Sergei Lepmets (born 5 April 1987) is an Estonian retired 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 last played 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

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 ...

club

Nõmme Kalju Nõmme (Estonian for 'heath') is one of the eight administrative districts () 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-class, suburban a ...

Club career

TJK

Lepmets came through the TJK youth academy.

Merkuur

In 2004, Lepmets joined Merkuur Tartu. He made his debut in the

on 14 March 2004, in a 1–1 home draw against

Kohtla-Järve FC Lootus Kohtla-Järve FC Lootus was an Estonian football club from Kohtla-Järve. The club was created in 1998 and dissolved in 2012, when they merged with Kohtla-Järve JK Alko, which resulted in creating a new club Kohtla-Järve JK Järve. Kohtla-Jä ...

Levadia

On 17 January 2006, Lepmets signed a three-year contract with

Levadia Livadeia ( ''Livadiá'', ; 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-east of Lamia, east-south-east of Amfissa, and east-n ...

in a deal which saw fellow goalkeeper Aleksandr Djatšenko heading in the opposite direction. As a second choice goalkeeper behind Martin Kaalma, he won three consecutive Meistriliiga titles between

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 ...

and

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 ...

. Lepmets became a regular starter for Levadia in the 2010 season.

Politehnica Timișoara

On 1 February 2011, Lepmets joined Romanian club Politehnica Timișoara. The club finished the

2010–11 Liga I The 2010–11 Liga I was the ninety-third season of the top-level football league of Romania. The season commenced on 23 July 2010 and ended on 21 May 2011. A winter break where no matches were played was held between 11 December 2010 and 18 Fe ...

as runners-up, but were relegated to the

Liga II The Liga 2, most commonly spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07 Liga II, 2006–07 football season. It is currently Sponso ...

due to unpaid debts. Following

Costel Pantilimon Costel Fane Pantilimon (; born 1 February 1987) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. As a player, Pantilimon was deployed as a goalkeeper and began his career at Politehnica Timișoara. In 2011, he signed fo ...

's departure to

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

, Lepmets became the club's first-choice goalkeeper for the 2011–12 season.

Concordia Chiajna

In June 2012, Lepmets joined

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

club

Concordia Chiajna Clubul Sportiv Concordia Chiajna, commonly known as Concordia Chiajna, is a Romanian professional Association football, football football team, club based in Chiajna, Ilfov County, which competes in the Liga II. Founded in 1957, the team's best ...

. He made his debut in the Liga I in a 0–1 away loss to Steaua București on 23 July 2012.

Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț

In January 2013, Lepmets joined Liga I club Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț on a four-year contract.

CSMS Iași

On 25 June 2013, Lepmets signed a three-year contract with Liga II club

CSMS Iași A Cyber Security Management System is a form of Information security management system, particularly focussed on protecting automation and transport systems. The EU Cybersecurity Act, of 2019, led to the creation of UNECE working groups which develo ...

Narva Trans

In August 2013, Lepmets returned to Estonia and trained with Infonet, before signing for

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 ...

FC Hämeenlinna

In July 2014, Lepmets left Narva Trans and signed for Finnish club

FC Hämeenlinna FC Hämeenlinna is a Finnish football club, based in Hämeenlinna. The club's manager is Tomi Uusitorppa, and it plays its home matches at Kauriala. The team was formed in 1991. Club's history Initial years FC Hämeenlinna was founded in a ...

Türi Ganvix

In September 2014, Lepmets returned to Estonia and joined

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 each in group North/East and South/West. Until ...

club Türi Ganvix.

Return to Levadia

On 3 March 2016, Lepmets joined his former club Levadia.

International career

On 23 August 2012, Lepmets was called up to the Estonia national team for the first time, for

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA#Structure, FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil national football team, Bra ...

matches against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. He made his senior international debut for Estonia on 30 May 2018, in 2–0 win over

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

at the Baltic Cup.

Later career

In January 2021, Lepmets joined

Nõmme Kalju FC Nõmme Kalju FC (), commonly known as Nõmme Kalju, or simply as Kalju (Estonian: "rock" or "cliff"), is a professional Association football, football club based in Nõmme, Tallinn, that competes in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian f ...

, where he would function both as a goalkeeper and goalkeeper coach.Mis ikkagi on Sergei Lepmetsa täpne roll Nõmme Kaljus? (1)
soccernet.ee, 14 January 2021

Honours

FCI Levadia *

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 ...

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 ...

: 2006–07, 2009–10, 2017–18 *

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 ...

: 2010, 2018 Politehnica Timișoara *

: 2011–12

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lepmets, Sergei 1987 births Living people Footballers from Tallinn Estonian people of Russian descent Estonian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Esiliiga players FCI Levadia U21 players Meistriliiga players FCI Levadia Tallinn players Liga II players FC Politehnica Timișoara players Liga I players CS Concordia Chiajna players CSM Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț players FC Politehnica Iași (2010) players JK Narva Trans players Nõmme Kalju FC players Kakkonen players FC Hämeenlinna players Estonia men's youth international footballers Estonia men's international footballers Estonian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Finland Tartu JK Merkuur players 21st-century Estonian sportsmen