Levadia Tallinn: The lowdown on Caernarfon Town’s UEFA Conference League opponents

Caernarfon Town begin their 2026/27 UEFA Conference League campaign with a tough first qualifying round tie against Estonian champions Levadia Tallinn.

The Cofis will make history by hosting European club football at The Oval for the first time as they welcome Levadia to Gwynedd. While the Welsh domestic season has yet to begin, Estonia’s top flight is already at its halfway stage, underlining the challenge that awaits Richard Davies’ side.

To get the inside track on Caernarfon’s opponents, we caught up with the Estonian Football Podcast to discuss Levadia’s strengths, the player to watch, expectations and what the Cofis can expect from the visitors.

Could you give us a bit of background on FC Levadia Tallinn? What’s the club’s history?

Levadia are one of the biggest teams in Estonia. Their big rivals, Floria Tallinn, play in the same stadium. They’ve won 11 titles, most recently in 2025. This season, they’re 13 points clear, halfway through the season, winning 14 of their 19 games. 

They’re one of the biggest and most successful teams in Estonia. In European competitions, they’re not so successful. 

They’ve beaten FC Twente before; they’ve played Newcastle United in UEFA Cup competitions, but they’ve never been able to crack the group stages or anything like that just yet.

What notable events have occurred during its existence?

I’d probably say the league titles; they’ve brought in some decent foreign players who probably help improve the league. They have a decent youth academy as well. Notably, I’d say Patrik Kristal, who started with Levadia but moved to Paide in the same league, and last season he moved to FC Koln, is still only 18 years old and is highly sought after.

Same with another young player, Maksimilian Skvortsov, in midfield. Top top young player. I can’t see him being there long before European clubs start sniffing. They are a really well-run club from the top. Viktor Levada, the owner of the club, runs the club really well. They are a very community-feel club. It’s something they bring. 

Have any high-profile players or managers been with the club?

Last season, he left at the end of the campaign. Curro Torres was the manager for a couple of years. He played for Valencia, and I think he might have played at a World Cup for Spain, maybe in 2002? He’s probably the highest calibre name I’d say.

Player-wise, I wouldn’t say there has been huge marquee signings where you’re kind of like, wow. 

There was Ernest Agyiri. He got a move to Denmark and was a top player. There have been a lot of Brazilian players; Joao Pedro and Felipe Felicio, who have moved on. Heitor a centre-back, who has moved to Debrecen in Hungary. I wouldn’t say superstar calibre but they do bring in decent players.

What players should Caernarfon Town watch out for?

Bubacarr Tambedou is an interesting player. He’s on our podcast; he’s been someone we’ve spoken about for a good few years. 

He’s become more than just a goal scorer; his link-up play is incredible; he’s not as selfish as he used to be. He doesn’t stop running. To stop him, you need to be physical with him. You’re gonna need someone following him; he will drop back, and he’s fast. 

You can’t give him a moment’s space because he will exploit you. He does have that tendency to be inconsistent, and has been in previous years. This year, something about him feels different. Hopefully we’ll see it in Europe. 

It’s the different goals he’s scoring; it’s not just striker goals. He’s scoring from outside the box- absolute screamers. He’s going on solo runs. He scored a nice back heel goal. It’s different. He’s turned into a complete player. He’ll be a handful definitely.

What kind of team are Levadia Tallinn, and how do you expect the game to pan out?

They’re playing a different style from what they have played in different seasons. At the start of the season, we were like This isn’t working, and it clearly was. They play four at the back; they’ll have two up front, but it’ll be more like one of them will be a number ten. It’s kind of like a 4-2-3-1, but with more attacking width, and the shape changes when they go forward.

I think they’ll go into it very confident; they’ll attack the game; it’s how they play. Even against the big boys in Estonia, they don’t sit back and play for draws. They want to win. I feel they will go all guns blazing and finish it early. 

I think they have to win as well. Expectations in Estonia is someone has to get to the group stages of a European competition.

The whole footballing community wants someone in the group stages to progress the league. There is extreme pressure; over the last two years, it’s been extremely disappointing. There’s a lot of pressure to succeed, and based on the squad strengths in Estonia, Levadia are the ones to do that.