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Latvian Higher League 2007
The 2007 Latvian Higher League season was the 16th Virslīga season. It started on 7 April 2007 and finished on 4 December 2007. Eight teams competed in the league, playing each other four times over the course of the season, twice at home and twice away. Season details For the second time in a row FK Ventspils won the championship. In mid-season FK Liepājas Metalurgs had a lead of 11 points over Ventspils who won their last 11 games, conceding just one goal. FK Rīga finished third for the first time in the club's history. FC Skonto finished the season without winning any competitions for the first time, and also for the first time they would not compete in any of the European cups in 2008 as one of the UEFA Cup qualifying spots was taken by JFC Olimps Rīga for reaching the Latvian Cup final. Vīts Rimkus from Ventspils was the top scorer with 20 goals. At the end of the season the Latvian Football Federation announced that the Virslīga would expand to 10 clubs for the 2008 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latvian Higher League
Latvian Higher League or Virslīga is a professional football league and the top tier of association football in Latvia. Organised by the Latvian Football Federation, the Higher League is contested by 10 clubs. The full name of the league is Optibet Virslīga for sponsorship reasons since 2019. History and league format History The first all-national Latvian championship, which succeeded the Riga Football League and other regional leagues, was organized in 1927, which lasted until the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940. After World War II, between 1945 and 1991 the championship of Soviet Latvia was the main footballing competition in the Latvian SSR. With Latvia regaining full independence in August 1991, the newly established Latvian Football Federation (LFF) decided to reorganise its competitions within the Virslīga from 1992. The same year Latvia returned to FIFA and became a member of UEFA. Format After the 2007 season the league increased from eight to ten sides. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skonto FC
Skonto FC was a Latvian football club, active from 1991 until 2016. The club played at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Skonto won the Virsliga in the first 14 seasons of the league's resumption (15 in total), and often provided the core of the Latvia national football team. With those 14 national championships in a row, they set a European record, men and women's football combined, until the women of Faroese club KÍ Klaksvík won their 14th championship in a row in 2013. Following financial problems, the club was demoted to the Latvian First League in 2016 and went bankrupt in December of that year. History Fourteen titles in a row (1991–2004) Skonto FC was founded in 1991, and immediately started to win league championships, 14 in a row, until finishing second to FK Liepājas Metalurgs in 2005. In 2006, Skonto finished third in a close contest with FK Liepājas Metalurgs and FK Ventspils. Skonto also won the Latvian Cup on eight occasions, most recently in 2012. Skonto had to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aleksejs Višņakovs
Aleksejs Višņakovs (born 3 February 1984 in Riga) is a Latvian football midfielder, who currently plays for SK Super Nova in Latvian First League. He is also a member of Latvia national football team. Club career Latvia As a youth player Višņakovs played for JFC Skonto. Being a promising youngster, in 2001 he was brought to the first team by that time manager Aleksandrs Starkovs. It was hard for the young player to fit in the squad, as he played only 2 matches in his first season with the club. After the season, he was given away to another club from Riga, this time FK Auda, playing in the Latvian First League. Višņakovs played 20 matches for them, scoring his first goal then. After showing some pretty good qualities, he was taken back to Skonto Riga and surely didn't disappoint this time. He had a long spell with the club that lasted for 5 years, from 2003 till 2008. During this time he became well known among the fans and was a vital player in the starting eleven, al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artjoms Rudņevs
Artjoms Rudņevs (born 13 January 1988) is a Latvian former professional footballer who played as a striker for Daugava Daugavpils in his home country, for Zalaegerszegi TE in Hungary, for Lech Poznań in Poland, and for Bundesliga clubs Hamburger SV, Hannover 96, and 1. FC Köln. At international level, he represented the Latvia national team. Club career Early career and ZTE Rudņevs started his career with his local club FC Daugava in Daugavpils, where he played until February 2009, when he signed a contract with the Hungarian club Zalaegerszegi TE. However, the previous contract with Daugava was still active, so FIFA was involved in resolving the conflict. In May 2009, he made his debut in Hungary, where he played for three seasons, scoring 20 goals in 30 league matches. Lech Poznań In July 2010, rumors circulated that the Ekstraklasa club Lech Poznań were interested in signing him. These rumors were subsequently confirmed and Rudņevs joined the club on trial. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kristaps Blanks
Kristaps Blanks (born 30 January 1986) is a Latvian football coach and former player who played as striker. He is a first-team coach at Riga FC Riga Football Club, commonly referred to as Riga FC, is a Latvian football club, founded in 2014. The club is based at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Since 2016 the club has been playing in the Virslīga. History The club was officially registered .... References 1986 births Living people People from Tukums Latvian footballers Latvia international footballers Skonto FC players FK Daugava (2003) players Riga FC players Association football forwards {{Latvia-footy-bio-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vitālijs Astafjevs
Vitālijs Astafjevs (born 3 April 1971) is a Latvian former professional football midfielder, and current assistant manager of Aris Limassol having previously held the role for the Latvia national team. Astafjevs won nine Latvian championships with Skonto Riga. He also played abroad for clubs in Austria, England and Russia. At international level, Astaefjevs captained Latvia at UEFA Euro 2004. With 167 caps for his country Astafjevs held the European record for the most international matches played, until being overtaken by Gianluigi Buffon in 2017. He is currently the joint sixteenth- most capped male footballer in history, alongside Iker Casillas. Club career Early career Born in Riga, Astafjevs started his professional career with Skonto Riga in 1992, shortly after Latvia had regained its independence from the Soviet Union. He played there for five seasons, until 1996, becoming a vital first eleven player. They won the league in each of his first four seasons. Twice, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mikalay Ryndzyuk
Mikalay Ryndzyuk ( be, Мікалай Рындзюк; russian: link=no, Николай Рындюк; born 2 February 1978) is a Belarusian football coach and former player. Football career Mikalay Ryndzyuk started his career at Smena Minsk. He played the first season at 1994/95 at third level. After he played the first winter league in 1995, he transferred to BATE Borisov, at that time in third division. His high goal scoring rate helped BATE win promotion to top division in 1997. He then was signed by Lokomotiv Moscow in 1998. In summer 1999, he moved back to BATE, and spent 2000 season for FC Lokomotiv Nizhny Novgorod and Kristall Smolensk. In November 2000, he was signed by Gaziantepspor, where he signed a deal until summer 2003. But he was away from field since November 2001, and in September 2002, he transferred to Rubin Kazan. Honours BATE Borisov *Belarusian Premier League champion: 1999 Dinamo Minsk *Belarusian Cup winner: 2002–03 Daugava Daugavpils * Latvian F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ģirts Karlsons
Ģirts Karlsons (born 7 June 1981) is a Latvian football forward, who most recently played for the Latvian Higher League club FK Liepāja. Club career As a youth player Karlsons played for his local club FK Liepājas Metalurgs, being taken to the first team in 1998, at the age of 17. He spent the next six seasons with the club, becoming the second top scorer of the Latvian Higher League in 2003 with 26 goals, completing two hat-tricks during the season. All in all he played 96 matches for his local club, scoring 40 goals. After these bright appearances he had impressed clubs abroad, and in January 2004 Karlsons went on a month-long trial with the Russian Premier League club Shinnik Yaroslavl. Afterwards he signed a three-year contract with them. However, his spell there wasn't as successful as expected and was very short. After just one season, during which he played only 8 league matches without scoring goals, Karlsons returned to the Latvian Higher League, signing with the n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrei Aleksandrovich Nikolayev
Andrei Aleksandrovich Nikolayev (russian: Андрей Александрович Николаев; born 30 August 1982) is a former Russian professional footballer. Club career He made his debut in the Russian Premier League in 2002 for FC Zenit St. Petersburg, and played 1 game, scoring 1 goal in the UEFA Cup 2002–03 for them. In 2006, he was loaned to FK Rīga, playing in the Latvian Higher League. In 2011, he came back to Latvia, signing a contract with Skonto Riga. Honours * Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ... runner-up: 2003. References 1982 births Footballers from Saint Petersburg Living people Russian men's footballers Men's association football forwards FC Zenit Saint Petersburg players FC Moscow players FK Rīga player ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2008 UEFA Intertoto Cup
The 2008 UEFA Intertoto Cup was the last UEFA Intertoto Cup football tournament, the 14th to be organised by UEFA and the third since the competition's format was given a major overhaul. Fifty teams were invited, with the eleven winners after the third round then advancing to the second qualifying round of the 2008–09 UEFA Cup. The draw took place at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland on 21 April 2008. Based on the subsequent progress of the eleven co-winners in their UEFA Cup efforts, Braga is declared the outright winner of the Intertoto Cup. Association team allocation 50 teams participated in the 2008 UEFA Intertoto Cup from 50 UEFA associations. Below is the scheme for the 2008 UEFA Intertoto Cup. The rankings throughout are based on the 2007 UEFA coefficients. First round: (28 teams) *28 from associations 23–36, 38–50 and 53 Second round: (28 teams) *14 winners from the First Round *14 from associations 9–22 Third round: (22 teams) *14 winners from the Seco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2008–09 UEFA Cup
The 2008–09 UEFA Cup was the 38th season of the UEFA Cup football tournament. The final was played at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, home ground of Fenerbahçe, in Istanbul on 20 May 2009. This season was the final one to use the UEFA Cup format; starting in 2009, the competition was known as the UEFA Europa League. Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk beat Werder Bremen 2–1 after extra time to win their first European title. Zenit Saint Petersburg were the defending champions but were eliminated by Udinese in the Round of 16. Association team allocation A total of 157 teams from 53 UEFA associations participated in the 2008–09 UEFA Cup. Associations were allocated places according to their 2007 UEFA league coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2002–03 to 2006–07. Below is the qualification scheme for the 2008–09 UEFA Cup: *Associations 1–6 each have three teams qualify *Associations 7 and 8 each have four teams qualify *Ass ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2008–09 UEFA Champions League
The 2008–09 UEFA Champions League was the 54th edition of Europe's premier club football tournament and the 17th edition under the current UEFA Champions League format. The final was played at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on 27 May 2009. It was the eighth time the European Cup final has been held in Italy and the fourth time it has been held at the Stadio Olimpico. The final was contested by the defending champions, Manchester United, and Barcelona, who had last won the tournament in 2006. Barcelona won the match 2–0, with goals from Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi, securing The Treble in the process. In addition, both UEFA Cup finalists, Werder Bremen and Shakhtar Donetsk featured in the Champions League group stage. Anorthosis of Cyprus and BATE Borisov of Belarus were the first teams from their respective countries to qualify for the group stage. Romanian side CFR Cluj and Russian champions Zenit Saint Petersburg also made their Champions League debuts. Association team ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
