Elektrons Rīga (also known as FK Alfa) was a Latvian football club from Riga that was one of the leading clubs in the Latvian league in the 1970s and 1980s.

History

Elektrons was founded somewhere in the 1960s (exact year has to be determined) as a football club with the Riga

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factory under the name RABR Rīga (''Rīgas asfaltbetona rūpnīca''). Its first season in the Latvian top league came in 1967 and brought a 5th-place finish and a

Latvian Cup The Latvian Football Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Latvian football. Since 2021, its full name is Responsible Game Latvian Football Cup (''Atbildīgas spēles Latvijas kauss'') due to the sponsorship by sports betting company Wil ...

final in which it lost to Osta Ventspils. In 1968 the club was renamed to Elektrons and it won the silver medals of the Latvian league, with 36 points they were a single point behind league winners Starts Brocēni. The next year Elektrons won its first

and had revenge over the club from

Ventspils Ventspils (; german: Windau, ; see other names) is a state city in northwestern Latvia in the historical Courland region of Latvia, and is the sixth largest city in the country. At the beginning of 2020, Ventspils had a population of 33,906. It ...

in the cup final. Results in the Latvian league varied for Elektrons – in 1974 they were second again, but in 1976 the settled with a 6th place. In 1974 came the second cup victory, however the best period in the club's history started in 1977. In 1977 and 1978 the club won two more Latvian cups, in 1979 – the first Latvian league title. With former

Daugava Rīga FK Daugava Rīga was a Latvian football club, based at the Daugava Stadium in Riga. They played in the Latvian Higher League. The last manager of the team was Armands Zeiberliņš. From the club's foundation in 2003 till 2009 the club was k ...

players

Laimonis Laizāns Laimonis Laizāns (born 30 January, 1945, died 16 November, 2020) was a former Soviet Latvian football goalkeeper who played for FK Daugava Rīga and Torpedo Moscow. He is considered one of the best Latvian goalkeepers of all time. Playing biog ...

Roberts Skadats Roberts Skadats (1948) is a former Latvian football midfielder and forward who played with FK Daugava Rīga for most of his career. Playing biography After completing secondary education Skadats was offered to join Daugava - the top football ...

and

Jānis Dreimainis Jānis is a Latvian masculine given name. The first written use of the name Jānis dates back to 1290. It may refer to: * Jānis Ādamsons (born 1956), Latvian politician *Jānis Akuraters (1876–1937), Latvian poet, writer, playwright and poli ...

Elektrons had experience, next to them was growing the talent of

Aleksandrs Dorofejevs Aleksandrs is a Latvian masculine given name. It is a cognate of the name Alexander and may refer to: * Aleksandrs Ābrams (1904-????), Latvian football forward * Aleksandrs Beļavskis (born 1964) Latvian ice hockey player and team captain * Ale ...

and for several years in a row Elektrons under the head coach

Gunārs Kungs Gunārs is a Latvian masculine given name. It is a cognate of the name Gunnar and may refer to: *Gunārs Astra (1931–1988), Latvian human rights activist and anti-Soviet dissident * Gunārs Birkerts (1925–2017), Latvian-born American architec ...

was a very strong team. In every season over the club's best years Elektrons won either the league title of the Cup or both. In 1981 Dorofejevs scored 37 goals for Elektrons – a result which still is unsurpassed in the Latvian league, and Elektrons won both the league and the cup. After the season Dorofejevs left for VEF Rīga but in the 1982 season even without Dorofejevs the club won another league title (without a single lost match in the season). 1983 brought another cup victory. In 1984 the club changed the name to FK Alfa and for the first time in several years didn't do well either in the league or in the cup. But in 1985 the club won its last league gold with newcomer

Jurijs Andrejevs Jurijs Andrejevs (born 16 January 1957 in Riga, Latvia, USSR) is a former footballer who is currently the sporting director of Latvian Football Federation. Previously he was the manager of the team but was released in 2008 after an unsuccess ...

. Jānis Dreimanis had become assistant coach with Gunārs Kungs. The 1986 and 1987 seasons were very disappointing for the formerly strong club – two finishes in 9th place – and it didn't play in the top Latvian league after 1987. In 1992 Alfa played in 1. līga and disappeared after the season.

Honours

*Latvian league: **Winners: 4 (1979, 1981, 1982, 1985) **Runners-up: 4 (1968, 1974, 1977, 1978) *Latvian Cup: **Winners: 7 (1969, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1983) **Runners-up: 2 (1967, 1971) Defunct football clubs in Latvia E 1992 disestablishments in Latvia {{Latvia-footyclub-stub