Paide Linnameeskond

Paide Linnameeskond is a Estonian professional football club located in Paide. It was founded in 2004 as a satellite club of FC Flora. The team saw four consecutive promotions from 2005 to 2008, when they were promoted to the Premium liiga. In their first season at the top-flight, Paide finished 9th, but avoided relegation by defeating Warrior 2-1 on aggregate in the play-off round.

In 2013, an Estonian entrepreneur Veiko Veskimäe became the club president and two years later Paide reached their first Estonian Cup final, ultimately losing to Nõmme Kalju 0-2.

After the 2016 season, the former Paide player Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko was appointed as the new manager and, with his help, the team transitioned into becoming a fully professional outfit, establishing themselves as one of the top clubs in Estonia in the process. In 2019, Paide, for the first time finished in the top four and qualified for Europe. This was also the season, when, for first time, they sold a player for a six figure sum, Alassana Jatta was sold to the Danish club Viborg for EUR 100,000.00.

Thanks to a successful track record of Gambian players using Paide as a stepping stone, the club announced its formal affiliation with the Gambian football club Real de Banjul in June 2021. Thanks to this partnership, three Gambian players from Real de Banjul had been sold for over 100 thousand Euros to various clubs in Europe, with more exciting candidates in the pipeline.

In July 2021, they also signed one of the greatest Estonian players ever, former Liverpool player Ragnar Klavan who went on the help the team win their first domestic trophy, Estonian Cup in 2022, which they won 1-0 in a dramatic fashion thanks to Siim Luts game winning goal in the 109th minute, thus taking revenge on Nõmme Kalju for 2013.

Now Paide are usually a contender for the top three finish and are regulars in Europe, thus establishing themselves as one of the best teams in Estonian association football.