The famous Tallinn derby – FCI Levadia and FC Flora‘s heated rivalry – may span 102 official league matches over 26 years, but they have never before faced each other in a situation where one has nothing but glory to play for, while the other one fighting for the rights to play in Europe next year.
Levadia won everything this season – in spring, they defeated Paide in the Estonian Cup final and, two weeks ago they had secured the championship title for this year. On top of this, they made it to the quarter-finals of the Cup for season 2025 and are generally cruising comfortably.
Things are far from being as calm in the Flora camp. Defending champions have difficult fixtures against Nõmme Kalju and Paide where they have to take maximum points in order to finish their 2024 campaign in the Top 3 and to qualify for the Conference League qualifiers next year. Defeating Levadia and then Kalev should just about do it, but anything short of that will put Flora at the risk of missing out on European football next year. Since Flora had been eliminated from the Estonian Cup, fourth-place finish would only qualify them for Europe if Levadia, Kalju or Paide win the Cup.