Nõmme United made history during the 2025 Esiliiga season, as they had a record breaking campaign. They amassed an incredible 92 points, scored 125 goals and conceded only 27. Sealing promotion to the Premium Liiga with 3 games to spare.
From the early stages of the season, Nõmme United established themselves at the top of the Esiliiga, delivering consistent results and controlling the title race. As the campaign progressed, their position was strengthened week by week, leaving little doubt about the eventual outcome.
However, it wasn’t only the first team who experienced an amazing season as the clubs U21 side gained promotion from by finishing runners-up in the Esiliiga B. Making it an all round amazing season for the club.
Baltic Football News spoke to the clubs Sporting Director Martin Klasen about how these incredible performances were achieved and what the expectations were for the club. ‘When we started the year, we had clear expectation for our first team to get promoted. Regarding our U21 squad the hopes were for them to be a middling team and stay in the league but as the season grew on, we could feel that something might be possible.’
Martin heaped praise on veteran Georgian midfielder Zakaria Beglarishvili and the clubs experienced captain Andre Frolov. ‘We took two accomplished players in Zakaria Beglarisvili and captain Andre Frolov. Zakaria contributed with 43 G/A during the season which was crucial for us and Andre helped to maintain the focus on and off the pitch for the whole squad.’
The club also changed their back room staff coming into the new season bringing in Polish manager Slawomir Cisakowski from FK Riteriai of Lithuania who also brought in his assistant Thabiso Makhetha, who we have spoken to previously.
‘We have, Cisakowski, Makhetha, Risto Paju as an assistant with strong knowledge in analysis, Johan Tõugjas our physio who has a strong football background, Marten Metsniit the fitness coach who also is our academy graduate and Mart Poom helping with goalkeepers worked wonders. Their professionalism was top notch.’
The club have put promotion and the success on the pitch first. ‘We put all our resources in the coaching staff and players so in the back office I am the only one responsible for first team duties and Mart Poom is leading the academy together with a head of youth and assistant.‘
The clubs double promotion now means that they are represented in the top two divisions of Estonian football, which is an amazing feat for the team. ‘This is quite extraordinary if we take into consideration the size of the club. We have only 300 kids here, so we are way smaller than Levadia, Flora, Kalju, Kalev and Tammeka – clubs who have achieved the same thing previously. For us this provides perfect opportunity to further cement ourselves as the leading club to provide players for Estonian youth national teams and be a stepping stone for the players who make it abroad. Next year we already know that there will be a punch of 16 year old boys who will train with the first team and get regular minutes in one of the two highest divisions in the country.’
After the EFA presidential elections, there was quite a bit of turmoil around the club as the head of youth and another coach moved to Tallinna Kalev. Furthermore after the relegation from the Premium Liiga the clubs support dipped and the team had to find a way to get fans back on their side.
‘We have tried to show the community that we have learnt from our mistakes of hiring lots of foreign players and ditching our identity of being a growing club that gives opportunities to our academy players. This year we took big strategical decisions regarding the future of the club and hopefully we can not only speak about it but show it with our actions and in the end of the day this is what gets our community behind us again!’
Now the club must prepare for the upcoming campaign in the Premium Liiga and they hope to carry on the same way they finished last season. Martin believes the club is in good shape.
‘The most important thing for us was to keep the coaches and players intact. Last time we had to start looking for new coaching staff after the promotion to Premium Liiga and we didn’t trust the players who got the team there but this time it is different. Unfortunately one assistant coach, Risto Paju, has left to another club in Estonia, but instead of him we have already hired a goalkeeper coach from Japan who will be a valuable addition to the staff. All the players have renewed their contracts except Karl Gustav Kokka who has decided to take a break from professional football.’
The clubs main focus will be to stay in the division, and for the future, it’s a year that represents a chance for the club to demonstrate growth, reflect on lessons learned, and build its long-term commitment to developing young talent as Martin states.
For us this is now a year where we can really show that we have learnt from past mistakes and we a true to our longstanding vision of providing versatile, high-quality, and professional football education in a modern environment for children and youth who have a passion for the sport. We will give opportunities to our own academy boys and this remains the main priority. To strengthen the team and also with one eye on potential future player sales we will add maximum 5 foreign players who should be young and ambitious. But we don’t want to turn into a club who stays in the highest league only thanks to players that have joined us as adults – instead we grow our own future stars!’
After a record-breaking season, spirits are high at Nomme United, but the focus is firmly on what comes next. The new campaign brings fresh challenges and renewed ambition, with the club determined to build on its success and continue pushing forward together.
