Estonian Teams Qualify for Next European Competition Rounds
Three Estonian fooball teams out of four were successful in the first qualifying rounds for the Europa League and the Champions League, with two teams booking places in the next round on Thursday.
Tartu Santos, a third league team, which reached the final of the Estonian Cup, lost the second leg 6-1 on Thursday and has been dumped out of the Europa League qualifiers. They lost the first game 7-0.
Nõmme Kalju and Sillamäe Kalev are both through to the next round of the same tournament, with Kalju holding on to a 2-2 draw at home, having previously beaten Reykjavik Fram 1-0 in Iceland.
Kalju took the lead on the 10th minute, with Fram equalizing 15 minutes later. The home side took the lead again on the 53th minute, only for the visitors to draw level again. Kalju survived 30 nervous last minutes to book the place in the next round where they will face Poznan Lech of Poland.
Sillamäe Kalev had won the first game 2-1 at home, and took the lead against Espoo Honka in Finland, but the hosts scored twice to pull level and force extra time. Honka took the lead on the 105th minute, only for Sillamäe to score on the 120th minute and go through on the away goals rule.
Sillamäe will face FC Krasnodar in the next round.
FC Levadia had already booked a ticket to the next round, beating a club from San Marino 1-0 and 7-0.