Gauja Valmiera was a Latvian football club from

Valmiera Valmiera (; german: link=no, Wolmar; pl, Wolmar see other names) is the largest city of the historical Vidzeme region, Latvia, with a total area of . As of 2002, Valmiera had a population of 27,323, and in 2020 – 24 879. It is a state cit ...

that played in the top Latvian league from 1979 to 1993. It was named after the river

Gauja The Gauja River ( et, Koiva jõgi, german: Livländische Aa) is a river in the Vidzeme region of Latvia. It is the only large river of Latvia that begins and ends its flow in Latvia. Its length is 460 km, of which 93.5 km (approxim ...

. In the 1990s another Valmiera football club –

FK Valmiera Valmiera Football Club or shortly Valmiera FC is a Latvian football club, playing in the Virslīga, the highest division of Latvian football. The club is based in the city of Valmiera. By winning the 2017 Latvian First League, the team was prom ...

– was renamed to Gauja.

History

Under different names the Valmiera club was playing in the 1st Latvian league for several decades but only in the late 1970s it became known outside its region. In 1978 already by the name Gauja it made its debut in the top Latvian league. Former Rīgas audums footballer Jevgeņijs Katajevs was the club's coach. Local footballers like Valērijs Kuzņecovs, Dainis Andersons, Aleksandrs Madājevs and Jānis Ozols were the leaders of the Valmiera club. In 1983 Andersons and Ozols joined

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 ...

which played in the 1st Soviet League. After several hard seasons in the top league when sometimes Gauja was near to being relegated in 1985 it won its first medals – it finished 3rd in the league and club's forward Jānis Bacis was the best goalscorer in the league. In 1986 and 1988 Gauja also reached the

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. But the biggest success in the history of football in Valmiera came in 1990 when Gauja won the Latvian championship. Modris Zujevs was the best goalscorer in the league in 1990. By then the club was coached by Dainis Andersons who was still an active footballer with the club.Interview with Katajevs
(in Latvian) In the newly independent Latvia Gauja started to struggle – in 1992 it finished 10th from 12, but in 1993 the club experienced a catastrophe – it lost 17 from 18 matches in the league (mostly – because of near bankruptcy). From 1994 to 1997 the club played in the second Latvian league, then – became completely defunct. In 2003 former

was renamed to Gauja thus giving a club under the formerly popular name another life in

Virsliga 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 Op ...

(FK Valmiera was not a new name of the previous Gauja, as both clubs played in different Latvian leagues in mid-1990s). But after the season the club withdrew from Virsliga because of financial limitations and also took up its former name FK Valmiera.

Honours

* Latvian SSR Top League winners **1990

References

Valmiera

Association football clubs disestablished in 1997 1997 disestablishments in Latvia {{Latvia-footyclub-stub