Marek Lemsalu (born 24 November 1972) is an Estonian former professional footballer. He played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Pärnu KEK Pärnu () is the fourth largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and west of Estonia's second largest city, Tartu. The city sits off the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet of ...

Sport Tallinn SK Tallinna Sport is a defunct Estonian football club, founded in 1912 and then re-established in 2003. The club won nine domestic league titles before Estonia became a part of Soviet Union. The club also played bandy in the interwar years, becom ...

, Pärnu Kalakombinaat/MEK, Flora, Mainz 05, Kuressaare,

Strømsgodset Strømsgodset is a former municipality in Vestfold county (from 1964 Buskerud county), Norway, today a part of the city of Drammen. History Strømsgodset was originally a small rural annex to the city parish of Bragernes (Drammen). But since th ...

, Tulevik,

Start Start can refer to multiple topics: *Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports *Standing start, and rolling start, in an auto race Acronyms *St ...

, Bryne and

Levadia Livadeia ( el, Λιβαδειά ''Livadiá'', ; grc, Λεβάδεια, Lebadeia or , ''Lebadia'') is a town in central Greece. It is the capital of the Boeotia regional district. Livadeia lies north-west of Athens, west of Chalkida, south-eas ...

. Lemsalu made his debut for the Estonia national team in 1992. He was

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 ...

in 1995 and 1996, and made a total of 86 appearances for the team before retiring in 2007. Lemsalu was named Estonian Footballer of the Year in 1996 and

Meistriliiga Player of the Year The Meistriliiga Player of the Year is an annual award given to the best Meistriliiga Meistriliiga (, known as the A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons) is the highest division of the Estonian Football Association annual football ( ...

in 2006.

Club career

Early career

Lemsalu started playing football in 1988 for his hometown club

, before moving to Soviet Second League club

in 1989. In 1990, he returned to Pärnu where he played for Pärnu Kalakombinaat/MEK.

Flora

In 1992, Lemsalu signed for Flora of the newly formed Meistriliiga. With Flora, he won four Meistriliiga titles, in 1993–94, 1994–95, 1997–98, and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

. In December 1997 he had a trial at English club

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

who were then in the Premier League, however this didn't lead to a transfer.

Mainz 05 (loan)

In 1996, Lemsalu joined German

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

side Mainz 05 on a season-long loan for a fee of EEK 1 million.

Strømsgodset

In 1999, Lemsalu signed for Norwegian Tippeligaen side

Tulevik

In 2000, Lemsalu returned to Estonia and joined Tulevik.

Start

In 2001, Lemsalu signed for Norwegian

1. divisjon The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon and OBOS-ligaen (named sponsor is property developer OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon are p ...

side

. He helped Start to finish the 2001 season as runners-up and earn their promotion to the Tippeligaen.

Bryne

On 11 December 2002, Lemsalu signed a three-year contract with Norwegian Tippeligaen side Bryne.

Levadia

On 17 January 2006, Lemsalu returned to the Meistriliiga, joining

. Levadia reached the first round in the

2006–07 UEFA Cup The 2006–07 UEFA Cup was the 36th UEFA Cup, Europe's second-tier club football tournament. On 16 May 2007, at Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Sevilla won their second consecutive UEFA Cup, defeating Espanyol 3–1 on penalties after the match ...

, but lost to

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

1–3 on aggregate. In 2006, Lemsalu succeeded Konstantin Vassiljev as team

. He won the

2006 Meistriliiga 2006 Meistriliiga was the 16th season of the Meistriliiga, Estonia's premier football league. FC Levadia Tallinn, Levadia won their fourth title. Season overview FC Levadia won the 2006 Meistriliiga championship and entered the 2007/08 UEFA Cham ...

title and was named

. He won two more successive Meistriliiga titles in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. Lemsalu retired from professional football after the 2008 season, playing his last match on 15 November 2008 against TVMK.

International career

Lemsalu made his international debut for the Estonia national team on 11 July 1992 in a 1–1 draw against

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

in the

1992 Baltic Cup The 1992 Baltic Cup football competition was 12th season of the Baltic Cup and took place from 10–12 July 1992 at the Daugava Stadium in Liepāja, Latvia. It was the second annual competition of the three Baltic states – Latvia, Lit ...

. He was team

in 1995 and 1996. He scored his first goal for Estonia on 22 June 1997 in a 4–1 home win against Andorra in a friendly. Lemsalu retired from international football on 28 March 2007, after a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying match against Israel. He made a total of 86 appearances and scored 3 goals.

Personal life

Lemsalu's daughter Liis Lemsalu is a singer and the winner of the fourth season of '' Eesti otsib superstaari'' (Estonian version of '' Idols'').

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Estonia score listed first, score column indicates score after each Lemsalu goal.''

Honours

Club

;Pärnu Kalakombinaat/MEK * Estonian Cup: 1990 ;Flora * Meistriliiga: 1993–94, 1994–95, 1997–98,

* Estonian Cup: 1994–95 ;Levadia * Meistriliiga:

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

* Estonian Cup: 2006–07

Individual

* Estonian Footballer of the Year: 1996 *

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lemsalu, Marek 1972 births Living people Sportspeople from Pärnu Soviet footballers Estonian footballers Estonia international footballers FC Flora players Meistriliiga players Esiliiga players 1. FSV Mainz 05 players Viljandi JK Tulevik players FCI Levadia Tallinn players Strømsgodset Toppfotball players Bryne FK players IK Start players FC Kuressaare players 2. Bundesliga players Estonian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Norway Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Norway Eliteserien players Norwegian First Division players Association football defenders