The Meistriliiga (EML), also known as the Unibet Hokiliiga for sponsorship reasons, is the top-tier

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

league in

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 ...

. The league consists of six teams. There are 28 referees in the country who officiate at Estonian championship games in all age classes. The work of hockey referees is organized by the ref in chief of Estonian hockey referees Maksim Toode. The Estonian champion has the right to represent the country at the Continental Cup of Hockey.

History

The league was formed in the 1990-91 season. Since 1945–46, Estonian teams had participated in the Estonian SSR Championship. Prior to the country's annexation and incorporation into the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, the Estonian Championship had been contested in interwar Estonia from 1934 to 1940. In the 2017–18 season, the league was known as the Nordic Power Hokiliiga. In the 2018-23 the name of the league was Coolbet Hokiliiga.

Narva PSK Narva PSK () is a professional ice hockey team located in Narva, Estonia, which plays in the Unibet Hokiliiga, the top tier of ice hockey in Estonia. They play home games at the Narva Ice Hall. They are the most decorated team in Estonia. Hist ...

has dominated the league at the outset, winning the first six championships and eight of the first 11 seasons. Since winning their first title in 1997, Tartu Välk 494 has been the most consistently successful team in the Meistriliiga since the league started, having won a total of nine championships. HK Stars claimed four titles in five years from 2005 to 2009. In the 2022-23 season, the tournament acquired international status, with 7 teams participating in the championship: 5 from Estonia (

HC Panter HC Panter is a professional ice hockey team located in Tallinn, Estonia, and playing in the Eesti Hokiliiga and Latvian Hockey Higher League. They play home games at the Škoda Ice Arena in the Haabersti district. History HC Panter were founded ...

, Välk 494,

, HC Everest, Viru Sputnik) and 2 from Latvia (

HK Kurbads HK Kurbads is a professional ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. It is a member of the Latvian Hockey Higher League and also compete for the Latvian Cup, winning Latvian Hockey League in 2016–17 and 2017–18 season. The team played its hom ...

HS Riga HS or Hs can stand for: Businesses and brands * HS Produkt, a Croatian firearms manufacturer * ''Helsingin Sanomat'', a newspaper in Finland * Hawker Siddeley, aircraft manufacturing group * Henschel & Son, in aircraft prefixes; e.g., Hs 117 * He ...

). The team that won the championship that year was HK Kurbads. In the 2023-24 season the name of the league was Unibet Hokiliiga, seven years later the Narva hockey players were able to win the Estonian championship and will represent the country in the 2024-25

IIHF Continental Cup The Continental Cup is a second-level ice hockey tournament for European clubs (behind Champions Hockey League), begun in 1997 after the discontinuing of the European Cup. It was intended for teams from countries without representatives in the ...

in Group B, the games of which will be held in Narva. The league retained its name for the 2024-25 season, with the capital's

Vipers Vipers are snakes in the family Viperidae, found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, New Zealand, Ireland, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-viper ...

joining the five teams that played in the previous season.

Teams

Title holders

Estonian Championship

*1934: Tallinn Kalev *1935: ''not played'' *1936: Tartu ASK *1937: Tallinn Kalev *1938: ''not played'' *1939: Tartu ASK *1940: Tallinn Sport *1941–1945: ''not played''

Estonian SSR Championship

*1946: Dünamo Tallinn *1947: Dünamo Tartu *1948: Dünamo Tallinn *1949: Dünamo Tallinn *1950: Tallinn LTM *1951: Tallinn LTM *1952: Dünamo Tallinn *1953: Dünamo Tallinn *1954: Dünamo Tallinn *1955: Dünamo Tartu *1956:

Kohtla-Järve Kalev Kohtla-Järve () is a city and Municipalities of Estonia, municipality in northeastern Estonia, founded in 1924 and incorporated as a town in 1946. The city is highly industrial, and is both a processor of oil shales and is a large producer of ...

*1957: Dünamo Tartu *1958: Tallinn Kalev *1959: Tallinn Kalev *1960: Tallinn Kalev *1961: Tallinn Kalev *1962: Tallinn Kalev *1963: Tallinn Ekskavaator *1964: Tallinn Taksopark *1965: Tallinn Tempo *1966: Tallinn Ekskavaator *1967: Narva Kreenholm *1968: Tallinn Tempo *1969: Narva Kreenholm *1970: Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik *1971: Narva Kreenholm *1972: Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik *1973: Narva Kreenholm *1974: Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik *1975: Narva Kreenholm *1976: Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik *1977: Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik *1978: Tallinn Talleks *1979: Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik *1980: Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik *1981: Tallinn Talleks *1982:

Sillamäe Kalev Sillamäe (Estonian for 'Bridge Hill'; also known by the Germanised names of ''Sillamäggi'' or ''Sillamägi'') is a town in Ida-Viru County in the northeastern part of Estonia, on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland. It has a population o ...

*1983: Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik *1984: Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik *1985: Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik *1986: Narva Kreenholm *1987: Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik *1988: Narva Kreenholm *1989: Kohtla-Järve HK Keemik *1990: Narva Kreenholm II

Meistriliiga

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

: Narva Kreenholm II *

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

: Narva Kreenholm *

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

: Narva Kreenholm *

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

: Narva Kreenholm *

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

: Narva Kreenholm *

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

: Narva Kreenholm *

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

: Tartu Välk 494 *

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 Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

: Narva Kreenholm *

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

: Tartu Välk 494 *

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

: Tartu Välk 494 *

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

: Narva 2000 *

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

: Tartu Välk 494 *

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

: Tartu Välk 494 *

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

: HK Stars *

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

: HK Stars *

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

: HK Stars *

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Tartu Kalev-Välk Tartu Välk 494 is a professional ice hockey team located in Tartu, Estonia, and playing in the Coolbet Hokiliiga, the top tier of ice hockey in Estonia. They play home games at the Lõunakeskus Ice Hall. History Tartu Välk 494 was founded ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

: HK Stars *

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 ...

Kohtla-Järve Viru Sputnik Viru Sputnik is a professional ice hockey team in Estonia playing in the Meistriliiga. The club is based in Kohtla-Järve and the home arena is Kohtla-Järve Ice Hall. Estonian Championship (Meistriliiga) history The team regularly particip ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

: Viiking Sport *

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

: Viiking Sport *

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

: HC Viking *

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

: Tartu Välk 494 *

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

: Tartu Välk 494 *

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

: Tartu Välk 494 *

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

: Tartu Välk 494 *

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

: Tartu Välk 494

Titles by team

Estonian Youth Championships

Source: The remaining leagues of the Estonian ice hockey championship are divided by age. In U17-U8 classes children can play according to the birth years of their age groups. In addition, a team can have up to 3 players who are one year older in their age group if they were born in the last three months of the previous year. As an exception, there is a special permit for girls who may be older than this age group by up to 2 years. Purpose of the competition: # Identify Estonian youth ice hockey champions in the age groups U20, U17, U14. # To promote children's hockey in the age groups U12, U10 and U8 throughout Estonia. # Find out the candidates for the U-20 and U-18 teams. # To popularize ice hockey in the Republic of Estonia.

Season 2023-2024

Source: For the 2023-24 season, the following age groups were formed: U20, U17, U14, U12-1 (full rink championship matches); U12-2 (half rink championship matches); U10-1, U10-2, U8 (championship matches on a third of the rink).

U20

There were 2 teams represented in the U20 class: #

/HK Tornaado (

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

) #

(

Narva Narva is a municipality and city in Estonia. It is located in the Ida-Viru County, at the Extreme points of Estonia, eastern extreme point of Estonia, on the west bank of the Narva (river), Narva river which forms the Estonia–Russia border, E ...

) The teams had 4 meetings with each other (2 at home and 2 away), each meeting lasted 3 periods of 20 minutes. Final standings of the winners:

U17

There were 6 teams represented in the U17 class: # SK Kajakas/ HC Everest (

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

Kohtla-Järve Kohtla-Järve () is a city and Municipalities of Estonia, municipality in northeastern Estonia, founded in 1924 and incorporated as a town in 1946. The city is highly industrial, and is both a processor of oil shales and is a large producer of ...

) # Narva PSK (Narva) # HC Vipers (Tallinn) # HK Tornaado (Tallinn) # SK Viru Sputnik (Kohtla-Järve) # HC Panter (Tallinn) Each team played 4 meetings (2 at home and 2 away), each game lasted 3 periods of 20 minutes. Final standings of the winners:

U14

There were 11 teams represented in the U14 class: # HK Tornaado Sinine (Tallinn) # SK Kajakas (Tartu) # HC Vipers 11 (Tallinn) # Narva PSK (Narva) # HC Vipers 10 (Tallinn) # HC Panter Must (Tallinn) # HK Tornaado Kollane (Tallinn) # Narva PSK 2 (Narva) # SK Viru Sputnik (Kohtla-Järve) # HC Panter Punane (Tallinn) # HC Everest (Kohtla-Järve) At the first stage, each team played one game with each, then, based on the results of the first round, the teams were divided into two groups U14-1 (the first 6 teams) and U14-2 (the last 5 teams) and in these groups they played 2 games each with each one. The first round the teams played 3 periods of 15 minutes. Second round: U14-1 - 3 periods of 15 minutes; U14-2 - 2 periods of 20 minutes. Final standings of the winners:

U12-1

There were 7 teams represented in the U12-1 class: # HK Tornaado (Tallinn) # SK Kajakas (Tartu) # HC Vipers 2012 (Tallinn) # Narva PSK (Narva) # HC Vipers 2013 (Tallinn) # HC Panter (Tallinn) # SK Viru Sputnik (Kohtla-Järve) ''Starting from the U12-1 class and up to U8, teams do not keep score during the game and the final score in all matches was 0:0.'' In the U12-1 group, each team played 3 games with each other (1 away and 2 at home or 1 at home and 2 away), each game lasted 2 periods of 20 minutes.

U12-2

There were 6 teams represented in the U12-2 class: # JHK/SOFTCOM (

Jõgeva Jõgeva is a small town in Estonia with a population of around 5000 people. It is the capital of Jõgeva Parish and Jõgeva County. History Jõgeva was first mentioned in 1599 as ''Jagiwa'' manor, being established only recently on the lands ...

) # SK Kajakas (Tartu) # HC Vipers (Tallinn) # Narva PSK (Narva) # Viljandi Hokiklubi (

Viljandi Viljandi (, , , , ) is a Populated places in Estonia, town and Municipalities of Estonia, municipality in southern Estonia with a population of 17,255 in 2024. It is the capital of Viljandi County and is geographically located between two major ...

) # HC Panter (Tallinn) # HC Everest (Kohtla-Järve) ''From U12-2 to U8, each game lasts 24 minutes.'' In the U12-2 class each team had 3 meetings (1 away and 2 at home or 1 at home and 2 away). The teams played in a 4v4 format.

U10-1

There were 8 teams represented in the U10-1 class: # HK Tornaado (Tallinn) # SK Kajakas (Tartu) # HC Vipers 2014 (Tallinn) # Narva PSK 1 (Narva) # HC Vipers 2015 (Tallinn) # HC Panter (Tallinn) # Narva PSK 2 (Narva) # SK Viru Sputnik (Kohtla-Järve) ''From class U10-1 to U8, teams play in a 3v3 format.'' Each team in the U10-1 class played 2 games (1 home and 1 away).

U10-2

There were 4 teams represented in the U10-1 class: # HC Vipers 2014/2015 (Tallinn) # HC Panter (Tallinn) # HC Everest (Kohtla-Järve) # HK Tornaado (Tallinn) Each team had 4 meetings (2 at home and 2 away).

U8

There were 11 teams represented in the U8 class: # HK Tornaado Sinine (Tallinn) # SK Kajakas (Tartu) # HC Vipers (Tallinn) # Narva PSK Must (Narva) # JHK/SOFTCOM (Jõgeva) # HC Panter Must (Tallinn) # HK Tornaado Kollane (Tallinn) # Narva PSK Valge (Narva) # SK Viru Sputnik (Kohtla-Järve) # HC Panter Punane (Tallinn) # HC Everest (Kohtla-Järve) Children of the youngest class of the Estonian hockey championship played with a blue puck. ;Notes

References

External links

*
Unibet Hokiliiga on eurohockey.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meistriliiga (Ice Hockey) Ice hockey leagues in Estonia Top-tier ice hockey leagues in Europe

Ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

Recurring sporting events established in 1934 1934 establishments in Estonia