Budget restrictions limit Levadia ambition

FC Levadia Tallinn are the undisputed champions of Estonia after winning a third successive title and the sixth overall of the club's ten-year existence. Even so, their latest success has been tarnished slightly by a failure to compete in the UEFA Champions League, where Irish titleholders Drogheda United FC beat them home and away in the first qualifying round.

Two-horse race
Hence the sanguine reaction of coach Igor Prins to a domestic crown won by four points from FC Flora. "It has been a difficult season with no easy matches," said Prins. "The standard of the Estonian league has slipped and there were lots of even games, with two teams – ourselves and Flora – a little better than the rest and deserving of first and second places." Indeed, some 23 points separated Flora from FC TVMK Tallinn in third, making their rivalry with Levadia the real source of interest: four times the two clubs met in the 2008 campaign, with the eventual champions prevailing only once and the other three games being drawn. "Flora were very consistent, which is why the title race continued until the penultimate round of matches," said Levadia striker Indrek Zelinski.

Letdown
Prins's men were even more reliable, winning 29 out of 35 Meistriliiga games and losing just one. According to the coach, though, they failed to do it when it mattered most. "We had some bad performances this season," he said. "We finished bottom in the Baltic League group stage, we lost to Flora in the Estonian Cup final, and even more disappointing, we were eliminated in the first round of Champions League qualifying." Indeed, this term's European exit destroyed the optimism generated by the previous two continental campaigns. In 2006/07, Levadia overcame FC Haka of Finland and Dutch side FC Twente – both by 2-1 aggregate scorelines – to reach the UEFA Cup first round where they succumbed, by a single goal home and away, to England's Newcastle United FC. The next season they disposed of FK Pobeda, champions of FYR Macedonia, before Belgrade giants FK Crvena Zvezda edged them out on away goals after a 2-2 aggregate draw in the UEFA Champions League second qualifying round.

Loss of quality
Since then, however, Levadia have experienced a haemorrhage of talent, with leaders and internationals such as Aleksandr Dmitrijev, Konstantin Vassiljev, Artur Kotenko and Ats Purje moving on, accompanied by some of the club's Lithuanian players. "Even [FC] BATE [Borisov] and CFR [1907 Cluj] have budgets ten times bigger than ours, so we have no chance of playing in the Champions League group stage in the near future," said Estonia coach and former Levadia boss Tarmo Rüütli. Despite sounding a note of defiance – "nothing is impossible" – Prins concedes that the team were shown up on the continental stage, saying of the Drogheda defeat: "We were really bad and deserved to fail."

Party time
So, with the championship wrapped up by Saturday's 1-0 triumph at JK Trans Narva, Levadia fans may as well enjoy the moment and a title party at home to bronze-medal winners TVMK on 15 October. Europe will have to wait. "There may be no motivation in terms of the league table, but the supporters can be sure we'll be taking this match seriously," added Zelinski. Sadly for TVMK, the season finale may be a prelude to a winter of discontent given that club's financial problems.