|
FK VEF Rīga
VEF Rīga (later known as DAG Rīga) was a football club in Latvia, one of the strongest teams in the Latvian league between 1945 and 1994. Team history A football club connected to the VEF plant was founded in the mid-1930s. In 1939, it first won promotion to the top Latvian league by beating Ventspils Stars 6-2 in the playoff final. VEF was the only Latvian football club to keep its name through the 1940s – it played in the Latvian league under German occupation and it remained there after the second Russian occupation. The Soviet era was the best for the club: VEF won six Latvian titles between 1970 and 1983, it was also a 3-time winner of the Latvian Football Cup. The first half of the 1970s was the best period in the club's history when it won five of its titles, one cup and also reached the cup final three times. In that period VEF was managed by former FK Daugava Rīga star player Georgijs Smirnovs. Another retired Daugava forward, Nikolajs Jermakovs, played in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular field called a Football pitch, pitch. The objective of the game is to Scoring in association football, score more goals than the opposing team by moving the ball beyond the goal line into a rectangular-framed Goal (sport), goal defended by the opposing team. Traditionally, the game has been played over two 45-minute halves, for a total match time of 90 minutes. With an estimated 250 million players active in over 200 countries and territories, it is the world's most popular sport. Association football is played in accordance with the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game, a set of rules that has been in effect since 1863 and maintained by the International Football Association Board, IFAB since 1886. The game is pla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latvia
Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to the southeast, and shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Sweden to the west. Latvia covers an area of , with a population of 1.9million. The country has a Temperate climate, temperate seasonal climate. Its capital and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city is Riga. Latvians, who are the titular nation and comprise 65.5% of the country's population, belong to the ethnolinguistic group of the Balts and speak Latvian language, Latvian. Russians in Latvia, Russians are the most prominent minority in the country, at almost a quarter of the population; 37.7% of the population speak Russian language, Russian as their native tongue. After centuries of State of the Teutonic Order, Teutonic, Swedish Livonia, Swedish, Inflanty Voi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ventspils Stars
Ventspils () 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 is situated on the Venta River and the Baltic Sea, and has an ice-free port. The city's name literally means "castle on the Venta", referring to the Livonian Order's castle built alongside the Venta River. Other names Ventspils was historically known as ''Windau'' in German. It had a Russian name from the time of the Russian Empire, called ''Виндава (Vindava)'' or ''Виндау (Vindau),'' although ''Вентспилс (Ventspils)'' has been used since World War II. Some other names for the city include , Estonian: Vindavi, and . History Ventspils developed around the Livonian Order Ventspils Castle, built along the Venta River. It was chartered in 1314 and became an important mercantile city of the Hanseatic League. As part of the Duchy of Courland, Ventspi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latvian Football Cup
The Latvian Football Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Latvian football. Since 2021, its full name is Responsible Gaming Latvian Football Cup (''Atbildīgas spēles Latvijas kauss'') due to the sponsorship by sports betting company William Hill. The tournament was launched in 1937, replacing the previous knockout tournament – the Riga Football Cup. The competition is a knockout (single elimination) tournament. From 1937 to 2008 and again since 2017, all of the games of the tournament are played within the calendar year. During the Soviet occupation ( 1940–1941, 1944–1991) it served as a qualification tournament for the Soviet Cup. The competition was also fully played once during the German occupation of the Baltic states, in 1943. List of finals The results of the finals are: Total titles won The following 36 clubs have won the Latvian Football Cup. * Bold clubs play in top flight. * ''Italic'' clubs dissolved or merged. References External linksOf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
FC Daugava Riga
FC Daugava Riga (FK Daugava Rīga) is a former Soviet and Latvian football club from Riga. It participated in the Soviet championships. Through the years, the club represented various Riga factories like the VEF, RVR and the Riga Electrical Machine Building Works (). Name * 1946–47 Daugava * 1948–49 Daugava- VEF () * 1950–58 Daugava * 1959–62 Daugava- RVR (Даугава-РВЗ, ''Daugava-RVZ'') * 1963–69 Daugava-(Даугава-РЭЗ, ''Daugava-REZ'') * 1970–90 Daugava History The club was founded in 1944 after the return of the Soviet occupation of Latvia. It made its debut in the Latvian SSR championship in 1946 by finishing 5th among 8 teams. In 1948 Daugava joined FC Dinamo Rīga (''Rīgas "Dinamo"'', existed 1940-1960) as the second team from Latvia to play in the Soviet First League. For the 1949 season, thanks to changes in the tournament system, Daugava was promoted to the Soviet Top League where it managed to remain for 4 seasons until being relegated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georgijs Smirnovs
Georgijs Smirnovs (born 1936) is a Latvian former football player and manager. In 2006 Latvian Football Federation selected Smirnovs as one of the 11 greatest footballers in the first 100 years of football in Latvia. Biography Born in Leningrad, Smirnovs played football with a local factory club. In 1957 he was sent to Riga, Latvia for military service. He got to play with FK Dinamo Rīga with which he won the Latvian Cup and was noted by many as a very talented forward. After playing just six matches with Dinamo, Vadims Ulbergs from Daugava Rīga offered Smirnovs to join the strongest Latvian club. He made his debut with Daugava in the 1st Soviet league in the 1957 and played with the club until 1971. In his best season in 1960 when Daugava played in the Soviet Top League Smirnovs scored 11 goals and was nominated to the list of the 33 best Soviet footballers of the year. Smirnovs also managed to score three goals in two matches against the legendary Lev Yashin in that year. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virslīga
Latvian Higher League or Virslīga, also known as TonyBet Virslīga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Latvia and the highest level of the Latvian football league system. Organised by the Latvian Football Federation, the league is contested by ten clubs. History and league format History The first all-national Latvian championship - the Virslīga - which succeeded the Riga Football Cup, Riga Football League and other, parallel regional leagues, was organized in 1927. It succeeded the previous Latvian Championship () that was held from 1922 to 1926 in similar fashion. The Virslīga lasted until the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940. After World War II, between 1945 and 1991 the Football Championship of the Latvian SSR, championship of Soviet Latvia was the main footballing competition in the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, Latvian SSR. With Latvia regaining full independence in 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, August 1991, the new ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Riga
Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planning Region, Riga metropolitan area, which stretches beyond the city limits, is estimated at 847,162 (as of 2025). The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava (river), Daugava river where it meets the Baltic Sea. Riga's territory covers and lies above sea level on a flat and sandy plain. Riga was founded in 1201, and is a former Hanseatic League member. Riga's historical centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, noted for its Art Nouveau/Jugendstil architecture and 19th century wooden architecture. Riga was the European Capital of Culture in 2014, along with Umeå in Sweden. Riga hosted the 2006 Riga summit, 2006 NATO Summit, the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, the 2013 World Women's Curling Championship, and the 2006 IIHF Wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latvian Higher League
Latvian Higher League or Virslīga, also known as TonyBet Virslīga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Latvia and the highest level of the Latvian football league system. Organised by the Latvian Football Federation, the league is contested by ten clubs. History and league format History The first all-national Latvian championship - the Virslīga - which succeeded the Riga Football League and other, parallel regional leagues, was organized in 1927. It succeeded the previous Latvian Championship () that was held from 1922 to 1926 in similar fashion. The Virslīga 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latvian Cup
The Latvian Football Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Latvian football. Since 2021, its full name is Responsible Gaming Latvian Football Cup (''Atbildīgas spēles Latvijas kauss'') due to the sponsorship by sports betting company William Hill. The tournament was launched in 1937, replacing the previous knockout tournament – the Riga Football Cup. The competition is a knockout (single elimination) tournament. From 1937 to 2008 and again since 2017, all of the games of the tournament are played within the calendar year. During the Soviet occupation ( 1940–1941, 1944–1991) it served as a qualification tournament for the Soviet Cup. The competition was also fully played once during the German occupation of the Baltic states, in 1943. List of finals The results of the finals are: Total titles won The following 36 clubs have won the Latvian Football Cup. * Bold clubs play in top flight. * ''Italic'' clubs dissolved or merged. References External lin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
