1996–97 Meistriliiga

Meistriliiga
Season	1996–97
Champions	Lantana; (2nd title)
Top goalscorer	Sergei Bragin (18)
	← 1995–96 1997–98 →

The 1996–97 Meistriliiga was the sixth season of the Meistriliiga, Estonia's premier football league. Lantana won their second title.

Preliminary round

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Lantana	14	11	2	1	30	9	+21	35	Qualification for Championship Tournament
2	Flora	14	9	2	3	27	9	+18	29
3	Marlekor	14	6	4	4	20	17	+3	22
4	Lelle	14	5	6	3	20	16	+4	21
5	Narva Trans	14	5	5	4	20	19	+1	20
6	Tallinna Sadam	14	5	1	8	24	26	−2	16
7	Eesti Põlevkivi Jõhvi	14	4	1	9	10	20	−10	13	Qualification for Meistriliiga Transition Tournament
8	Vall	14	0	1	13	9	44	−35	1	Qualification for Meistriliiga Transition Tournament

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Results

Home \ Away	JEP	FLO	LAN	LEL	MAR	SAD	TRS	VAL
Eesti Põlevkivi Jõhvi		0–1	0–1	0–3	0–3	2–1	0–1	2–1
Flora	2–0		1–1	3–0	1–2	1–0	1–1	3–0
Lantana	1–0	2–1		2–0	5–1	3–1	2–1	+:-^[a]
Lelle	2–0	0–4	1–1		0–0	4–1	0–0	4–1
Marlekor	0–2	0–3	1–3	0–0		2–0	0–0	3–0
Tallinna Sadam	3–0	3–1	0–3	1–1	1–3		3–4	4–0
Narva Trans	0–0	0–1	2–1	2–2	0–3	2–3		5–3
Vall	1–4	0–4	0–5	1–3	2–2	0–3	0–2

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

^ Result canceled – JK Vall used a disqualified player. The initial score was 5-1 for Lantana.

Championship Tournament

The points obtained during the preliminary round were carried over halved and rounded up.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts	Qualification
1	Lantana (C)	10	7	2	1	22	6	+16	18	41	Qualification for Champions League first qualifying round
2	Flora	10	7	2	1	25	7	+18	15	38	Qualification for UEFA Cup first qualifying round
3	Tallinna Sadam	10	5	1	4	13	9	+4	8	24	Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round
4	Lelle	10	3	0	7	6	21	−15	11	20
5	Marlekor	10	2	2	6	7	19	−12	11	19
6	Narva Trans	10	2	1	7	8	19	−11	10	17

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(C) Champions

Results

Home \ Away	FLO	LAN	LEL	MAR	SAD	TRS
Flora		4–2	5–1	2–0	0–1	5–1
Lantana	0–0		3–0	7–0	2–0	1–0
Lelle	0–2	0–2		3–0	0–4	+:-^[a]
Marlekor	1–2	1–1	0–1		0–1	3–1
Tallinna Sadam	1–1	0–2	3–1	0–1		3–1
Narva Trans	0–4	1–2	2–0	1–1	1–0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

^ Narva Trans did not show up.

Meistriliiga Transition Tournament

Eesti Põlevkivi Jõhvi and PVall, the teams finishing in the last two positions in the preliminary round, faced four best teams of the 1996-97 Esiliiga in the play-off for two places in the 1997-98 Meistriliiga.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Eesti Põlevkivi Jõhvi	10	8	1	1	28	5	+23	25	Promotion to Meistriliiga
2	Vall	10	7	1	2	29	15	+14	22	Promotion to Meistriliiga
3	Pärnu JK	10	4	1	5	9	27	−18	13	Relegation to Esiliiga
4	FC Lelle	10	4	0	6	22	18	+4	12
5	TJK	10	2	2	6	11	19	−8	8
6	Sillamäe Kalev	10	1	3	6	6	21	−15	6