Marked for Marek Dmitrijev
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 May 2027
0‑1 to Levadia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Loan watch3 May 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at FCI Tallinn, and 7 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad3 May 2027
Marek Dmitrijev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Sander Antonov named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Sander Antonov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad3 May 2027
When it matters, Markus Pikk plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad3 May 2027
A FCI Tallinn teenager takes the young player award
Rauno Kallaste is 17, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑3 by Nomme Kalju, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match13 Mar 2027
3 matches without a goal for FCI Tallinn
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Martin Sappinen for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. FCI Tallinn will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Karol Sorga, and the manager let it.
Boardroom15 Mar 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marek Dmitrijev and FCI Tallinn agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Marek Dmitrijev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market15 Mar 2027
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Artur Ojamaa leaves FCI Tallinn the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Markus Ainsalu out for 54 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason FCI Tallinn will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sander Antonov and FCI Tallinn agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Markus Pikk in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCI Tallinn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match6 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market8 Mar 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Karol Sorga is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market8 Mar 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Rauno Kallaste has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market8 Mar 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Marek Dmitrijev has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.