Levadia slip-up hands Flora its 10th football title
Last year's football league champion FC Levadia drew 0-0 with Pärnu in the 34th round of the current season, meaning that with two games to go, FC Flora, which won on Sunday, is leading the table with eight points and is now uncatchable.
Flora and Levadia, playing against weaker opposition, were expected to win and set up an exciting match between the two in the next round, but Levadia failed to break down Pärnu, which is now all but safe from relegation.
Flora also struggled to break down its opponent, fourth place FC Infonet, winning by a lone goal from Joseph Saliste (watch here) on the 63rd minute. But it was enough to launch celebrations and claim the club's 10th title. Levadia, having won the two previous titles, is on nine.
Levadia will still have to claim at least one point from either the match against Flora on November 1, or against Infonet on November 7 to secure second place ahead of Kalju.
Things are less clear at the bottom of the table with Paide on 27, Pärnu on 26 points, Tartu Tammeka on 22 and Viljandi, which lost 3-2 to Paide on the weekend, is last on 21 points. The bottom team is relegated automatically at the end of the season while the second-from-last team faces play-off games against the second team from the next highest league.
In other league news, Paide striker Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko scored his second consecutive hat-trick in the league and now has the most hat-tricks (19) in Estonia's top league in its history.
Mihkel Aksalu, the national team top goalkeeper, won the Finnish league title with his club team Seinäjoki. The club won 2-0 in the last round and claimed its first ever title by just one point.
Editor: J.M. Laats