Kaiserwald (also Ķeizarmežs) was a

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 t ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club from

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 Planni ...

, founded in 1909. It was the third oldest club in Latvia after the Riga ''British Football Club'' and FC

Union Riga Union Riga was a football club established in Riga in 1907 and the second oldest club of the country after the Riga ''British Football Club''. It was the winner of the Riga football league in 1910. In the period of independence of Latvia between ...

, that were both founded in 1907. Same as ''Union'', a large part of its players consisted of

Baltic Germans Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their resettlement in 1945 after the end of World War II, Baltic Germans have drastically decli ...

. It played at the

Mežaparks Mežaparks () is a neighbourhood of Northern District in Riga, the capital of Latvia. It consists of a residential area to the South and a large urban park to the North of the same name – Mežaparks. The neighbourhood is located on the west ...

Stadium (Kaiserwald Sports Society Stadium) in Riga, which is now the location of ''Mežaparks Sports Village'', a training facility mostly operated by

Riga FC Riga Football Club, commonly referred to as Riga FC, is a Latvian Association football, football club, founded in 2014. The club is based at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Since 2016 Latvian Higher League, 2016, the club has been playing in the Latv ...

History

Already in 1907, the first ''Riga Football Club'' founded by British football official and the pioneer of Latvian football – – requested for it to become a section of the Kaiserwald Sports Society (''Kaiserwald Sportverein'', established 1903'')''. However, for uncertain reasons, the request was rejected. After the rejection, this club turned into the ''British Football Club'' (''Britannia FC''). However, a new football team representing the Kaiserwald society emerged in 1909, with Kārlis Verkentīns as its first coach. In 1910, the club participated in the formation of the Riga Football League, the first football tournament in Latvia, while its youth (U-21) team won the ''Hatton-Hall Cup'', named after Harold Hall. Kaiserwald became the first club from Latvia that played against an international side, losing 1-9 to the Finland national Olympic football team in 1912. From 1910 to 1915, the team played in the Riga Championship, ending up third three times, but winning once (the 1914 and 1915 tournaments were not completed due to the start of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

). In 1912 and 1913, Kaiserwald also won the Riga Cup. The club resumed its activities after the end of WWI and the

Latvian War of Independence The Latvian War of Independence (), sometimes called Latvia's freedom battles () or the Latvian War of Liberation (), was a series of military conflicts in Latvia between 5 December 1918, after the newly proclaimed Republic of Latvia was invade ...

in 1921, partially known by the Latvianized name ''Ķeizarmežs''. After the Latvian Football Championship in 1921 was interrupted due to an early and harsh winter with no winner, in 1922 Kaiserwald won the inaugural Latvian Football Championship, and retained the title in 1923, beating rivals such as the Riga YMCA and

Rīgas FK The Riga Football Club (''Rīgas futbola klubs'' or ''Rīgas Futbolklubs'', RFK or Rīgas FK) was a Latvian football club which was founded on December 14, 1923 in Riga. It was the strongest and most popular Latvian football club in the 1920s an ...

. In 1924, foreign nationals were banned from playing in the Latvian Championship in the course of the tournament, so Ķeizarmežs dropped out of the tournament after playing two games. The club returned in 1925, but with a weakened lineup, it ranked 5th in the Riga Championship. The following year, the club folded. In the early 1930s, there were attempts to rebuild the club, but, after playing a couple of unsuccessful seasons in the Riga Championship, the club ceased to exist for good after the 1934 season. Players of Kaiserwald/Ķeizarmežs like

Česlavs Stančiks Česlavs Stančiks (26 September 1896 – 18 July 1980)Voldemārs Voldemārs is a Latvian masculine given name. It is a cognate of the Germanic " Waldemar". Voldemārs may refer to: *Voldemārs Elmūts (1910–1966), Latvian basketball player *Voldemārs Lūsis (born 1974), Latvian athlete, javelin thrower, Ol ...

, Kurts,

Teodors Teodors is a Latvian masculine given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person fro ...

and Alfrēds Plade) also played for the Latvia national team.

References

Association football clubs established in 1909 Association football clubs disestablished in 1934 Defunct football clubs in Latvia Football clubs in Riga 1909 establishments in the Russian Empire 1934 disestablishments in Latvia {{Latvia-footyclub-stub