by Morten Palu
With Premium liiga season 2025 kicking off on Friday, this is what we think followers of Estonian football can look forward to in 2025.
In terms of traditional giants of Estonian football, the 2024 season saw FCI Levadia completely dominate the league for a consecutive year, after only missing out on the title due to a VAR error in 2023. FC Flora, on the other hand, struggled. So much so that even their 2025 European campaign is now under question as they have been eliminated from the Estonian Cup and now have to hope that one of their bitter rivals – Levadia, Kalju or Paide – win the “Evald Tipner” in May to grant Flora that European spot number 4.
Tartu Tammeka, on the other hand, proved everyone wrong, with most predicting they will fight for survival but ending up 5th in the final standings, just after Narva Trans. Narva Trans looked strong during pre-season, but could not properly find their game until summer. Recording an European spot finish in 2023, Tallinna Kalev had a season to forget, finishing 9th and only rescuing their top-tier spot in promotion/relegation play offs, of which they drew the first leg against Viimsi. Nõmme United, while ambitious on their maiden Premium Liiga season, were not strong enough in the end, even their summer reinforcements unable to get them out of relegation.
FCI Levadia threw the Premium liiga gauntlet down right from the beginning of 2024, beating both Narva and Kuressaare 6-0 in the first two gameweeks (GWs), as well as beating runners up Nõmme Kalju 6-1. By the end of GW18, it was more or less certain who will lift the trophy after GW36, securing the title on GW32. In Europe, however, they got a tough draw with Croatian side Osijek, losing 6-1 across two legs, after beating FA Šiauliai from Lithuania 2-0 on aggregate.
There has been some squad rotation among the reigning Champions. Such key figures as Ioan Yakovlev and Bourama Fomba made moves abroad during the winter break, with new names like Gregor Lehtmets, Bubacarr Tambedou and Enock Otoo all coming in; most of the other core players, however, staryed with the team.
Who are the newcomers?
Harju JK Laagri are back in the Premium Liiga for the second time in three seasons. Suffering relegation on the final GW of 2023, the Laagri based side quickly bounced back during a heated race for automatic promotion against Viimsi JK, the latter having lost points in a draw on GW35, ultimately handing all the cards to Harju, who made no mistake and earned automatic promotion.
Harju kept their core, while bringing back familiar names from 2023, such as Kaspar Rõõmussaar, Ivans Baturins and Usalifa Jose Indi. Kristofer Piht and Kaspar Laur joined the squad, alongside former academy graduate Imre Kartau, who is returning from Italy.
Predicting how their 2025 season will go and whether they will manage to avoid relegation again is difficult. Historically, promoted teams struggle to stay up, with the last team to not get immediately relegated being Legion in 2020. But if anyone can do it, Harju can, and their pre-season showed that they are serious about putting up a fight for survival in Estonian top flight.
Some key rivalries
The 2025 Premium Liiga season will (hopefully) see a similar season to 2023, with almost nothing being certain till the final whistles of GW36. With that being said, there should be fights all across the table, from the title to relegation. That leads us to a lot of questions: Who will go down? Who will claim the European spots? Who will prove everyone wrong?
The key derbies in Estonian football are: The Tallinn Derby (Flora vs Levadia) and the Railway Derby (Flora vs Kalju). The latter of the two should be very fierce this season.
Players to watch
Bubacarr Tambedou (Levadia) – After stints away from Paide, the Gambian is back in Estonia, joining the champions and looking to fill the spot left vacant by Ioan Yakovlev. Tambedou, on his day, can easily be one of the contenders for Player of the Season, alongside the likes of Agyiri and Martin Miller.
Martin Miller (Paide) – Returning from Bohemians in Ireland, Miller will be bolstering Paide’s midfield this season. The Estonian international will probably be a big part of Paide’s season, which will hopefully see them make a serious charge for the title.
Tristan Koskor (Tammeka) – Koskor is back in his hometown of Tartu, after several stints away from the club. The 2023 season’s top goalscorer rejoined Tammeka halfway through 2024, making an instant impact and scoring 6 goals in 12 games alongside his strike force partner Ahmed Adebayo Basher.
Tristan Pajo (Vaprus) – Pajo initially joined the summer-capital club on loan from Flora in 2023 and helped a struggling Vaprus side secure survival, with his 6 goals. His agility and speed will definitely help Vaprus this season.
Season predictions
While predicting anything in Estonian football below the top 2 places is almost pointless, we do observe the rise of teams such as Paide and Nõmme Kalju who should be able to continue upsetting the traditional Flora-Levadia power duopoly also in 2025.
1. FCI Levadia
2. Paide
3. Nõmme Kalju
4. FC Flora
5. Narva Trans
6. Pärnu Vaprus
7. Tartu Tammeka
8. Harju Laagri
9. Tallinna Kalev
10. FC Kuressaare
When does it start and where to watch?
Premium liiga 2025 starts on the 28th of February with Champions hosting the newcomers – FCI Levadia vs Harju – at 19:00 in Tallinn.
All game broadcasts can be enjoyed free of charge and without restriction on Soccernet.ee’s YouTube channel.
