FC Lantana Tallinn (Estonia)
The Baltic
states, only around since 1991 in regards running their own national leagues
after gaining independence from the Soviet Union, so relatively young compared
to other national leagues around the world. One would suspect there wouldn’t be
many ‘Forgotten Clubs’ from these nations, however, one would be wrong. When I
started my research into these countries, I found that there were a lot of
football clubs that could have featured in this book. A lot of these clubs only
lasted a few years before dissolving into the abyss. Maybe it was the
inexperience of running themselves as independent leagues, as for so long in
history they were run by the Soviet Union. Maybe it was the lack of finances
injected into these leagues, although some clubs seem to manage just fine with
the resources they had been given to work with. It was defiantly not the lack
of interest in football, with nations like Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia all
having a strong football fan base, despite their international sides not doing
so well on the international stage. Other than Latvia’s appearance in the
European Championships in 2004, none of these countries have qualified for a
major tournament, with their club sides making little impact in European
competition either. That said, they all have strong national leagues within
themselves, and have their own success stories. In Estonia, the country we are
going to visit next, there was one club who had a lot of success in such a
short time. They were only around for a few years, but they made their mark and
cemented their name in Estonian football history forever. The club? FC Lantana
Tallinn. Here is their story.
Founded in 1994
after the Belov family bought the now defunct club, Nikol Tallinn, FC Lantana
Tallinn entered the Estonian football league. For the first few season the club
wore black and white stripes but changed their colours in 1998 to sky blue and
royal blue stripes. The club started off by coming second in their first season
in the preliminary round of the league season, under the name Lantana-Marlekor,
winning fourteen, drawing three and only losing one game all season. Coming
second gained them qualification for the Championship play-off, where the top
six would compete for the title. In the Championship Tournament, they also
finished second, one point behind eventual Flora, winning seven, drawing two
and losing one game. They were helped by their prolific striker, Maksim
Gruznov, who scored eleven goals that season, becoming joint third overall in
regards top goal scorers. Their impressive second place finish in their first
season qualified them for next seasons Cup Winners Cup competition. It would
also prepare them for an eventful 1995-96 season.
Their form also
produced a cup run all the way to the final. They started their journey in the
second round, winning that tie with ease, beating Kopli Tallinn 10-0 away from
home. The 3rd qualifying round consisted of a two-legged affair with
JK/Kalev. Once again FC Lantana proved to be too strong for their opponents,
breezing past them 14-2 on aggregate, winning the first leg away from home,
6-0, and winning the home leg 8-2. It set up a semi-final match against JK
Trans Narva, with the scores being a lot closer than the previous rounds. Lantana
came out of the two-legged affair victorious, winning 2-1 at home and 1-0 away,
winning 3-1 on aggregate. So, for the first time in their history, they would
be playing in the Estonian cup final, and it would be against Estonian giants,
FC Flora Tallinn. Attendance for the game was only 600 and they saw Flora win
the match 2-0 with goals from Marko Kristal and Ricardas Zdancius to see the
favourites lift the trophy.
Their European
adventure in 1995-96 didn’t last long, and they were knocked out by Latvian
club, DAG-Liepaja, in controversial circumstances. Drawing the home leg 0-0 they
won the second leg 2-1 for it to be overturned to a 3-0 loss as the Estonian
club were deemed to have played an ineligible player Lantana, (They dropped the
Marlekor part of their name) topped the league in the preliminary round,
winning ten, drawing three, losing just one. They finished eleven points ahead
of their nearest rival, Narva Trans. Once again, they qualified for the
Championship Tournament. Just like the preliminary round, Lantana topped the
league by a quite few points, seven in total, ahead of Flora, which meant they
lifted their first league title and their first major trophy, once again, Maksim
Gruznov finished the clubs top goal scorer that season, scoring twelve, joint
with his teammate, Andrei Borissov who also scored twelve. They finished only
behind Flora striker Lembit Rajala who scored sixteen goals. The club once
again qualified for European competition, but this time it was at a higher
level, in the UEFA Cup. This time around their European exploits lasted a
little bit longer, with the club reaching the second qualifying round. In the
first qualifying round they beat Icelandic side, Iprottabandalag Vestmannaeyja,
winning the home leg 2-1 and drawing the away leg 0-0. This set up a second-round
qualifier against Swiss side FC Aarau. This proved a step to far for the
Estonian side and they fell to defeat, despite winning the home leg, 2-0, they
lost the away leg 4-0, losing on aggregate, 4-2.
The 1996-97
season proved to be just as successful as the last one, with the club adding to
their silverware won from the previous season. Once again, they topped the
preliminary round, winning eleven, drawing two and losing just once, finishing
six points ahead of Flora. They went on to win the Championship Tournament,
winning seven, drawing two and losing one game. This qualified them for the
Champions League first qualifying round for the next season. Once again, they
ended up being Estonian cup finalists, but once again they lost, 3-2 to
Tallinna Sadam at the Kadriorg Stadium in Tallinn. In the Champions League, they met Finnish
side, Jazz and lost 3-0 on aggregate, 1-0 in the first leg and 2-0 in the
second leg. The 1997-98 season saw the club finish 3rd, winning
four, drawing three and losing three. This would be the last time the league
would have a preliminary round and the new format would take place for the next
season. Finishing third, FC Latana qualified for the Cup Winners Cup fo the
following season. They faced Scottish side Hearts of Midlothian FC in the first
round of qualifying and they were thrashed 6-0 on aggregate, losing the home le
1-0 and the away leg 5-0. They also got to the Estonian cup final for the third
time and for the third time they lost, once again to Flora Tallinn, who ran out
3-2 winners on the day.
The 1998
Meistriliiga proved to be the same as the previous one, without the preliminary
round, FC Lantana finished third for a second season in a row, winning seven,
drawing four and losing three. Finishing third qualified the club for the UEFA
Cup this time and they faced Georgian club FC Torpedo Kutaisi in the first
round. Once again, FC Latana were beaten heavily, 9-2 on aggregate, losing the
home leg 5-0 and losing away 4-2. Their domestic form also took a dip, with the
club finishing 6th out of 8 clubs in the Estonian Premier Division,
winning just six games all season, drawing nine and losing thirteen. They only
finished three points above Lelle, who were forced to play in a relegation
play-off match. It was to be the last season that FC Lantana would compete in
as the club was wound up and dissolved for good. (Through my research it seems
it was done because of financial reasons, but this is not 100% confirmed).
Answering my questions on FC Lantana and Estonian football are the lads from
the Estonian Football Podcast, two Englishmen who have a passion for Estonian
football. Their knowledge of the game in Estonia is second to none and that is
proven from listening to their podcasts and reading their previews and opinions
on the Estonian league. Here is what they had to say.
Cheers Lads
for giving the readers an insight to Estonian football. My first question is
one I’d say you get asked a lot, but why Estonian football? Is there a link to
it or was it just a random interest use picked up?
Estonian
Football Podcast: We decided to head out to Estonia just for a
city break in 2018 and stumbled across an abandoned stadium with the Levadia
badge on it so decided to check out the other stadiums nearby. We looked at the
league every now and then, and eventually just started to follow it with more
interest, and in lockdown we were bored so decided to talk about it.
FC Lantana
Tallinn weren’t around for a long time but were around for some good times.
What can you tell us about the short lived, yet successful club that was FC
Lantana Tallinn?
Estonian
Football Podcast: FC
Lantana Tallinn weren’t around for a long time but were around for some good
times. What can you tell us about the short lived, yet successful club that was
FC Lantana Tallinn? From following Estonian football, we’ve learnt it’s very
weird and especially back in the 90’s probably fairly corrupt (if anyone can
correct us on that then great). Lantana exist from a prototype club called
Nikol Tallinn, (who were TVMK). TVMK were brought out by the Nikol company in
1992 and from this point TVMK’s history technically ended and Nikol Tallinn
were born. Nikol only existed as a prototype club, and therefore only existed
for 2 years before they themselves became brought out by the Belov family and
thus the prototype club of Nikol ended and formed as a new club, Lantana
Tallinn. Lantana Tallinn formed in 1994 to take over from Nikol Tallinn (Nikol
served as the prototype for Lantana). In the 6 years that Lantana competed in
the topflight they finished in the top 3 for 5 of those seasons and won the
league back-to-back in 1995/96 and 1996/97. Mixed form after this led to
Lantana being wound up for financial problems in 1999.
FC Flora
Tallinn are probably the most known football club from Estonia. (I Know of them
as they have played against a few Irish clubs in recent years). What is the
height of expectations for an Estonian club like them in Europe? I’d assume
with the introduction of the Europa Conference League they will want to do well
in that competition.
Estonian
Football Podcast: We love the Conference League, what a
competition for these ‘smaller clubs to get a taste for European action. We
think after what Flora did in 2021 that is the common goal now for Estonian
teams, when it comes to Europe. Levadia have that chance this year, they will
begin in the new Champions League format, so qualification into the conference
is more than possible for them this season. But for improvements in the future,
the league needs more funding from the EJL to make the league more competitive
to attract better players, right now you have Flora, Levadia and maybe Paide
and Kalju who have the chances for Europe. The rest are not so good, many still
have part time contracts, despite the league going ‘fully pro’ in 2020. The
premium Liiga lost 2 teams due to financial problems in 2022, so there’s still
so much work to do for the league to improve, for teams to be more competitive
in Europe.
Who are the
stars to watch out for in the Estonian league at the moment? Are their any
players that will catch our eye in the future? Maybe even make a big money move
to one of the so-called bigger leagues in Europe?
Estonian
Football Podcast: Many players are heading to Italy for youth
football, Oliver Jurgens currently plays for Inter Milan and looks to be a real
talent, as well as Martin Vetkal who’s at Roma. You have Karl Hein who’s just
had a loan spell at Reading from Arsenal and Maksim Paskotsi who’s at
Tottenham. Those that are currently playing in Estonia, I’m just going to
mention young players here; Danil Kuraksin for Flora, Robi Saarma for Paide. We
could name so many more, but we’ll just stick with two, it’s difficult to say
just how far these players will go, but it’s fun to watch them play in Estonia.
Who is your
favourite Estonian player and who is the best Estonian player to ever play the
game? It can be the same answer of course.
Estonian
Football Podcast: We have a different favourite each, one is
Marten Kuusk who is playing for Ujpest in Hungary and other is Vladislav Kreida
who is currently at Flora, after his loan in Ukraine was paused due to Russia’s
war in Ukraine. The greatest Estonian football player is either between Joel
Lindpere or Ragnar Klavan – probably Klavan as he’s won Estonian footballer of
the year 7 times, which is a record.
Estonian
football at an international level, how are they looking in regard to
challenging for qualification for a major international tournament in the next
few years. I know a few years ago they played in a play-off match against the
Republic of Ireland and lost, so that was close, but they haven’t been close
since. Is there any ope for Estonia to be playing in a European Championships
or even a World Cup anytime soon?
Estonian
Football Podcast: Probably not. They have a long way to go,
they have improved over the last 12 months but more improvement is needed. If
the World Cup ever increases to something ridiculous like 48 teams then of
course it’s possible. And with Nations League a new route to qualification,
it’s possible, however Estonia could be in League D by the 29th March (24th of
writing) which makes qualification from this route near impossible. As said
before the EJL (Estonian FA) need to fund more for Estonian Football, and until
that happens, it will be difficult.
Finally, Do
you think we will ever see FC Lantana again and can you tell our readers one or
maybe more than one interesting fact about Estonian football?
Estonian
Football Podcast: Nope, FC Lantana are done, they are bankrupt.
Interesting fact, pretty much anyone can compete in the Estonian Cup, even U19
teams. An example in this years competition Flora’s U19’s lost 14-0 to Flora’s
first team and Tulevik beat their U21’s 10-0. It’s a crazy league, there is
usually some kind of nonsense going on in the background and sometimes it’s
just laughable. It’s a predictable league, but at the same time it’s not.
FC Lantana
Tallinn, a club like so many others I have written about. A club that came,
conquered, and then disappeared in such a short space of time. Poor financial
management of the club it seems led to it’s demise, but surely in a country
with few professional football clubs, it would be easier to run one with less
competition for a fan base? Or maybe there just isn’t enough interest in
Estonia to keep so many clubs going. In my research, it did seem like their
were an awful lot of clubs based in Tallinn itself, which is predictable seeing
as it is the nations capital. I can only compare it to Dublin, a small nation
with most of it’s football clubs coming from a small capital as well. Whilst
most of the clubs are just about surviving, it does seem to be a hinderance and
in some cases the problem for clubs to stay in existence. Would FC Lantana have
survived if they were in a different area? Who knows? One thing is for sure,
they made an impact, and maybe some day they will make a re=appearance, and
maybe they will finally lift that Estonian cup. Maybe…