Who is Hillar Otto?
Hillar Otto was one of the best and also the first coaches who started teaching football to estonian boys. Before that, football was mainly associated with the russian-speaking minority in Estonia.
Starting in JK Tammeka and later joining FC Santos, Hillar quickly became a central figure in Tartu’s largest football clubs. Hillar Otto was a man with a great sense of humour, which helped him even in the most challenging situations.
For a coach, a positive outlook on life is a great trait to have.His boys went on to succeed and win many medals in all kinds of competitions, including youth championships.
In addition to being a great coach, Hillar managed to organise the largest football tournament Estonia has ever seen. It was the Peipsi Cup, which included more than 150 teams from different countries.
It is safe to say that it was his idea to start organising Tartu Cup as well. Thanks to him, Estonian boys have had a chance to play football with such strong opponent as HJK, Honka and TPS from Finland, Skonto and Liepaja Metalurgs from Latvia, Zalgiris from Lithuania, Dinamo Minsk from Belarus, Histon and West Ham United from England, Bialistok from Poland, Lvovi Karpaty from Ukraine, and Zenit, Smena and Megasfera from Russia.
Hillar Otto passed away in 2011, but his memory lives on to this day.
His contribution to Tartu’s and Estonian football continues through his students and coworkers. It is a great honour to organise one of the largest football events in Estonia in memory of Hillar Otto!