JK Tabasalu is a football club based in Tabasalu, Estonia. The club competes in

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 ...

, the second tier of Estonian football. Tabasalu's home ground is Tabasalu Arena.

History

The football club was created on 23 November 2012 and its first seasons in the Estonian league system were quite successful: they finished second in their debut seasons in IV liiga and III liiga. Even in the fourth division they finished constantly in the upper part of the table. In 2018, they hired former FCI Levadia coach

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 ...

and quickly became

II liiga II liiga is the fourth level of football league competition in Estonia arranged by the Estonian Football Association. It consists of 28 teams, divided geographically into two divisions with 14 teams respectively in group North/East and South/Wes ...

's title contenders. The year ended with them finishing third, but due to Paide Linnameeskond III not wanting to get promoted, they were given the opportunity to take part in promotion play-offs. They got through to the final thanks to

FCI Tallinn FCI Tallinn (FC Infonet Tallinn) is a football club, based in Lasnamäe, Tallinn, Estonia. Formed in 2002, the club played in the Estonian top flight Meistriliiga from 2013 to 2017, and won the league in the 2016 season. In 2017, the club merged ...

using an unavailable player. In the final round they played against Lasnamäe Ajax, who they managed to beat 3:0 and 4:1 and were therefore promoted to the top three leagues. In their debut season in

Esiliiga B The Esiliiga B is the third division in the Estonian football league system. The Esiliiga B is ranked below the Esiliiga and above the II liiga. As in most countries with low temperatures in winter time, the season starts in March and ends in No ...

, they were last-placed after 17 rounds, but they managed to start gaining points and at the end of the year they were seventh and nine points ahead of relegation places. After the season, Marko Kristal joined

Nõmme Kalju Nõmme (Estonian for ''"Heath"'') is one of the 8 administrative districts ( et, linnaosa) of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. It has a population of 39,422 () and covers an area of , population density is . The district is largely a middle-cl ...

. The following year was went even better as in the

Estonian Cup The Estonian Cup ( et, Eesti Karikas) is the national knockout competition in Estonian football. In 2012, the competition was unofficially rebranded as Evald Tipner's Cup. The winner will compete in UEFA Europa Conference League first qualifyi ...

they reached the quarter-finals and in the league they finished fourth. They were again given the option to play in the promotion play-offs, but this time they lost 1:3 and 1:5 to

Pärnu JK Pärnu Jalgpalliklubi, commonly known as PJK, or simply as Pärnu, was a women's football team based in Pärnu, Estonia. Having won a record 13 Naiste Meistriliiga titles, 6 Estonian Women's Cups and 7 Estonian Women's Supercups, the team step ...

. Tabasalu JK is well known for their large fanbase and great youth teams. In 2018, when they were still in II liiga, they had an average attendance of 321 people, which was Estonia's fourth largest home average. Their youth players have had trials in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

Chievo Verona Associazione Calcio ChievoVerona, commonly referred to as ChievoVerona or simply Chievo , is a former professional Italian football club named after and based in Chievo, a suburb of 4,500 inhabitants in Verona, Veneto, and owned by Paluani, a ...

and

Padova Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

. Tabasalu finished the 2022 Esiliiga B season in 2nd place, narrowly losing the title in the last second of the final matchday against FC Tallinn. On 19 October 2022, Tabasalu notably knocked out Estonian top-flight club

Nõmme Kalju FC Nõmme Kalju FC (), commonly known as Nõmme Kalju, or simply as Kalju (Estonian: "rock" or "cliff"), is an Estonian professional football club, based in Nõmme, Tallinn, that competes in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian football. T ...

from the

by winning 1–0.

Players

Current squad

: ''As of 21 May 2023.

Out on loan

League and Cup history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tabasalu JK Charma Harju County Football clubs in Estonia Association football clubs established in 2012 2012 establishments in Estonia