Marko Kristal (born 2 June 1973) is an Estonian football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

and former player. He is the assistant manager of

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 ...

. Kristal played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Lõvid,

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 ...

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 ...

, FC Lahti and the Estonia national team. With Flora, he won seven Meistriliiga titles, two

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 ...

s and two Estonian Supercups. Kristal made his international debut in Estonia's first official match since restoration of independence on 3 June 1992, a 1–1 draw against

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

. In 2001, he became the first Estonian player to make 100 appearances for the national team. He made a total of 143 appearances for Estonia, scoring nine goals. After retiring as a player, Kristal became a manager. He has coached

Tammeka Tartu JK Tammeka, commonly known as Tartu Tammeka or simply Tammeka, is a football club, based in Tartu, Estonia, that competes in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian football. Founded in 1989, the club has played in the Meistriliiga ...

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 ...

and Tulevik. Kristal won two Meistriliiga titles, two Estonian Cups and two Estonian Supercups with Levadia.

Club career

Early career

Kristal began playing football for a local club Tallinna Lõvid (''Lions of Tallinn''), where he was coached

Roman Ubakivi Roman Ubakivi (born 24 March 1945) is an Estonian former football player and coach. He founded the youth team Lõvid ( en, Lions) for ethnic Estonian players and coached the Estonia national football team from 1994 to 1995. His former pupils incl ...

. In 1989, he played for

Soviet Second League The Soviet Second League (russian: Чемпионат СССР по футболу (вторая лига), Soviet football championship (Second League)) was the third highest division of Soviet football, below the Soviet First League. The le ...

club

Flora

In 1990, Kristal joined

, a new club founded as a successor to the Lõvid team. With Flora, he won seven Meistriliiga titles, in 1993–94, 1994–95, 1997–98,

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 s ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

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 ...

and

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– ...

, two

s, in 1994–95 and 1997–98, and two Estonian Supercups, in 1998 and 2003. Kristal retired from professional football after the 2004 season. He made a total of 263 Meistriliiga appearances for Flora, scoring 51 goals.

IF Elfsborg (loan)

On 12 April 1999, Kristal joined

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football le ...

club

IF Elfsborg Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg (), is a professional football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Allsvenskan and have spe ...

on a two-month loan.

FC Lahti (loan)

In December 1999, Kristal moved to

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga (; sv, Tipsligan) is the premier division of Finnish football, the highest tier of the Finnish football league structure, comprising the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agency Veikka ...

club FC Lahti on a season-long loan.

International career

Kristal made his 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 3 June 1992, replacing Urmas Kirs in the 77th minute of a historic 1–1 draw against

in a

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

Kadriorg Stadium The Kadriorg Stadium ( et, Kadrioru staadion) is a multi-purpose stadium in Tallinn, Estonia. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches and is the home stadium of Tallinna JK Legion and JK Tallinna Kalev . The stadium h ...

. The match was Estonia's first official match since restoration of independence and Slovenia's first match ever. He scored his first international goal on 24 February 1996, in a 2–2 draw against

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic archipelago, island group and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotlan ...

in a friendly. From 1995 to 1998, Kristal played in 42 consecutive national team matches. On 28 March 2001, he became the first player to make 100 appearances for Estonia and the youngest player to make his 100th appearance for a European national team after starting in 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifier against

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

, and scored in the 2–2 away draw. Kristal finished his international career with a

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

on 20 April 2005, a 1–2 home loss to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. He made a total of 143 appearances for Estonia, scoring nine goals.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Estonia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kristal goal.''

Honours

Player

Flora *

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 ...

: 1993–94, 1994–95, 1997–98,

: 1994–95, 1997–98 * Estonian Supercup: 1998, 2003

Manager

Levadia *

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

: 2011–12, 2013–14 * Estonian Supercup: 2013, 2015