Enar Jääger (born 18 November 1984) is an Estonian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a defender.

Club career

Flora

Jääger made his senior league debut in the

Esiliiga The Esiliiga is the second division in the Estonian football league system. The Esiliiga is ranked below the Meistriliiga and above the Esiliiga B. As in most countries with low temperatures in winter time, the season starts in March and ends i ...

on 2 April 2000, playing for

Flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

affiliated Lelle in a 1–3 home loss to

Merkuur Tartu Tartu JK Merkuur was an Estonian Association football, football club based in Tartu. Merkuur was one of the founding members of the Meistriliiga, the top-tier of Estonian football. 2006, the last year of its existence, the club was known as JK ...

. In December 2000, he moved to Flora's reserve side Valga. Jääger made his Flora – and

Meistriliiga Meistriliiga (, known as the A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons) is the highest division of the Estonian Football Association annual football (soccer), football championship. The league was founded in 1992, and was initially semi-p ...

– debut on 4 November 2001, in a 3–0 away victory over Lootus. He won the Meistriliiga title in the 2003 season.

Torpedo Moscow

On 3 February 2005, Jääger signed a three-year contract with

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 200 ...

club

Torpedo Moscow Football Club Torpedo Moscow (russian: link=no, ФК "Торпедо" Москва, ''FK Torpedo Moskva''), known as Torpedo Moscow, is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow that was founded in 1924 and returned to the Russian Pr ...

for an undisclosed fee, becoming third Estonian player in the club after

Andres Oper Andres Oper (born 7 November 1977) is an Estonian football coach and former professional player. He is currently an assistant manager of Estonia national team. Oper played as a forward for Lelle, Flora, Tervis Pärnu, AaB, Torpedo Moscow, ...

and Andrei Stepanov. He made his debut in Russian Premier League on 13 March, in a 3–1 home win over

Rostov Rostov ( rus, Росто́в, p=rɐˈstof) is a town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, one of the oldest in the country and a tourist center of the Golden Ring. It is located on the shores of Lake Nero, northeast of Moscow. Population: While ...

Aalesund

On 8 March 2007, Jääger signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Norwegian club Aalesund for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut in the

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotio ...

on 16 May 2007, in a 4–0 away victory over Strømsgodset.

Ascoli

On 19 July 2009, Jääger signed for

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

club

Ascoli Ascoli may refer to: Places in Italy *Ascoli Satriano, a town and ''comune'' in the province of Foggia in the Apulia region *Province of Ascoli Piceno, a province of the Marche region **Ascoli Piceno, a city which is the seat of the province above ...

on a three-year deal. He made his debut in the Serie B on 21 August 2009, in 1–1 home draw against Gallipoli. Jääger failed to become a regular starter for Ascoli and was released by the club on 31 January 2010, after making just five league appearances.

Return to Aalesund

After rejecting an offer from

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

club

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

, Jääger returned to Norway, where he signed a two-year contract with Aalesund on 5 March 2010. On 6 November 2011, Jääger assisted the opening goal in Aalesund's 2–1 victory over Brann in the Norwegian Cup final, winning his first trophy with the club. He didn't extend his contract after the 2011 season. On 5 January 2012, Jääger passed a medical examination at

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 ...

club

Lechia Gdańsk Lechia Gdańsk () is a Polish football club based in Gdańsk. The club was founded in 1945 by people expelled from Lwów, who were supporters of Poland's oldest football team Lechia Lwów, founded in 1903. The club's name comes from Lechia, a ...

, but rejected the contract offer to pursue other options. He then had a trial with the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Football League (SFL). It was abolished in 2013, when t ...

champions Rangers. Rangers manager

Ally McCoist Alistair Murdoch McCoist, (; born 24 September 1962) is a Scottish former footballer who has since worked as a manager and TV pundit. McCoist began his playing career with Scottish club St Johnstone before moving to English side Sunderland i ...

was impressed with Jääger and was keen on signing him, but the player had to leave the club without an offer as Rangers failed to reduce their wage bill in order to make room for new players. Despite interest from

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

sides

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

and

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

, and

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

, Jääger failed to secure a contract by March 2012. On 13 March 2012, Jääger signed a one-year contract with Aalesund, after receiving an improved offer from his former club.

Lierse

On 15 July 2013, Jääger signed a one-year contract with

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

club Lierse, with an option to extend it for another year. He made his debut for the club on 27 July, in a 1–2 home loss to

Zulte Waregem Sportvereniging Zulte Waregem (), commonly known as Zulte Waregem or by their nickname Essevee (), is a Belgian professional football club based in Waregem, West Flanders. Zulte Waregem plays in the Belgian First Division A. Their highest finish ...

Return to Flora

In December 2014, Jääger joined the Flora first-team squad for training sessions. On 5 March 2015, he signed a one-year contract with the club. Jääger was named club

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

ahead of the 2015 season.

Vålerenga

On 18 August 2015, Jääger signed for Tippeligaen club Vålerenga for the remainder of the 2015 season. He made his Vålerenga debut on 28 August, in 0–2 away loss to his former club Aalesund. On 4 January 2016, Jääger extended his contract for a year. On 30 March 2017, he extended his contract for another year.

Second return to Flora

On 14 June 2019, Jääger once again returned to Flora, signing a contract for the rest of the season. Jääger was part of Flora's championship-winning 2019 Meistriliiga season, repeating as champions of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

shortened 2020 Meistriliiga season. Jääger announced his retirement on 5 December 2020, following the club's final game of the season.

International career

Jääger began his youth career in 2000 with the Estonia under-16 team. He also represented the under-19, under-20, and under-21 national sides. Jääger made his senior international debut for

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and t ...

on 12 October 2002, when he came on as a 69th-minute substitute for

Marko Kristal Marko Kristal (born 2 June 1973) is an Estonian football manager and former player. He is the assistant manager of Nõmme Kalju. Kristal played as a midfielder for Lõvid, Sport Tallinn, Flora, FC Lahti and the Estonia national team. With Fl ...

in a 3–2 home victory over

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

in a friendly. He made his 100th appearance for Estonia on 19 November 2013, a day after his 29th birthday, in a 3–0 friendly away win over

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German language, German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constit ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Valga *

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains independence from Indonesia and ...

Flora *

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

Estonian Supercup The Estonian Supercup ( et, Eesti Superkarikas) is Estonian football's annual super cup, contested between the champions of the previous Meistriliiga season and the holders of the Estonian Cup. If the Meistriliiga champions also won the Estoni ...

: 2003, 2004 Aalesund *

Norwegian Cup The Norwegian Football Cup ( no, Norgesmesterskapet i fotball for herrer) is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest footbal ...

: 2011

References

External links

* * * *
Enar Jääger
at altomfotball.no {{DEFAULTSORT:Jaager, Enar 1984 births Living people People from Kohila Estonian footballers Association football defenders Esiliiga players FC Valga players Meistriliiga players FC Flora players Russian Premier League players FC Torpedo Moscow players Eliteserien players Aalesunds FK players Vålerenga Fotball players Serie B players Ascoli Calcio 1898 F.C. players Belgian First Division A players Lierse S.K. players Norwegian Second Division players Estonia youth international footballers Estonia under-21 international footballers Estonia international footballers FIFA Century Club Estonian expatriate footballers Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate footballers in Russia Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate footballers in Norway Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium

Club career

Flora

Torpedo Moscow

Aalesund

Ascoli

Return to Aalesund

Lierse

Return to Flora

Vålerenga

Second return to Flora

International career

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

See also

References

External links