FC Kuressaare

Kuressaare

Full name	FC Kuressaare
Nickname(s)	Kure Viikingid (The Vikings)[1]
Founded	14 March 1997; 27 years ago (1997-03-14)[1]
Ground	Kuressaare linnastaadion[2]
Capacity	2,000[3]
President	Priit Penu[1]
Manager	Roman Kozhukhovskyi
League	Meistriliiga
2023	Meistriliiga, 7th of 10
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

FC Kuressaare, commonly known as Kuressaare, is an Estonian professional football club based in Kuressaare, Saaremaa island. The club's home ground is Kuressaare linnastaadion.

Founded on 14 March 1997, the club competes in the Meistriliiga, the top tier of Estonian football. Kuressaare debuted in the Estonian top division in 2000 and were known as a yo-yo club throughout the first decade of the 21st century, during which they were continuously promoted and relegated for eight seasons in a row. Since then, the club has played in the Meistriliiga in 2009–2013 and again since 2018.

History

Early history

Kuressaare was founded on 14 March 1997. Its predecessor was a youth club B.B. Sport, coached by Johannes Kaju. Kuressaare joined the Estonian football league system and began competing in the Western division of the III liiga. The club's first president and manager was Aivar Pohlak.

Kuressaare was promoted to the Esiliiga for the 1998 season and finished in 6th place under the new manager Jan Važinski. Most of the team were Saaremaa locals who were reinforced by players from Kuressaare's parent club Flora. Kuressaare won the Esiliiga in the 1999 season and was promoted to the Meistriliiga.

Kuressaare finished the 2000 season, its maiden season in the Estonian top-flight, in 7th place. The club finished the 2001 season in 10th place under new manager Zaur Tšilingarašvili and was relegated to the Esiliiga. In 2002, Sergei Zamogilnõi was hired as manager. Kuressaare finished the 2002 season as runners-up, qualifying to the promotion play-offs. Kuressaare won the play-offs against Lootus and returned to the Meistriliiga. Kuressaare's stay in the top-flight was cut short again as the club finished the 2003 season in 8th place and was relegated. The team was restructured in 2004, using players from reserve team Sörve and was promoted back to the Meistriliiga despite finishing in 5th place due to the expansion of the league.

The 2005 season was the most successful in the club's earlier history, winning 7 and drawing 6 matches out of 36. The 8–1 victory over Dünamo became the new club record. Despite that, the team finished 9th and was relegated after losing the relegation play-offs against Ajax.

Kuressaare earned its way back to the Meistriliiga in the 2006 season, but was once again relegated in the following Meistriliiga season. The team finished the 2008 season as runners-up and was promoted to the Meistriliiga. Kuressaare remained in the Meistriliiga for the next five seasons from 2009 to 2013, when the club was relegated to Esiliiga after finishing the season in 10th place.^[4] After the 2015 season, Kuressaare were relegated to Esiliiga B, which they won the following season.

Return to top-flight football

After finishing 5th in the Estonian second tier Esiliiga during the 2017 season, FC Kuressaare were unexpectedly offered the chance to return to Meistriliiga, due to FC Infonet and Sillamäe Kalev leaving top-flight football and Maardu Linnameeskond and Rakvere Tarvas, who both finished in front of Kuressaare in the 2017 Esiliiga season, opting to not fill the vacant Meistriliiga spots. Jan Važinski returned to the manager role and Kuressaare finished the 2018 Meistriliiga season in ninth place, beating FC Elva in the relegation play-offs to maintain their spot in Estonian top-flight football. The following 2019 season concluded in a similar way, with Kuressaare finishing in ninth place and this time beating Pärnu Vaprus in the play-offs.

With the introduction of solidarity mechanisms in 2020, Marco Lukka became the first ever fully professional football player of the club. Kuressaare also appointed Roman Kozhukhovskyi as the manager. Again, Kuressaare finished the season in 9th place and won the relegation play-offs against Maardu. The 2021 season proved to be successful for the club, as they finished in seventh place. Otto-Robert Lipp's goal against FC Flora in their 2–2 draw also won the Meistriliiga's 'goal of the season' award.

The 2022 season was the most successful in FC Kuressaare's history, as the club finished 5th and accumulated 50 points in 36 matches.

Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors

Period	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor	Ref
2013–2018	Joma	Saaremaa Lihatööstus	[5]
2019	Nike	Euronics
2020–2023		–
2023–		Visit Saaremaa

Players

First-team squad

As of 8 March, 2024.^[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  EST Magnus Karofeld 2 DF  EST Mathias Palts (on loan from Flora) 4 DF  EST Sander Alex Liit 5 DF  EST Moorits Veering 6 MF  EST Oliver Rass 7 MF  EST Artjom Jermatsenko 8 MF  EST Joonas Soomre 11 MF  EST Aleksander Iljin 14 DF  EST Joosep Kobin 15 DF  EST Märten Pajunurm 16 MF  EST Karl Oigus 17 FW  EST Gleb Pevtsov 18 MF  EST Indrek Mäeots 19 MF  EST Kristofer Robin Grün (on loan from Flora) 20 MF  EST Pavel Dõmov

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 MF  EST Sten Penzev 22 MF  EST Anton Volossatov 23 DF  EST Andri Roomus 27 FW  EST Mattias Männilaan (on loan from Flora) 29 MF  EST Marcus Puust 30 DF  EST Siim Aer 33 MF  EST Sten-Egert Paap 46 FW  EST Otto-Robert Lipp 48 DF  EST Ralf-Sander Suvinõmm 66 GK  EST Rihard Meesit 70 DF  EST Joonas Vahermägi 73 DF  EST Karl Orren 87 DF  EST Rasmus Saar 88 MF  EST Andero Kivi 99 GK  EST Kaur Kivila (on loan from Flora)

For season transfers, see transfers summer 2022 and transfers winter 2022–23.

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  EST Daniel Tuhkanen (at Nõmme United until 31 December 2023) — DF  EST Oscar Pihela (at Flora U21 until 31 December 2023)

Reserves and academy

Personnel

Honours

League

• Esiliiga
  • Winners (1): 1999
• Esiliiga B
  • Winners (1): 2016

Seasons and statistics

Season	Division	Pos	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Top goalscorer	Cup
1997–98	III liiga (W)	1	6	5	1	0	18	3	+15	16	Toivo Alt (8)	First round
1998	Esiliiga	6	14	4	5	5	20	19	+1	17	Svajūnas Rauckis (8)
1999		1	28	21	4	3	92	25	+67	67	Svajūnas Rauckis (27)	Fourth round
2000	Meistriliiga	7	28	5	4	19	25	68	−43	19	Risto Kallaste Tarmo Saks (5)	Third round
2001		8	28	2	1	25	18	114	−96	7	Tiit Tikenberg (5)	Quarter-finals
2002	Esiliiga	2	28	17	2	9	82	50	+32	53	Tarmo Neemelo (21)	Second round
2003	Meistriliiga	8	28	1	2	25	11	121	–110	5	Tiit Tikenberg (3)	Second round
2004	Esiliiga	5	28	11	2	15	56	70	−14	35	Martti Pukk (13)	Quarter-finals
2005	Meistriliiga	9	36	7	6	23	40	96	−56	27	Martti Pukk (11)	Second round
2006	Esiliiga	2	36	22	5	9	64	44	+20	71	Rainer Veskimäe (12)	Quarter-finals
2007	Meistriliiga	9	36	5	3	28	25	94	−69	18	Dmitri Kulikov (5)	Third round
2008	Esiliiga	2	36	20	9	7	67	35	+32	69	Martti Pukk (14)	Third round
2009	Meistriliiga	8	36	7	3	26	21	99	−78	24	Dmitri Skiperski (8)	Fourth round
2010		9	36	7	3	26	32	93	−61	24	Dmitri Skiperski (9)	Fourth round
2011		9	36	7	5	24	28	68	−40	26	Martti Pukk (8)	Third round
2012		8	36	5	11	20	31	80	−49	26	Andre Ilves (6)	Fourth round
2013		10	36	2	5	29	22	87	−65	11	Andre Ilves Karl Mööl Elari Valmas (4)	Second round
2014	Esiliiga	6	36	14	5	17	69	81	−12	47	Tõnis Koppel Sander Laht Maarek Suursaar (10)	Quarter-finals
2015		10	36	10	7	19	48	95	−47	37	Sander Laht (14)	Third round
2016	Esiliiga B	1	36	23	7	6	117	48	+69	76	Maarek Suursaar (33)	Third round
2017	Esiliiga	5	36	17	4	15	70	63	+7	55	Sander Laht (17)	Quarter-finals
2018	Meistriliiga	9	36	6	3	27	34	115	−81	21	Sander Laht (15)	Quarter-finals
2019		9	36	6	5	25	24	87	−63	23	Märten Pajunurm (7)	Third round
2020		9	30	5	9	16	28	63	−35	24	Sander Laht (6)	Third round
2021		7	30	10	4	16	39	47	−8	34	Mattias Männilaan (11)	Fourth round
2022		5	36	13	11	12	49	51	−2	50	Sten Reinkort (15)	Third round
2023		7	36	12	7	17	36	60	−24	43	Mattias Männilaan (8)	Quarter-finals

References

External links

Meistriliiga seasons2024 teamsFormer teamsTop division seasons
(before Meistriliiga)