FCI Levadia Tallinn, commonly known as FCI Levadia, or simply as Levadia, is a professional football club based in Tallinn, Estonia, that competes in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian football. The club's home ground is A. Le Coq Arena. Founded as Levadia in Maardu in 1998, the club moved to Tallinn in 2004. The club has played in the Meistriliiga since the 1999 season and have never been relegated from the Estonian top division. Levadia have won 9 Meistriliiga titles, a record 9 Estonian Cups and 7 Estonian Supercups. In 2017, Levadia's first team merged with FCI Tallinn, and became FCI Levadia.
History
Early history
Levadia was founded on 22 October 1998, when Viktor Levada's Levadia Group OÜ became the official sponsor of Maardu based Esiliiga club Olümp, which subsequently changed its name to Levadia. The club won the 1998 Esiliiga and were promoted to the Meistriliiga. In January 1999, Sergei Ratnikov was appointed as manager. In 1999, Levadia became the first team to win the Meistriliiga, the Estonian Cup and the Estonian Supercup in the same year. Levadia managed to repeat their success by winning another treble in the following year. In the 2000–01 UEFA Champions League, Levadia defeated Total Network Solutions 2–6 on aggregate in the first qualifying round, but lost to Shakhtar Donetsk 2–9 on aggregate in the second qualifying round. Following the loss to Shakhtar Donetsk, Ratnikov was sacked. In 2001, Valeri Bondarenko was appointed as a manager. Levadia failed to defend their title, finishing the 2001 season in third place and in November 2001, Bondarenko was replaced by Pasi Rautiainen. Under Rautiainen, Levadia finished the 2002 Meistriliiga as runners-up, only two points behind champions Flora. After the season, Rautiainen resigned and was replaced by Franco Pancheri in January 2003. Pancheri coached Levadia for just 9 Meistriliiga matches, before he was sacked in June 2003. He was replaced by Tarmo Rüütli and Levadia finished the 2003 season in third place.
Relocation to Tallinn
In 2004, Levadia moved to Tallinn, while the club's previously Tallinn-based reserve team changed its name to Levadia II. Under Rüütli, Levadia won the league in the 2004 season, but failed to defend the title in 2005, finishing as runners-up. In the 2006–07 UEFA Cup qualifying rounds, Levadia defeated Haka and Twente, but lost to Newcastle United 1–3 on aggregate in the first round. Levadia won two more Meistriliiga titles in 2006 and 2007. In March 2008, Rüütli was hired by the Estonian Football Association to coach the Estonia national team and his assistant Igor Prins took over as manager. Under Prins, Levadia won two consecutive Meistriliiga titles in 2008 and 2009 and an Estonian Cup in 2010. In August 2010, Prins was sacked due to disagreements with the board and replaced by Levadia II manager Aleksandr Puštov. Levadia finished the 2010 season as runners-up. In July 2011, Puštov was sacked after disappointing results in the Meistriliiga and the Champions League and replaced by Sergei Hohlov-Simson. Levadia finished the 2011 season in fourth place, their lowest ever league placing since the club was promoted to the Meistriliiga. In December 2011, Marko Kristal was appointed as manager. The club won the 2011–12 Estonian Cup and finished the 2012 season as runners-up. Levadia won the Meistriliiga title in the 2013 season. The team defended their title in 2014, but finished the 2015 season as runners-up. In November 2015, it was announced that Sergei Ratnikov will return to Levadia after 15 years and replace Kristal as manager. Ratnikov's second tenure as Levadia's manager lasted until July 2016, when he was sacked following a 0–1 loss to Pärnu Linnameeskond. He was replaced by another returning manager, Igor Prins. Levadia finished the 2016 season as runners-up. Following another second-place finish in the 2017 season, Levadia and FCI Tallinn merged their first teams, becoming FCI Levadia, with FCI Tallinn's Aleksandar Rogić taking over as manager. On 15 September 2019, Rogić was sacked after disappointing results, with assistant coach Vladimir Vassiljev taking over as caretaker manager. In November 2019, former Estonia head coach and record cap holder Martin Reim was appointed as manager.
Stadiums
A. Le Coq Arena
The club's home ground is the 14,336-seat A. Le Coq Arena. Opened in 2001 and expanded from 2016 to 2018, it is the largest football stadium in Estonia. The Lilleküla Football Complex also includes two grass surface pitches, two artificial turf pitches and an indoor hall. A. Le Coq Arena is located at Jalgpalli 21, Kesklinn, Tallinn. Levadia use Sportland Arena and Maarjamäe Stadium artificial turfs for training and home matches during winter and early spring months.
From 2004 to 2018, Levadia played at Kadriorg Stadium. Built from 1922 to 1926 and renovated from 2000 to 2001, it is one of the oldest football stadiums in Estonia and used to be the home ground of the Estonia national team until the completion of A. Le Coq Arena in 2001.
