Indrek Zelinski

Indrek Zelinski

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Personal information
Full name	Indrek Zelinski
Date of birth	(1974-11-13) 13 November 1974
Place of birth	Pärnu, Estonia
Height
Position(s)	Forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1991	Kalju Sindi
1992	KEK Pärnu
1992–1993	JK Kalev Pärnu
1993–2001	FC Flora Tallinn	115	(62)
1993–1995	→ FC Lelle
1994–1996	→ JK Tervis Pärnu (loan)
1999	→ FC Kuressaare	1	(0)
2000	→ FC Lahti (loan)	22	(5)
2001–2005	Aalborg BK	35	(13)
2003	→ Landskrona BoIS (loan)	13	(1)
2003–2005	→ Boldklubben Frem (loan)	17	(6)
2005–2009	FC Levadia Tallinn	152	(84)
2005–2009	→ FC Levadia II Tallinn
International career
1994–1996	Estonia U21	11
1994–2010	Estonia	103	(27)
Managerial career
2011–	FC Levadia III
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Indrek Zelinski (born 13 November 1974) is an Estonian football manager and former professional football player.

Club career

When he was 12 years old, he started his career under a youth coach, Märt Siigur, in his hometown. He played for local sides Kalju Sindi, KEK Pärnu and JK Pärnu Kalev, before moving to FC Flora Tallinn.

FC Flora Tallinn

He did not enjoy instant success in the new team. He was mostly a bench player and played for the reserve team. Zelinski first made his name in 1994, when he scored a hat-trick in a play-off match for the league title. He made the international debut in the same year, but still failed to become a first team regular in Flora. He bloomed after coming back from a year-long loan to JK Tervis Pärnu, under a new Flora coach, Teitur Thordarson.

FC Lahti

In 1999, Zelinski was about to join English side Blackpool F.C. for £150,000 but he was rejected a work permit. Instead he joined Finnish Veikkausliiga side FC Lahti on loan, but failed to make headlines there and returned to Flora the next season.

Time in Scandinavia

In 2001, he was bought by Danish side Aalborg BK in 2001, where he joined his international striking partner Andres Oper. The first season was a success as he scored 13 goals and finished fifth in the league top scorers list. In 2002–03 season, the club changed its head coach and Zelinski found himself from the bench, so he was loaned out to Landskrona BoIS and Boldklubben Frem.

FC Levadia Tallinn

In January 2005, he returned to Estonia as a free agent and signed a two-year contract with Flora's league rivals Levadia. In August 2009, he announced that he will almost certainly retire from professional football at the end of the season. He played his last game on November 10, 2009 against Paide Linnameeskond, where he was sent off in the end of the first half for a professional foul.

Statistics

Season	League level	Country	Team	League
				Games	Goals
1991	2		Kalju Sindi
1992			KEK Pärnu
1992–93	3		JK Kalev Pärnu
1993–94	1		FC Flora Tallinn	10	6
	3		FC Lelle
1994–95	1		FC Flora Tallinn	3	0
	2		FC Lelle
			JK Tervis Pärnu
1995–96	1			10	0
			FC Flora Tallinn	9	1
1996–97				22	5
1997–98				21	13
1998				12	10
1999				26	14
	2		FC Kuressaare	1	0
2000	1		FC Lahti	22	5
2001			FC Flora Tallinn	12	13
2001–02			Aalborg BK	31	13
2002–03				4	0
2003			Landskrona BoIS	13	1
2003–04			Boldklubben Frem	9	0
2004–05	2			8	6
2005	1		FC Levadia Tallinn	29	18
2006				32	21
2007				31	23
2008				33	15
2009				26	7
Total

International career

During his national team career he has been capped 103 times and scored 27 goals, the former Estonian goalscoring record. He made the national team debut on 7 May 1994 against USA. On 16 November 1996 Zelinski scored three goals in a friendly against Indonesia.

His last appearance for Estonia came against Andorra in which he scored the winner in the last minute and was sent off seconds after for taking off his shirt for a second bookable offence. He was interviewed on Sky Sports News saying that he originally had planned to retire from internationals in the autumn, but scoring the winner, it felt like the best time to leave the national scene.

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Scored	Result	Competition
1	1996-11-13	Estadi Comunal d'Aixovall, Andorra la Vella	Andorra	1–0	6–1	Friendly match
2	1996-11-16	Stadio Giuseppe Olmo, Celle Ligure	Indonesia	1–0	3–0	Friendly match
3				2–0
4				3–0
5	1997-03-01	Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaca	Azerbaijan	2–0	2–0	Friendly match
6	1997-05-18	Kadrioru Stadium, Tallinn	Latvia	1–0	1–3	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
7	1997-06-22	Kuressaare Linnastaadion, Kuressaare	Andorra	1–0	4–1	Friendly match
8	1998-06-22	Kuressaare Linnastaadion, Kuressaare	Andorra	1–0	2–1	Friendly match
9	1998-09-23	Kadrioru Stadium, Tallinn	Egypt	2–0	2–2	Friendly match
10	1998-11-21	Abovyan City Stadium, Abovyan	Armenia	1–2	1–2	Friendly match
11	1999-01-22	Hapoel Umm al-Fahm F.C., Umm Al-Fahm	Norway	2–3	3–3	Friendly match
12				3–3
13	1999-03-16	Neo GSZ Stadium, Larnaca	Cyprus	1–0	2–1	Friendly match
14	2000-02-23	Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok	Finland	1–4	2–4	2000 King's Cup
15	2000-12-10	Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong	Hong Kong	1–1	2–1	Friendly match
16				2–1
17	2001-06-02	A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn	Netherlands	2–1	2–4	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
18	2001-07-03	Skonto Stadium, Riga	Latvia	1–1	1–3	2001 Baltic Cup
19	2001-08-15	A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn	Cyprus	1–1	2–2	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
20	2001-11-10	Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens	Greece	2–4	2–4	Friendly match
21	2002-03-14	Stadio Enzo Mazotti, Montecatini Terme	Saudi Arabia	1–0	2–0	Friendly match
22	2002-05-21	Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle	San Marino	1–0	1–0	Friendly match
23	2002-10-12	A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn	New Zealand	3–2	3–2	Friendly match
24	2003-04-30	Estadi Comunal d'Aixovall, Andorra la Vella	Andorra	1–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 2004 qualification
25				2–0
26	2003-12-20	Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat	Oman	1–1	1–3	Friendly match
27	2007-08-22	A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn	Andorra	2–1	2–1	UEFA Euro 2008 qualification

Manager career

In 2011, Zelinski became FC Levadia III manager. Since 2012 Indrek Zelinski is FC Levadia assistant manager.

Personal life

He has a daughter, Johanna-Lisa (b. 2000), with his girlfriend Sigrit Järvamägi, who is a two-time Estonian cup winner with FC Flora Tallinn women's team.

Honours

Individual

• Estonian Footballer of the Year: 2001
• Estonian Silverball: 2000, 2003, 2007

External links

• Levadia FC profile (Estonian)
• AaB profile (Danish)
• Boldklubben Frem profile (Danish)