FK Venta were a

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club based in

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 ...

. They were established in 1964 and went bankrupt in 2005.

Club history

The club was founded in 1964 as Naftas bāze, in its debut season in the Latvian league it finished 6th from 14 teams. In 1965 the club name was changed to Osta and it earned silver medals in the Latvian league. In 1967 Osta won the

Latvian Cup The Latvian Football Cup () is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Latvian Football (soccer), football. Since 2021, its full name is Responsible Game Latvian Football Cup (''Atbildīgas spēles Latvijas kauss'') due ...

2:0 against

Elektrons Rīga 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 determin ...

. In 1968 the club was renamed to – FK Venta, it reached the cup finals again in 1968 and 1969 but lost both times. In 1969 Venta won the first Latvian league title for Ventspils under Vladimirs Čikiņovs, a former FK Daugava Rīga footballer. Half of the 1969 league winners were local Ventspils footballers, while the others were from various places, mostly from

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

. As the Latvian league was officially an amateur competition, for 3 months a year the Venta players had to work in the city

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

. In 1970 Venta finished second in the league but then the results started to decline and after the 1982 season the club lost most of its financial support. Venta could not complete the 1983 season and was expelled from the league after having lost its first 19 matches. Until 1988 Venta mostly under different names played in the lower Latvian leagues, but in 1988 it returned to the top Latvian league under the name Zvezda, in their squad it had one of the future defenders of the

Latvia national football team The Latvia national football team ( lv, Latvijas futbola izlase) represents Latvia in international football and is controlled by the Latvian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Latvia. They have never qualified for the FIF ...

–

Mihails Zemļinskis Mihails Zemļinskis ( uk, Михайло Валерійович Землинський; born 21 December 1969) is a Latvian politician and former professional footballer. He played as a centre-back or sweeper, making over 100 appearances for t ...

. However the sides results were poor and in 1989 under the Venta name the club left the top league. With the collapse of the Soviet Union for several years Venta went into total oblivion, until it re-emerged in the 1st Latvian league in 1994. After the 1994 season the club split into two halves – one of them as Venta continued playing in the first league, but another as FK Nafta appeared in the 2nd Latvian league. In 1996 Venta finished in the 1st league lower than Nafta. After the 1996 season Venta and Nafta merged into

FK Ventspils FK Ventspils is a Latvian football club, based at Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions in Ventspils city and is one of the most popular football clubs in the country. The club played in the Latvian Virsliga since 1997. It was abolished in 2020, but h ...

which got a promotion to

Virslīga 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 ...

(thanks to decline of playing in Virslīga by FK Vecrīga). Later Ventspils emerged as a new football club under the name of Venta. In 2004 they finished second in the Latvian 1. līga and played playoffs against the team that finished 7th in the league above them (

), FC Ditton-2. They won both legs 1:0 and were consequently promoted. Before the 2005 season the club moved to

Kuldīga Kuldīga () (german: Goldingen) is a town in the Courland region of Latvia, in the western part of the country. It is the center of Kuldīga Municipality with a population of approximately 13,500. Kuldīga was first mentioned in 1242. It joine ...

and stated its great ambitions to become one of the leading Latvian clubs over a few years, it bought several popular footballers both from Latvia and from other post-Soviet countries – including former

Arsenal London Arsenal Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly ...

defender

Oleh Luzhnyi Oleh Romanovych Luzhnyi ( uk, Олег Романович Лужний; born 5 August 1968) is a Ukrainian former professional footballer who played as a right-back. Club career Luzhnyi is a product of the Karpaty sports school (coached by Yur ...

Valentīns Lobaņovs Valentīns Lobaņovs (russian: Валентин Анатольевич Лобанёв; born 23 October 1971 in Riga) is a former football midfielder from Latvia. He has played 58 international matches and scored 1 goal for the Latvia nationa ...

and Aliaksandr Khatskevich – a

FC Dynamo Kiev Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society, the club as a separate business entity was officia ...

veteran. However the club's finances soon proved to be a bubble, the famous players soon left the club, by midseason it barely had enough footballers to form a starting 11 and after the season it went bankrupt.

Honours

* Latvian top league: ** Winners: 1 (1969) ** Runners-up: 2 (1965, 1970) *

: ** Winners: 1 (1967) ** Runners-up: 2 (1968, 1969) Kuldīga Venta Association football clubs disestablished in 2005 Venta 1964 establishments in Latvia 2005 disestablishments in Latvia