbert Hurt	Flora II	Sander Susi	Tarvas
April^[3]	Aleksandr Puštov	Infonet	Aleksandr Pruttšenko	Tartu SK 10
May^[3]	Argo Arbeiter	Levadia II	Aleksandr Tarassenkov	Kiviõli Tamme Auto
June^[3]	Aleksandr Puštov	Infonet	Maksim Lipin	Infonet
July^[3]	Reijo Kuusik	Tarvas	Argo Aava	Tarvas
August^[3]	Aleksandr Puštov	Infonet	Georgi Ivanov	Tartu SK 10
September^[3]	Aleksandr Puštov	Infonet	Tõnis Starkopf	Kiviõli Tamme Auto
October^[3]	Kalev Pajula	Pärnu Linnameeskond	Sander Lepik	Flora II

Esiliiga Player of the Year

Manucho was named Esiliiga Player of the Year.

See also

• 2012 Meistriliiga
• 2011–12 Estonian Cup
• 2012–13 Estonian Cup

References

1. "EL MÄNGUDE KALENDER (2012)" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
2. "EL VÄRAVALÖÖJATE EDETABEL (2012)" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association.
3. "Meistriliiga oktoobri parimad on Kristal ja Beglarishvili" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association.