December 10, 2020
The 2020 regular season of the Latvia Virsliga concluded recently, with Riga FC winning the league by 3 points ahead of Rigas Futbola Skola ( RFS ), with Valmeira a distant third 22 points behind the champions.
History
The Latvia Virsliga or Higher League was created in 1991 following Latvia’s independence after the break-up of the Soviet Union. Previously, the league in Latvia operated as part of the regional structure of the Soviet Union, with Daugava Riga playing 7 seasons in the Soviet Top league, the last of which was in 1962. A national league in Latvia was first played in 1927, until becoming part of the Soviet structure in 1941.
Since the creation of the Virsliga in 1991 the now defunct Skonto Riga have won the most titles with 15, including the first 14 held. Next come Ventspils with 6 titles then Riga FC, whose three titles are the three most recent seasons.
For sponsorship reasons the competition is currently known as the Optibet Virsliga.
The National Side
The Latvia national side are currently ranked 136th in the world, just below Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania but above Myanmar, Taiwan and Burundi. Only 6 European countries have a lower ranking. They did get as high as 45th in 2009 but had dropped to 156th in October 2019. Their average position since the FIFA world rankings were created is 87th.
Latvia’s greatest footballing achievement was its qualification for Euro 2004, the only time they have qualified for finals of a major tournament. After finishing second in their qualifying group behind Sweden, recording 1-0 wins in Sweden and Poland, beating Hungary at home ( 3-1 ) and drawing 0-0 at home to Sweden, Latvia caused a major surprise by beating Turkey in the play-offs ( 1-0 at home, 2-2 away ), coming from 0-2 in the second leg in Istanbul.
Latvia were expected to be the whipping boys in their group in Portugal but lost only to a late goal against the Czech Republic and then held Germany to a goal-less draw. A win in their final match against the Netherlands would have seen Latvia reach the knock-out stages, but the Dutch also needed a win to go through, and two goals from Ruud van Nistelrooy helped them to a 3-0 win to end Latvia’s dreams.
In the 2020 Euro Qualifying Latvia lost 9 out of 10 matches, only able to beat Malta at home, and in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers they finished below the Faroe Islands in their group, only beating Andorra in both games.
Latvia had a moderately more successful recent Nations League campaign in that they only suffered one defeat, but they only finished third in their group behind the Faroes and Malta with 4 drawn matches.
In November Latvia played a friendly in San Marino ( won 3-0 ), drew 1-1 at home to the Faroes and won 5-0 in Andorra in the Nations League.
To fans in the UK, perhaps the most well known footballer from post-independence Latvia is Marians Pahars who spent 6 seasons at Southampton and score 15 times in 75 appearances for the national side. Other Latvians who have played in the English Premier League are Imants Bleidelis ( Southampton ), Kasper Gorkss ( Reading ), Igor Stepanovs ( Arsenal ) and Andrejs Stolcers ( Fulham ).
The most capped player for Lativa is Vitalijs Astafjevs with 167 caps between 1992 and 2010 in a career which included spells with Bristol Rovers, Austria Wien and Admira Wacker. The record goal scorer is ex Dynamo Kiev star Maris Verpakovskis with 29 goals in 104 appearances, including 6 in the famous Euro 2004 qualification campaign.
League Structure
Due to the cold winters in Latvia the football season is typically played between March and October, but the Covid pandemic meant that the season was delayed, with the first match eventually being played on June 15th. The final games were played on November 29th.
The Virsliga league is currently ranked 37th by UEFA which enables the winners to qualify for the 1st Qualifying round of the 2021 Champions League with the runners-up, the third place side and the winner of the Latvian Cup qualifying for the UEFA Conference League. If the winners of the Cup finish in the top three places then the side finishing fourth will qualify.
The Virsliga consists of 10 sides who normally play each other four times for a 36 game season, but with a delayed start to the season in 2020 they would only play each other three times for a 27 game season. The side finishing bottom of the league is automatically relegated to the Latvian First League, whilst the 9th placed team has a two legged play-off against the second placed club in the First League.
The second level First League consisted of 9 sides in 2020, who were due to play a 24 match season. The side finishing last is relegated to the third level of football in Latvia
Attendances
When the league started after the Covid delay, the first 4 rounds of matches were played behind closed doors. Fans were allowed in to watch matches from the start of July, but unfortunately the increase in cases in Latvia in November resulted in the last two rounds of fixtures and a couple of catch-up matches being played without any spectators.
In 2020, for matches where spectators were permitted, the average attendance in the Virsliga was 350, with the highest attendance being 2,717 to watch Riga vs RFS, and the next highest being the 980 to watch Riga vs Ventspils. Riga had the highest average on 802 with FK Liepaja next with 434.
In 2019 the average attendance in the league was 439, with FK Liepaja being the best supported side with an average of 650. Next came Riga with 571, followed by Valmeira with an average of 448.
How To Watch
Highlights are available on the Futbola Virsliga YouTube channel, and also on the Virsliga league website ( www.optibetvirsliga.com ).
Highlights of the Latvian Cup Final and semi-finals can be viewed on the Sporta Studija YouTube channel.
Summary Of The Season
The season began on June 15th with champions Riga hosting Valmeira, who had finished in fourth place in 2019. A goal in each half saw Riga victorious 2-0. On the same day RFS edged to a 1-0 home win over Ventspils ( third in 2019 ) to get the two expected title contenders off to good starts against potentially tricky opponents.
Round 2 saw Riga fall to a surprise 1-2 defeat at Spartaks, which handed the initiative to RFS so that when the sides met at RFS in Round 8, RFS topped the table with a 100% record, 3 points ahead of Riga. However, a 2-1 win for Riga, added by a disastrous back pass own goal for the opening goal, saw them heading the table on goal difference with both sides 7 points clear of third placed Valmeira. At the bottom newly promoted Tukums 2000 were already adrift on just 2 point.
Round 10 saw Ventspils gain revenge for their opening
day defeat at RFS, taking a 3-0 half time lead as RFS were reduced to 9 men.
RFS fought back in the second half to rattle the home side, but Ventspils held
on to emerge victorious 3-2.
With Riga winning 1-0 at Valmeira they established a 3 point gap at the top.
Riga’s lead increased to 5 points after round 12 when RFS needed a 89th minute equaliser to grab a draw at Spartaks as Riga continued to clock up the wins. Spartaks moved into third place, whilst at the bottom Tukums remained winless on 4 points, 8 points behind 9th place Metta.
Riga and RFS met each other again at the end of August in Round 17 and superb piece of individual skill from Janis Ikaunieks gave RFS to the lead midway through the second half. Emerson Deocleciano’s deflected shot in the 90th minute sealed a vital win in a feisty affair to reduce the deficit to 2 points.
The good work was undone 2 games later when Ventspils again proved to be their bogey side with a 1-1 draw in Riga, Lemajic’s poorly struck 88th minute penalty hitting the legs of the Ventspils keeper to deny all three points. At the bottom Tukums 2000 were still winless with 5 points and were now 10 points behind Jelgava who had slipped into the relegation play-off place. A week later RFS were held again, this time 2-2 at Valmeira, conceding a 96th minute free kick equaliser to fall to 6 points behind Riga with 7 games left to play.
RFS game at Liepaja in Round 22 was abandoned after 67 minutes due to a power failure with RFS losing 0-1 and RFS refused to continue the match the following day. With Riga FC winning again, this time 2-0 at Jelgava, the lead had increased to 9 points and after Riga won at Tukums in Round 25 the gap was still 9 points with RFS having three games left. After a month of wrangling between the two clubs, the fixture at Liepaja was rescheduled for November 20th, to be replayed in full on the artificial grass of Liepaja’s reserve stadium. Justice of a sorts was delivered and with Liepaja winning 1-0 thanks to a late goal from Brazilian Dodo, Riga were champions without kicking a ball.
The rest of the season was a bit of an anti-climax as sides started to be affected by Covid, and with both sides understrength, Riga’s 0-3 defeat at RFS was mostly academic. Daugavpils had to play with only 8 players at Valmeira due to Covid, and the game was abandoned with just over 30 minutes to go when injuries meant they didn’t have enough fit players to complete the match when losing 0-3. Round 26 saw all 5 games being home wins with all the away teams failing to score. Riga’s final game at home to Ventspils was postponed due to Covid in the Riga camp, and with the European places unaffected a 3-0 win to Ventspils was awarded.
The situation at the bottom had become interesting as, a bit like London buses, Tukums had won 3 games out of 4 to move to only 2 points away from Metta, who were in freefall, with three games left to play.
With both clubs losing their next two fixtures, Tukums could still avoid direct relegation if they could beat an RFS side with nothing but pride to play for, and Metta lost at home to Valmeira, who were already assured of third place. With Metta falling to an 8th consecutive defeat, a penalty on the stroke of half time and a goal in the 90th minute from Janis Ikaunieks condemned Tukums to relegation back to the First League.
The final round also saw Liepaja win 7-0 at Jelgava with 4 goals by Dido to make him the golden boot winner with 18 goals. Spartaks Serbian forward/winger Nemanja Belakovic and Valmeira’s Nigerian centre-forward Tolu Arkorodare both ended with 15 league goals in the season.
Due to Covid situation in the country, the part-time First League had been terminated in mid-October and the positions decided on a points per game basis following the Latvian Government decreeing that sports federations were only permitted to continue competitions where the players were professionals and it was their main job. The day after the final Virsliga matches had been completed the Latvian FA met and decided to cancel the play-off matches so handing a reprieve to Metta. First League champions Lokomotiv Daugavpils were promoted to replace Tukums.
According to Transfermarkt 103 of the 229 players ( 45% ) at Virsliga clubs at the end of the 2020 season were foreigners. Spartaks led the way with 16 out of 23 of the players being non-Latvians, with Ventspils closely following with 15 out of 21. At the other end of the scale, Jelgava were employing only 3 foreign players, Tukums 4, Metta 5 and Daugavpils 8. Co-incidentally, these were the bottom 4 sides in the Virsliga.
2020 Latvian Cup
The defending cup winners RFS were handed a tasty quarter final tie at home to Riga, coming out 3-2 winners, only to fall to an unexpected 0-1 defeat in the semi-final at Ventspils. Liepaja had overcome BFC Daugavpils, Spartaks and Valmeira to reach the final.
Ventspils had home advantage for the final, but they were unable to make use of this. With the game scoreless after 90 minutes, Dodo’s header gave Liepaja the lead in the first period of extra-time.
Performances In European Club Competitions This Season
Champions Riga FC were drawn at away to Maccabi Tel Aviv and unsurprisingly made a quick exit from the competition after a 0-2 loss in Isreal. Dropping down to the Europa League, Riga’s match against Tre Fiore of San Marino was abandoned at half-time with the score 0-0 due to a heavy storm in Riga causing damage to the Skonto stadium, with some debris from the roof falling extremely close to the benches of both sides, In order to meet UEFA’s deadline for completing the match, it was replayed the following day with an 8am kick-off. Portuguese midfielder Pedrinho’s 58th minute free-kick was the only goal of the game and took Riga to the 3rd Qualifying round and a home tie with Celtic.
Despite the match being played behind closed doors, a number of enterprising Riga fans were able to watch the game from the top of two open doubled decker buses parked in the car park behind one of the goals, and a few others were brave enough to hire a cherry-picker for their vantage point.
The Riga fans would have been pleased to see their side stifle the Scottish Champions, and the game looked to be heading for extra-time until Elyounoussi’s shot crept inside the far post to give Celtic a 1-0 win.
RFS were handed one of the toughest draws possible for their Europa League First Qualifying Round tie, having to go to Serbia to play Partizan Belgrade, and their bad luck continued with the only goal of the game coming from the penalty spot for a ball to hand incident that probably wouldn’t have been awarded a year or two ago.
Valmeira FK also faced tough opponents in their first ever European tie and were outplayed by Lech Poznan in Poland, going down 0-3. They did hold out for nearly 60 minutes, and the opening goal for Lech took a deflection to wrong foot the Valmeira keeper, hit the post and left Swedish striker Mikael Isnak with a tap-in.
FK Ventspils are the only Latvian side to reach the group stages of the Europa League, earning draws with Hertha Berlin, Sporting Lisbon and Heerenveen in 2009. They were drawn at home to Dinamo-Auto from Moldova but the visitors motored into an early lead. However, Ventspils overcame this set-back to have the better of the game, and a soft penalty gave them a 2-1 victory. Next up was the daunting prospect of facing Norwegian side Rosenberg, albeit at home, and when Kozlov put Ventspils ahead in the 5th minute an upset looked possible. Unfortunately, an unnecessary challenge was missed timed to give Rosenberg a penalty, and by half-time the visitors led 3-1. A red card for handball midway through the second half just about extinguished any remaining hopes Ventspils had, and two more goals gave Rosenberg a 5-1 win
Club By Club Guide
Riga FC
Location : Riga
Stadium : Skonto Stadium ( capacity 8,087 )
Title Wins : 3 ( 2018-2020 )
Colours : Pale Blue Shirts, White Shorts. Change kit all Grey
Current members of National Squad : Roberts Ozols ( keeper – 7 caps ), Antonijs Chernomorijs ( centre-back – 10 caps ), Elvis Stuglis ( centre back – 4 caps ), Ritvars Rugins ( midfield – 41 caps ), Vladimirs Kamess ( midfield – 30 caps ), Vladislavs Fjodorovs ( wing-back/winger – 9 caps )
Former members of National Squad : Antons Kurakins ( ex Stranraer & Brechin left back – 8 caps ), Olegs Laizans ( midfield – 44 caps )
Main Foreign Players : Stefan Panic ( Serbian midfielder – 1 cap ), Kule Mbombo ( Congolese striker – ex Beerschot ), Felipe Brisola ( Brazilian winger ), Jakub Hora ( Czech striker – ex Viktoria Plzen, Teplice & Slavia Prague ), Roger ( Brazilian midfielder ), Marko Durisic ( Serbian midfielder ), Jordan N’Kololo ( Congolese midfielder – 5 caps ), Herdi Prenga ( Albanian centre-back – 2 caps ), Roman Debelko ( Ukrainian forward ), Pedrinho ( Portuguese midfielder ), Stefan Milosevic ( Montenegrin striker )
Riga won 23 of 27 matches losing only to Spartaks, RFS ( twice ), and the default to Ventspils. They won 14 on the trot after losing the second match of the season at Spartaks. 17 different players scored in the league for Riga, with Kule Mbombo top scorer with 12, whilst only 18 goals were conceded.
Rigas Futbola Skola ( RFS )
Location : Riga
Stadium : NSB Arkadija ( capacity 1,000 )
Title Wins : Nil ( runner-up in 2019 & 2020 )
Colours : All Blue. Change kit all White
Current members of National Squad : Kaspers Ikstens ( keeper – 2 caps ), Vladislavs Sorokins ( left back -2 caps ), Arturs Zjuzins ( midfield – 42 caps ), Janis Ikaunieks ( midfield – 35 caps ), Roberts Savelniks ( midfield – 26 caps )
Former members of National Squad : Ivans Lukjanovs ( striker – 17 caps ), Vjaceslavs Isajevs ( defender – 1 cap ), Alexssandrs Solovjovs ( ex Nantwich Town defender – 7 caps ), Vitalijs Jagodinskis ( defender – 28 caps )
Main Foreign Players : Tomislav Saric ( Croatian midfielder ), Emerson Deocleciano ( Brazilian striker ), Cedric Kouadio ( Ivorian forward ), Tomas Simkovic ( Austrian midfielder ), Ziga Lipuscek ( Slovenian defender ), Leonel Strumia ( Argentinian midfielder ), Danylo Kucher ( Ukrainian keeper ), Darko Lemajic ( Serbian striker ), Mikhail Babichev ( Belarus defender – ex Vitebsk & Neman Grodno )
Including the Cup, RFS beat Riga three times out of four, but dropped points to Ventspils ( 2-3, 1-1 ), Liepaja ( 0-1 ), Valmeira ( 2-2 ), Spartaks ( 1-1 ) ultimately were to cost RFS the title. RFS were the highest scores with 64 goals with Emerson Deocleciano the top scorer with 10. Simkovic was on target 8 times and Janis Ikaunieks found the net 7 times.
Valmeira FK
Location : Valmeria ( 110kms north-east of Riga )
Stadium : Janis Dalins Stadium ( capacity 2,000, artificial grass pitch )
Title Wins : Nil ( best finish 3rd in 2020 )
Colours : All Pale Blue. Change kit All Black.
Current members of National Squad : Kriss Karklins ( defender/midfield – 9 caps ), Alvis Jaunzems ( midfield – 6 caps )
Former members of National Squad : Eriks Punculs ( striker – 1 cap ), Davis Indrans ( midfield – 10 caps )
Main Foreign Players : Tolu Arokodare ( Nigerian striker ), Julien Celestine ( French defender ), Victor Diagne ( Senegalese midfielder ), Luka Silagadze ( Georgian midfielder ), Olaide Badmus ( Nigerian defender ), Jorge Teixeira ( Portuguese midfielder ), Mykola Musolitin ( Ukrainian midfielder ), Mootez Zaddem ( Tunisian midfielder ), Papa Yare Fall ( Senegalese defender ), Djibril Gueye ( Senegalese forward – 2 caps ) Alioune Ndoye ( Senegalese forward )
Valmeira lost all three matches with Riga without scoring a goal, but managed one draw with RFS. Their other loss was to Spartaks, but they took 5 points from Ventspils and Liepaja. Tolu Arokodare scored 15 goals in 16 games to earn a move to Koln in the Bundesliga in September.
FK Ventspils
Location : Ventspils ( 195km north-west of Riga )
Stadium : Olimpiskais Stadium ( capacity 3,200 )
Title Wins : 6 ( last time in 2014 )
Colours : Yellow and Blue Stripes, Blue Shorts
Current members of National Squad : None
Former members of National Squad : Daniils Ulimbasev ( midfield – 3 caps )
Main Foreign Players : Evgeny Kozlov ( Russian striker ), Lucas Villela ( Brazilian midfielder ), Giorgi Mchedilishvili ( Georgian midfielder ), Andriy Sakhnevych ( Ukrainian defender ), Konstantin Machnovskiy ( Ukrainian keeper ), Giorgi Rekhviashvili ( Georgian centre-back – 1 cap ), Dumte Dyagbara ( Nigerian defender ), Giorgi Eristavi ( Georgian midfielder ), Chris Ondong ( French midfielder ), Abdoul Mamah ( Togolese full-back – 83 caps )
Fourth place and losing the cup final meant an end to 21 consecutive years of qualifying for European football. A mid-season slump of one win in 9 prevented any serious challenge for a top 3 place, despite ending the season with just one defeat in the last 9 games ( including the points awarded for the cancelled game against Riga ). Capable of beating and drawing with RFS but also drawing 0-0 with Tukums, Metta & Daugavpils, as well as losing to Daugavpils and Jelgava.
FK Liepaja
Location : Liepaja ( 215km west of Riga )
Stadium : Daugava Stadium ( capacity 5,100 )
Title Wins : One ( 2015 )
Colours : All Red
Current members of National Squad : Raivis Jurkovskis ( midfield – 13 caps ), Martins Kigurs ( midfield – 9 caps ), Eduards Tidenbergs ( right-back – 1 cap ), Ingars Stuglis ( midfield – 1 cap )
Former members of National Squad : Vadims Zulevs ( right back – 1 cap ), Arturss Karasausks ( forward – 18 caps ), Kristians Torress ( midfield – 7 caps ), Deniss Ivanovs ( centre-back – 60 caps )
Foreign Players : Dodo ( Brazilian forward ), Oleksandr Rybka ( Ukrainian keeper – 3 caps ), Seidu Yahaya ( Ghanaian midfielder ), Richard Friday ( Nigerian forward ), Seydina Keita ( Senegalese fight back ), Milan Joksimovic ( ex-Gorodeya Serbian left-back ), Hogan Ukpa ( Nigerian midfielder ), Marko Simic ( Montenegrin centre-back – 43 caps ), Valery Gorbachik ( ex Torpedo Zhodino Belarus forward ), Leandro Teijo ( Argentinian midfielder ), Yevgeniy Berezkin ( ex BATE Borisov Belarus midfielder – 1 cap )
Despite only finishing in 5th place in the league, Liepaja qualified for the Europa Conference by virtue of winning the Latvian Cup. It was a define tail of two half of the season, after 15 matches Liepaja had recorded only 3 victories and were struggling in 8th place. However, 28 points were gathered from the last 12 matches, including victories over every other side in the league except Riga, with the win over RFS deciding the destiny of the title in Riga’s favour. The last two game resulted in 5-0 and 7-0 away wins ( at Tukums and Jelgava ) in which Dodo grabbed 6 goals to finish on 18 for the season at take the golden boot. Arturss Karasausks contributed 9 goals and Robin Friday 6. Belarusian manager Dmiri Molosh signed three players from the Belarus Premier League during the season, and can be expected to sign more for 2021/22.
Spartaks Jurmala
Location : Jurmala ( the fifth largest city in Latvia, 40km west of Riga )
Stadium : Sloka Stadium ( capacity 2,500 )
Title Wins : Two ( 2016 & 2017 )
Colours : Red Shirts, White Shorts
Current members of National Squad : None
Former members of National Squad : Naurus Bulvitis ( ex Inverness and Plymouth centre-back – 19 caps ), Jevgenijs Nerugals ( keeper – 1 cap )
Main Foreign Players : Nemanja Belakovic ( Serbian winger/forward ), Ariagner Smith ( Nicaraguan forward – 3 caps ), Saminu Abdullaahi ( Nigerian midfielder ), Kyrylo Dryshliuk ( Ukrainian midfielder ), Chikezie Nwaorisa ( Nigerian midfielder ), Lucky Opara ( Nigerian midfielder ), Badra Ali Camara ( Ivorian left-back ), Cristian Dros ( Moldovan midfielder – 1 cap ), Kwadwo Asamoah ( Ghanaian winger ), Samat Sarsenov ( Kazakh forward ), Dindine Djouhary (
It was an incredibly inconsistent season for Spartak, recording wins over 7 of their Virsliga opponents ( including champions Riga in round 2 ) and drawing with the other 2, yet at the same time only taking 4 points from Tukums and drawing with Metta. After taking 17 points from their first 9 matches, with an impressive 5-2-2 record, a poor mid-season of just 11 points in 13 matches was responsible for their disappointing 6th place finish, despite a return to form with 4 wins in the last 5 games of the season. Serbian Nemanja Belakovic was the top scorer with 15 goals with Ariagner Smith next with 7.
FK Jelgava
Location : Jelgava ( the fourth largest city in Latvia, 45km south-west of Riga )
Stadium : Zemgales Olimpiskais Sporta Centrs ( capacity 1,560 )
Title Wins : Nil ( second in 2016 )
Colours : All Claret with Blue trim
Current members of National Squad : None
Former members of National Squad : Vladislavs Gabov ( right-back – 32 caps ), Boriss Bogdaskins ( midfield – 1 cap ), Nikita Ivanovs ( forward – 1 cap ), Jevgenijs Kazacoks ( midfield – 9 caps ), Aleksejs Grjaznovs ( midfield – 1 cap )
Main Foreign Players : Weslie John ( Trinidadian centre-back – 2 caps ), Dmytro Semenov ( Ukrainian midfielder ), Artem Radchenko ( Ukrainian midfielder )
Jelgava started the season with 2 wins and after round 6 stood in 4th place with 9 points. 6 consecutive losses saw Jelgava drop to 9th after round 18, but wins over Daugavpils and Metta took them to the relative safety of 21 points and 7th in early October. 46 players used during the season, and 7 left the club on October 9th ( including Kazacoks, Ivanovs, Semenov & Radchenko ) after which only one point was taken over the last 6 games, and the last two matches were both lost 0-7. 64 goals were conceded and with just 19 scored, the goal difference on -45 was the second worst in the league. Jelgava only scored 5 goals away from home. Yuri Zakharkiv was the top scorer with 5 but was one of the players to leave the club in October.
BFC Daugavpils
Location : Daugavpils ( the second largest city in Latvia, 220km south-east of Riga )
Stadium : Celtnieks Stadium ( capacity 3,980, artificial grass pitch )
Title Wins : Nil ( best place finish 6th in 2015 )
Colours : All White
Current members of National Squad : None
Former members of National Squad : Andrejs Kovalovs ( midfield – 10 caps )
Main Foreign Players : David Idowu ( Nigerian centre-back ), Tatsuro Nagamatsu ( Japanese midfielder ), Kirill Makeev ( Russian winger ), Daniel Adjeteys ( Ghanaian right-back ), Stanislav Nechiporenko ( Ukrainian midfielder ), Joshua Akpudje ( Nigerian centre-back ),
Daugavpils made a reasonable start to the season with three wins in the first 7 matches and scoring 16 goals in the process, but ended the season with one win in the last 14. They only scored a further 14 times in their last 20 games. Ultimately the three wins over Metta kept them clear of the relegation zone. Marko Regza wsa the top scorer with 7 goals.
FK Metta/Latvijas Universitate
Location : Riga
Stadium : Daugava Stadium ( capacity 10,461 )
Title Wins : Nil ( best placed finish 7th )
Colours : All Green
Current members of National Squad : Raimonds Krollis ( forward – 4 caps )
Former members of National Squad : None
Main Foreign Players : Franklin ( Brazilian centre-back ), Kgotso Masangane ( South African winger ), Sylvan Kayembe ( Swedish forward ), Benson Fazili ( Canadian midfielder ), Lukman Zakari ( Nigerian centre-back )
In mid-August after 14 matches Metta sat in joint 6th place, 11 points ahead of Tukums having beaten Jelgava, Liepaja and Tukums ( twice ), and drawn with Ventspils, Valmeira and Jelgava. However, a dreadful run of one point in the last thirteen games saw them dragged into a relegation battle, and saved from the relegation play-offs due to the Covid pandemic preventing League One sides from playing. International forward Krollis scored 11 of their 22 league goals ( 50% ! )
The affiliation with the University of Latvia provides young players the opportunity to study at one of the most prestigious universities in the country should they wish.
FK Tukums 2000
Location : Tukums ( a small town population 20,000 approx, 65km west of Riga )
Stadium : Tukuma Pilsetas Stadium ( Tukum City Stadium – capacity 1,000 )
Title Wins : Nil
Colours : Green and Grey stripes, Green shorts
Current members of National Squad : None
Former members of National Squad : None
Main Foreign Players : Olabanjo Ogunji ( Nigerian midfielder ), Emeka Basil ( Nigerian forward ), Jonas Skinderis ( Lithuanian defender ) - all on loan from RFS. Pam Samuel ( Nigerian midfielder – on loan from Spartaks )
Started the season with 20 games without a win and just 5 draws. Beat Daugavpils 2-1 in game 21 thanks to a goal in added on time by Janis Krautmanis and then beat Mette and Spartaks in a run of 3 wins in 4 to give hope of possibly beating the drop. They had fallen behind in all three of their victories but showed resilience to come back to win. However, losses in their last 3 games meant a return to the First League after just one season in the Virsliga. They took 4 points from Spartaks and Daugavpils but conceded 70 goals ( 2.6 per game ). Ogunji and Basil were joint-top scorers with 4 goals each.
Due to size of the town of Tukums the club was described as Latvia’s equivalent to Gorodeya in Belarus, and hence disparagingly referred to as “a gubbins village outfit” !
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