Marko Meerits (born 26 April 1992) is an Estonian 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 lea ...

who currently plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for

Paide Linnameeskond Paide Linnameeskond, or simply Paide, is an Estonian professional football club based in Paide that competes in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian football. The club's home ground is Paide linnastaadion. Founded in 2004, the club has ...

and the Estonia national team.

Club career

Flora

Meerits came through the

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 ...

youth system. He moved to

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 ...

club

Warrior A warrior is a guardian specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal society, tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracy, social class, class, or caste. History ...

on loan for the 2008 season. Meerits made his debut in the

Meistriliiga Meistriliiga (), officially known as A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons, and commonly known as the Premium Liiga, is the highest division of the Estonian Football Association annual football championship. The league was founded i ...

on 15 May 2010, in a 2–1 win over

Kuressaare Kuressaare () is a populated places in Estonia, town on the island of Saaremaa in Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Saaremaa Municipality and the seat of Saare County. Kuressaare is the westernmost town in Estonia. The recorded popul ...

. He made 10 appearances in the 2010 season as Flora won their eighth Meistriliiga title. In the

Estonian Supercup The Estonian Supercup () 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 Estonian Cup, then the league ...

on 1 March 2011, Meerits kept a clean sheet against Levadia for 120 minutes, eventually winning the match 5–3 in a penalty shootout by saving Konstantin Nahk's attempt and converting a penalty himself.

Vitesse

On 7 July 2011, Meerits signed a three-year contract with Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

club Vitesse. He made his debut in the Eredivisie on 7 August 2011, when he came on as a 21st-minute substitute replacing the injured Eloy Room and kept a clean sheet in a 0–0 away draw against

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation ...

Flora (loan)

On 25 February 2013, Meerits returned to Flora on a five-month loan until the end of July.

FC Emmen

On 4 July 2014, Meerits signed a two-year contract with Dutch

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

club

FC Emmen FC Emmen is a Dutch professional football club based in Emmen, Drenthe. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2022–23 season. Founded in 1925, the club ...

. In his first season with FC Emmen, he conceded 51 goals in 36 Eerste Divisie matches. In the 2015–16 season, Meerits was sidelined by a knee injury.

Tarvas

On 30 August 2016, Meerits joined Meistriliiga club Tarvas until the end of the 2016 season.

VPS

On 27 January 2017, Meerits joined Finnish

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga () is a professional association football league in Finland and the highest level of the Finnish football league system. The league comprises the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agenc ...

club VPS on a one-year deal with an option to extend the contract for another year. He made his debut in the Veikkausliiga on 5 April 2017, HJK.

Narva Trans

On 16 February 2019, Meerits signed a one-year contract with Meistriliiga club

Narva Trans Jalgpalliklubi Narva Trans, commonly known as Narva Trans or simply Trans, is an Estonian professional football club based in Narva that competes in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian football. Although the club's traditional home gro ...

. On 25 May 2019, he captained the team in a 2–1 extra-time victory over Nõmme Kalju in the

Estonian Cup The Estonian Cup () 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 qualifying round. Finals ...

final.

International career

Meerits has represented Estonia at under-17, under-18, under-19, under-21 and under-23 levels. On 14 December 2010, Meerits was named by manager

Tarmo Rüütli Tarmo Rüütli (born 11 August 1954) is an Estonian football manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonp ...

in the

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

squad to face

China PR China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the second-most populous country after India, representing 17.4% of the world population. China spans the e ...

and

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

in friendly matches. He made his senior debut for Estonia on 18 December 2010, replacing Pavel Londak in the 89th minute of a 0–3 away loss to China PR.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Club

;Flora *

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2012–13 *

: 2011 ;Narva Trans *

: 2018–19

Individual

* Estonian Young Footballer of the Year: 2011, 2013

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Meerits, Marko 1992 births Living people People from Viimsi Parish Sportspeople from Harju County Estonian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Esiliiga players FC Warrior Valga players Meistriliiga players FC Flora players Rakvere JK Tarvas players JK Narva Trans players Eredivisie players SBV Vitesse players Eerste Divisie players FC Emmen players Veikkausliiga players Vaasan Palloseura players Estonia men's youth international footballers Estonia men's under-21 international footballers Estonia men's international footballers Estonian expatriate men's footballers Estonian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Finland Expatriate men's footballers in Finland 21st-century Estonian sportsmen