Tallinna Jalgpalli Klubi Legion, or simply TJK Legion, is an

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 ...

football club In association football, a football club (or association football club, alternatively soccer club) is a sports club that acts as an entity through which association football teams organise their sporting activities. The club can exist either as ...

based in

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 ...

. On 4 January 2008, Tallinna Jalgpalli Klubi and Tallinna SK Legion merged into this club. The club competes in

Esiliiga B The Esiliiga B is the third division in the Estonian football league system. The Esiliiga B is ranked below the Esiliiga and above the II liiga. As in most countries with low temperatures in winter time, the season starts in March and ends in Nov ...

, the third-highest division in the Estonian football. TJK Legion's predecessor is the two-time Estonian champion ''Tallinna Jalgpalli Klubi''.

History

Predecessor Tallinna JK

Tallinna Jalgpalli Klubi, or TJK in short, was founded on 5 May 1921 and were one of the founding members of the Estonian Football Championship in

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

. In many ways, TJK were the pioneers in Estonian football. They became the first football club in Estonia to appoint a foreign coach and constructed the first modern football stadium in Estonia, the

TJK Stadium TJK Stadium, also known as TJK jalgpalliväli (), was a Association football, football stadium in Tallinn, Estonia, and the home of Tallinna JK, TJK. Opened in 1925, its wooden grandstand could seat 3,740 and with its additional standing capacity ...

. The club became Estonian champions twice, winning the championship in

1926 In Turkey, the year technically contained only 352 days. As Friday, December 18, 1926 ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Saturday, January 1, 1927 '' (Gregorian Calendar)''. 13 days were dropped to make the switch. Turkey thus became the ...

and

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly demonstrating that DNA is the genetic material. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris B ...

, also later winning the Estonian Cup in

1939 This year also marks the start of the World War II, Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Events related to World War II have a "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Coming into effect in Nazi Ger ...

. TJK was the home club for a number of Estonian internationals, with Eduard Ellmann-Eelma, Richard Kuremaa and Arnold Pihlak being the most well-known. Tallinna Jalgpalli Klubi was disbanded in 1941 due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and re-established in 1992, after which the club was renowned for its successful youth system and was the starting point for famous Estonian internationals

Konstantin Vassiljev Konstantin Vassiljev (born 16 August 1984) is an Estonian professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the manager of Estonian Meistriliiga club FC Flora, Flora. With 158 caps, Vassilje ...

Tarmo Kink Tarmo Kink (born 6 October 1985) is an Estonian former footballer who played as a winger. He works as a coach at Paide Linnameeskond. Club career Early career In 2001, Kink started his career with S.C. Real, scoring 46 goals in 15 games. In 2 ...

and

Dmitri Kruglov Dmitri Kruglov (born 24 May 1984) is an Estonian retired professional footballer who played as a left-back and a winger. He made 115 appearances for the Estonia national team, scoring four goals. He was known for his powerful shooting and oft ...

Merger into Tallinna JK Legion

In 2008, Tallinna JK and SK Legion merged and the club was named Tallinna JK Legion. Legion continued to focus on youth football. In 2017, TJK Legion set their sights on improving their senior football team's situation, which at the time played in II Liiga, the fourth tier of Estonian football. In consecutive years, TJK Legion won

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 ...

and

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 ...

and were promoted to

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 ...

for the 2020 season. In their first season in Meistriliiga, the club finished 7th. In the following

2021 season 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 ...

, Legion finished in 5th place and accumulated 40 points in 32 matches. However, due to serious problems in the licensing process, the Estonian FA announced that Legion will start the 2022 season with −4 points and imposed a restriction on signing and registering new players. Despite the 4 point deduction and unexperienced young squad, Legion finished the season in 9th place and avoided direct relegation. However, on 23 December 2022 it was announced that TJK Legion will not continue in the Premium Liiga due to financial difficulties and will play the following season in the second division Esiliiga.

Players

Current squad

''As of 25 September 2023.

Out on loan

Personnel

Current technical staff

Managerial history

Honours

League

** Winners (1):

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 ...

** Winners (1):

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 ...

Youth (International)

Gothia Cup The Gothia Cup () is an international youth association football tournament organized by professional football club BK Häcken, which has been held annually since 1975 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Considered the biggest tournament in the world in terms ...

** Winners (1): 2014 (Boys 2003)

Statistics

League and Cup

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Legion Tallinn Football clubs in Tallinn Association football clubs established in 2007 2007 establishments in Estonia Meistriliiga clubs