FCI Levadia Tallinn
Also written as Levadia.
The club
FCI Levadia Tallinn trace their history to 22 October 1998, when Viktor Levada's company Levadia Group OÜ became sponsor of the Maardu-based Esiliiga club Olümp, which was renamed Levadia. The club won the 1998 Esiliiga and merged with JK Tallinna Sadam before their first season in the Meistriliiga, playing from 2000 onward as Levadia while based in Tallinn, and became Football Club Infonet Levadia Tallinn, FCI Levadia, in 2017 following a merger with FC Infonet Tallinn. This is one continuous club; it is distinct from, and should not be confused with, FC Flora Tallinn, its city rival, covered under Head-to-head notes below.
The club played first at the Maardu linnastaadion, then at Kadriorg Stadium, opened in 1926 with a capacity of 5,000, from 2000 to 2018, and has played since 2019 at Lilleküla Stadium, commercially known as the A. Le Coq Arena, capacity 14,336. The club's colours are green and white; green was chosen because Levadia roughly translates to meadow in both Ukrainian and Greek. The president is Viktor Levada. The head coach since 2026 is Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko; he succeeded Curro Torres of Spain, who was in charge from 2023 to 2025.
Recent seasons
Levadia won the Meistriliiga in 2021, finishing 78 points from 32 matches, 25 wins, 3 draws and 4 defeats, 84 goals for and 38 against, and completed the domestic treble that year. They were runners-up in 2022 with 79 points and again in 2023 with 77 points. They were champions again in 2024, their eleventh Meistriliiga title, with 87 points from 36 matches, 27 wins, 6 draws and 3 defeats, 82 goals for and only 19 against. In 2025 they finished runners-up once more, on 79 points from 36 matches, 25 wins, 4 draws and 7 defeats, 89 goals for and 36 against.
Honours and landmarks
Levadia have won the Meistriliiga eleven times: 1999, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2021 and 2024, making them Estonia's second-most successful club by league titles, with 31 domestic titles in all competitions. They have also won the Estonian Cup eleven times, in 1998/99, 1999/2000, 2003/04, 2004/05, 2006/07, 2009/10, 2011/12, 2013/14, 2017/18, 2020/21 and 2023/24, and the Estonian Supercup nine times, most recently in 2025. They have never been relegated from the Meistriliiga since winning promotion via the 1998 Esiliiga.
In the 2006/07 UEFA Cup, Levadia beat Haka of Finland and Twente of the Netherlands, both by 2-1 on aggregate, to become the first Estonian club to reach the first round proper of the UEFA Cup, where they lost to Newcastle United of England.
Notable scorelines
Levadia's biggest European win is 6-2 on aggregate over Total Network Solutions, now The New Saints, of Wales in the first qualifying round of the 2000/01 Champions League. Their heaviest defeats include 2-9 on aggregate to Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine in the second qualifying round of that same Champions League campaign, 1-7 to Steaua București of Romania in the first qualifying round of the 1999/2000 UEFA Cup, and 1-6 to Galatasaray of Turkey in the 2009/10 Europa League play-off round.
European record
Levadia's European history stretches back to 1999/2000. After the heavy defeats to Steaua București and, the following season, to Shakhtar Donetsk noted above, they lost to Bohemians of Ireland in 2001/02, went out in the Intertoto Cup to Zürich of Switzerland in 2002 having beaten União de Leiria of Portugal, and lost to Varteks of Croatia in 2003/04. They beat Bohemians of Ireland in 2004/05 before losing on penalties to Bodø/Glimt of Norway after a 3-3 aggregate draw. They lost to Dinamo Tbilisi of Georgia in 2005/06, before the 2006/07 UEFA Cup run described above.
In 2007/08 they beat Pobeda of North Macedonia before losing away-goals-affected to Red Star Belgrade of Serbia. They lost to Drogheda United of Ireland in 2008/09, then in 2009/10 beat Wisła Kraków of Poland before losing to Debrecen of Hungary and, in the Europa League play-off, to Galatasaray. They lost to Debrecen again in 2010/11, to Differdange 03 of Luxembourg in 2011/12, and, after progressing past Šiauliai of Lithuania on away goals, to Anorthosis of Cyprus in 2012/13. In 2013/14 they beat Bala Town of Wales before losing to Pandurii Târgu Jiu of Romania. They lost to Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia in 2014/15, Videoton of Hungary in 2015/16 and Steaua București again in 2016/17.
In 2017/18 they beat Balkan of North Macedonia before losing to AZ Alkmaar of the Netherlands. They progressed past Riga of Latvia on away goals in 2018/19 before elimination in a later round not established from the sources read here, lost to Malmö of Sweden in 2019/20, then enjoyed a stronger run either side of the pandemic: beating Stumbras of Lithuania in 2020/21 before losing to Alashkert of Armenia on penalties, and beating Valletta of Malta in 2021/22 before losing to Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova. In 2022/23 they lost their preliminary round 1-6 to Víkingur Reykjavík of Iceland. Their 2023/24 and 2024/25 European campaigns, and any campaign in 2025/26 or 2026/27, were not reliably established from the sources read here; one source described a 2023/24 tie against a club recorded as "Zenit," which given the exclusion of Russian clubs from UEFA competition since 2022 could not be corroborated and is not repeated here as fact.
Head-to-head notes
Levadia's deepest rivalry is with FC Flora Tallinn, and the fixture between the two is known as the Tallinn Derby (Tallinna derbi). Levadia and Flora are Estonia's two biggest and most successful clubs, and are two entirely separate institutions; Levadia should never be taken for Flora or vice versa. The rivalry began in 1999, when Levadia entered the Meistriliiga and immediately challenged reigning champions Flora for the title, winning the treble in their first top-flight season. Since 2019 the two clubs have shared the A. Le Coq Arena as their home ground; the attendance record for the fixture, 3,510, was set on 28 June 2023.
Right now (2026/27)
Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko is head coach, appointed in 2026. Levadia's league position and any European campaign for 2026/27 were not established from the sources read here.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FCI_Levadia_Tallinn
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.