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| Full name | Football Club Infonet Levadia Tallinn | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 22 October 1998; 27 years ago (1998-10-22) | ||
| Ground | Lilleküla Stadium | ||
| Capacity | 14,336[1] | ||
| President | Viktor Levada | ||
| Head coach | Curro Torres | ||
| League | Meistriliiga | ||
| 2025 | Meistriliiga, 2nd of 10 | ||
| Website | fcilevadia | ||
Football Club Infonet Levadia Tallinn, commonly known asFCI Levadia, or simply asLevadia, is a professionalfootball club based inTallinn that competes in theMeistriliiga, the top flight ofEstonian football. The club's home ground isLilleküla Stadium.
Founded in 1998 inMaardu, the club moved to Tallinn in 2000 and officially affiliated themselves with the capital city in 2004. In 2017, Levadia's first team merged withFCI Tallinn, and became FCI Levadia. Levadia has played in the Meistriliiga since the1999 season and have never been relegated from the Estonian top division. Levadia are the second most successful club in Estonian football with 31 domestic titles; including 11 Meistriliiga titles, a record 11Estonian Cups and 9Estonian Supercups.
Levadia was founded on 22 October 1998, whenViktor Levada's Levadia Group OÜ became the official sponsor ofMaardu basedEsiliiga clubOlümp, which subsequently changed its name to Levadia.[2] The club won the1998 Esiliiga and were promoted to theMeistriliiga. Before the start of the season, Levadia merged withJK Tallinna Sadam to grant the club a place in theUEFA Cup through Sadam's European qualification.[3] Led by head coachSergei Ratnikov, Levadia immediately made a mark during their first season in top flight football in1999, becoming the first team to win the Meistriliiga, theEstonian Cup and theEstonian Supercup in the same year.
After the turn of the century, Levadia moved their home matches from Maardu to theKadriorg Stadium[4] and managed to repeat their success by winning another treble during the2000 season, which included going unbeaten in the league. In the2000–01 UEFA Champions League, Levadia defeatedThe New Saints 6–2 on aggregate in the first qualifying round, but lost toShakhtar Donetsk 2–9 on aggregate in the second qualifying round. Following the loss to Shakhtar Donetsk, Ratnikov was sacked.[5] In 2001,Valeri Bondarenko was appointed as a manager. Levadia failed to defend their title, finishing the2001 season in third place and in November 2001, Bondarenko was replaced byPasi Rautiainen. Under Rautiainen, Levadia finished the2002 Meistriliiga as runners-up, only two points behind championsFlora. After the season, Rautiainen resigned and was replaced byFranco Pancheri in January 2003. Pancheri coached Levadia for just 9 Meistriliiga matches, before he was sacked in June 2003. He was replaced byTarmo Rüütli and Levadia finished the2003 season in third place.[5]
In 2004, Levadia officially moved toTallinn and the club was renamed from Levadia Maardu to Levadia Tallinn, although the team had already been playing at theKadriorg Stadium since 2000. The club's previously Tallinn-based reserve team changed its name toLevadia II. Under Rüütli, Levadia won the league in the2004 season, but failed to defend the title in2005, finishing as runners-up. In the2006–07 UEFA Cup qualifying rounds, Levadia defeatedHaka andTwente, both by a 2–1 aggregate score, and became the first Estonian club to reach the first round of the UEFA Cup.[6] Levadia facedNewcastle United and were eliminated from the competition by losing 1–3 on aggregate.[5] Domestically, Levadia went on to win four consecutive Meistriliiga titles in2006,2007,2008 and2009.
In March 2008, Rüütli was hired by theEstonian FA to coach theEstonia national team and his assistantIgor Prins took over as manager. Under Prins, Levadia won the aforementioned 2008 and 2009 league titles, with the 2009 title achieved with a record 97 points. The club also lifted the Estonian Cup in2010. In August 2010, Prins was sacked due to disagreements with the board and replaced by Levadia II managerAleksandr Puštov. Levadia finished the2010 season as runners-up. In July 2011, Puštov was sacked after disappointing results in the Meistriliiga and the Champions League and replaced bySergei Hohlov-Simson. Levadia finished the2011 season in fourth place, their lowest ever league placing since the club was promoted to the Meistriliiga. In December 2011,Marko Kristal was appointed as manager. The club won the2011–12 Estonian Cup and finished the2012 season as runners-up. Levadia won the Meistriliiga title in the2013 season and defended their title in2014, but finished the2015 season as runners-up. In November 2015, it was announced that Sergei Ratnikov will return to Levadia after 15 years and replace Kristal as manager. Ratnikov's second tenure as Levadia's manager lasted until July 2016, when he was sacked following a 0–1 loss toPärnu Linnameeskond. He was replaced by another returning manager, Igor Prins. Levadia finished the2016 season as runners-up.
Following another second-place finish in the2017 season, Levadia announced they will merge withFC Infonet Tallinn, the Estonian champions of 2016.[7] The two clubs merged their first teams, becoming FCI Levadia, with FCI Tallinn'sAleksandar Rogić taking over as manager.[8] FCI Levadia finished the2018 season as runners-up, but won theEstonian Cup, beating rivals FC Flora 1–0 in the final. In 2019, Levadia moved to Estonia's largest stadiumA. Le Coq Arena.[9] On 15 September 2019, Rogić was sacked after disappointing results, with assistant coachVladimir Vassiljev taking over as caretaker manager. In November 2019, former Estonia head coachMartin Reim was appointed as manager. However, after a disappointing start to the season, Martin Reim decided to resign in July 2020 and Vladimir Vassiljev took over the role.
In August 2020, Levadia's former assistant coachMarko Savić returned to the club and became joint managers with Vassiljev. In the following2021 season, Levadia ended their 7-year Premium Liiga title drought, becoming Estonian champions in the last day of the season, after drawing 2–2 with rivalsFC Flora in the title-deciding final match.[10] FCI Levadia also lifted the Estonian Cup in 2021 and Estonian Supercup in February 2022, again beating Flora in both of the finals. In July 2022, Marko Savić and Vladimir Vassiljev announced they will be stepping down as head coaches of the club, with the main driver for the resignation being the disappointing 1–6 loss againstVíkingur Reykjavík in theUEFA Champions League preliminary round.[11] The remainder of the 2022 season was widely described by Estonian media outlets as turbulent, with Levadia changing head coaches multiple times in a short period of time and sporting directorTarmo Kink and CEOSergei Hohlov-Simson also leaving the club. FCI Levadia finished the2022 season as runners-up.
In November 2022, Levadia announced the appointment of former Spanish internationalCurro Torres as manager.[12] The club finished the2023 season as runners-up, before winning the double in 2024 by defeatingPaide Linnameeskond 4–2 in the2023–24 Estonian Cup final and lifting their 11th Premium Liiga title at the end of the2024 season. Levadia began the 2025 season by winning their 9th Estonian Supercup againstNõmme Kalju, but lost the2024–25 Estonian Cup final to the same opponent on penalties three months later.
The colours of Levadia are green and white, with primary colour green symbolising that "Levadia" roughly translates tomeadow in both Ukrainian (Левада) and Greek (λιβάδιον).[2]
| Period | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998–1999 | Uhlsport | — | [13][14] |
| 1999–2008 | Adidas | Estonian Oil Service | |
| 2009–2011 | EuroPark | ||
| 2012–2021 | Viimsi Keevitus | ||
| 2022 | Admirals, Viimsi Keevitus | ||
| 2023 | Macron | ||
| 2024– | Viimsi Keevitus |
Since 2019, the club's home ground is the 14,336-seat Lilleküla Stadium (commonly known asA. Le Coq Arena for sponsorship reasons). Opened in 2001 and expanded from 2016 to 2018, it is the largest football stadium in Estonia. The stadium is also home to Levadia's rival FC Flora and the Estonian national team. Lilleküla Stadium is located at Jalgpalli 21,Kesklinn, Tallinn.[1]
Levadia usesSportland Arena artificial turf stadium for training and home matches during winter and early spring months. Levadia's training in summer and autumn takes place in theirMaarjamäe training complex.
From 2000 to 2018, Levadia played at the Kadriorg Stadium.[4] Built from 1922 to 1926 and renovated from 2000 to 2001, it is one of the oldest football stadiums in Estonia and used to be the home ground of theEstonia national team until the completion of Lilleküla Stadium in 2001.[1][15]
Levadia's deepest rivalry is withFC Flora and the fixture between the two clubs is known as the Tallinn Derby (Estonian:Tallinna derbi). Levadia and Flora are the two biggest and most successful clubs in Estonian football. The rivalry began in1999, when Levadia enteredMeistriliiga and immediately challenged the reigning champions Flora for the title, winning the treble in their first year in top-flight football.[16] In the early 2000s, language and nationality was also one of the separating factors between the two clubs, as Levadia was seen as the club of choice for the Russian speaking population of the city and Flora for the Estonian speaking. However, that image of Levadia has since then faded away. From 2019, the two clubs also share their home groundA. Le Coq Arena. The attendance record of 3,510 was set on 28 June 2023.[17]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Current technical staff[edit]
| Managerial history[edit]
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