{"id":44377,"date":"2026-03-06T13:34:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T11:34:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fcilevadia.ee\/?p=44377"},"modified":"2026-03-06T13:37:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T11:37:59","slug":"esiliiga-season-kicks-off-on-saturday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fcilevadia.ee\/en\/esiliiga-season-kicks-off-on-saturday\/","title":{"rendered":"Esiliiga season kicks off on Saturday!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Next Saturday the Esiliiga season begins for our U21 team as we host N\u00f5mme Kalju in the Round 1 match at home.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A new football season is here, and Estonia\u2019s second tier, the Esiliiga, starts its 2026 campaign in the first days of March. Ten teams will compete in the league this season, which will run until early November. FCI Levadia U21 begin their new season on Saturday, March 7, when they face N\u00f5mme Kalju FC U21 at home. The opening round match will be played at Lasnam\u00e4e Infonet Stadium with kick-off at 17:00.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>New season, new challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 2026 Esiliiga season once again features a long and demanding schedule, running from March to November. A total of 36 rounds will be played, and the Esiliiga champion will be decided at the end of the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alongside Levadia\u2019s reserve team, several strong clubs will compete in this year\u2019s Esiliiga:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>JK Tallinna Kalev<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Viimsi JK<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tartu JK Welco<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>FC Elva<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>FC Flora U21<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>FC Tallinn<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Maardu Linnameeskond<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>FC N\u00f5mme United U21<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>N\u00f5mme Kalju FC U21<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Levadia U21, made up of young and ambitious players, aims to provide strong competition this season while giving the club\u2019s young talents valuable experience in men\u2019s football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Head coach Dmitri Kruglov ahead of the new season<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How did the pre-season preparation go? Were you able to accomplish everything you planned before the season?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cI am satisfied with the boys\u2019 attitude in training and with the friendly matches they played under pressure. The coaching staff received a lot of useful information, but there is still plenty of work ahead.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What goals have you set for the team for the upcoming Esiliiga season?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cThe club management sets the objectives for us. We aim to build a competitive team and perform better than last season,\u201d said head coach Dmitri Kruglov.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Opening round at home<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first opponent will be N\u00f5mme Kalju U21 \u2014 a team whose matches against Levadia are usually fast-paced and full of goals. Playing in front of the home crowd gives our young players a great opportunity to start the season on a positive note and collect their first points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>FCI Levadia invites all supporters and football fans to the opening match of the season to give our young players strong support at the start of the new campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Photo: Katariina Peetson \/ jalgpall.ee<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Next Saturday the Esiliiga season begins for our U21 team as we host N\u00f5mme Kalju in the Round 1 match&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":990007,"featured_media":44373,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[251],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fci-levadia-u21-en"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Esiliiga season kicks off on Saturday! 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