Aavo Sarap (born 21 April 1962 in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...

) is an

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 ...

n football

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

, he works now as Head coach of

IF Gnistan IF Gnistan (''The Spark'' in English) is a Finnish football club from the city of Helsinki, founded in 1924. The club is currently playing in the Ykkönen, the second tier of the Finnish league system. IF Gnistan play their home matches at Must ...

in Finland.

Coaching career

Sarap has also coached the Estonian national team during 1995. In 2004 Aavo Sarap became the head coach of then in

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 ...

JK Tallinna Kalev JK Tallinna Kalev, also known as Tallinna Kalev or simply Kalev, is a football club based in Tallinn, Estonia, that competes in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian football. The club's home ground is the Kalevi Keskstaadion. Formed as ...

. The team was promoted 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 i ...

where they missed out on promotion in 2005, but in 2006 Sarap lead Kalev to promotion playoffs where they beat

JK Viljandi Tulevik Viljandi JK Tulevik, commonly known as Viljandi Tulevik, or simply as Tulevik, is a football club based in Viljandi, Estonia, that competes in the Esiliiga, the second tier of Estonian football. The club's home ground is Viljandi linnastaadion. ...

in two match aggregate by an away goal. In 2007 Sarap lead Tallinna Kalev to 6th-place finish as the best amateur team in the top division

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 ...

. In 2008 the club again impressed by staying in the top division after finishing 8th this time around. In 2009 when Kalev was on the verge of relegation Tallinna Kalev's and Aavo Sarap's successful alliance found its end. Sarap is also the former coach of

Atlantis FC Atlantis FC is a Finnish football club, based in Helsinki. It currently plays in the third tier of Finnish football (''Kakkonen''). History The club was founded in late 1995 when Johanneksen Dynamo (founded 1980) and FC Norssi (founded 1985) ...

and descended with the team in the 2009 season.

References

1962 births Living people Footballers from Tallinn Soviet footballers Estonian footballers Estonian football managers JK Tallinna Kalev managers Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Finland Estonia national football team managers Atlantis FC managers Association football midfielders {{Estonia-footy-bio-stub