Futbola klubs Auda is 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 ...

n professional

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, playing in the

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 Footbal ...

, the highest division of domestic football. They are based in

Ķekava Ķekava (historical ) is a city in Latvia, in the historical region of Vidzeme. It is on the left side of the , a tributary of the Daugava River. Ķekava serves as the center of Ķekava Municipality and Ķekava Parish. Etymology According to ...

, near the capital

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 ...

. Auda won their first ever major trophy in the final of the

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 ...

History

The history of ''Auda'' goes back to 1969, when the football team of the

kolhoz A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz. These were the two components of the socialized farm sector that began to em ...

''9. maijs'' first appeared in the lower divisions of the Latvian championships. This team played its matches in

Vecmīlgrāvis Vecmīlgrāvis is a neighbourhood in Riga, the capital of Latvia, located in the northern part of the city, about 12–14 km from the city centre. From 1203 until 1305 the present Vecmīlgrāvis territory belonged to the Daugavgrīva Abbe ...

in Alberts Šeibelis Stadium, named after the former

Latvia national football team The Latvia national football team () represents Latvia in men's international Association football, football, and is controlled by the Latvian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Latvia. They have never qualified for the FIF ...

captain

Alberts Šeibelis Alberts Šeibelis (26 December 1906 – 12 April 1972) was a Latvian footballer, one of the most popular Latvian footballers in the era before World War II. In 54 matches for Latvia he scored 14 goals Biography Šeibelis was born in the provinci ...

. The club played in the lower divisions of Latvian football, its only seasons in the

top league Japan Rugby League One (), formerly known as the Top League (), is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by ...

came in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

–

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

but those also did not bring good results. In the late 1980s, the name of the kolhoz and the football team was changed to ''Auda''. In

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

, under the management of Valerijs Leitāns and

Juris Docenko The Juris (also ''Juri'', ''Yuri'') were a tribe of South American Indigenous people, formerly occupying the country between the rivers Içá (lower Putumayo) and Yapura, north-western Brazil. In ancient days they were the most powerful tribe of ...

, ''Auda'' made its debut in the top division of the Latvian championships, the ''Virslīga''. In a competition among 20 teams, Auda finished 15th. The following season, the team RFK was reformed on the basis of the Auda squad. Under this name the team, including many young players, participated in 1. līga (the second division of Latvian football). But results which would correspond to the name of RFK did not come so in 1995, the team reverted to its former name of ''Auda''. The following three years it played in the third division, the 2. līga. In 1996, ''Auda'' was a completely new team which played in the 2nd division. In 1997, the young Auda players won their third division zone, but in the finals in two games lost to the

FK Valmiera Valmiera Football Club is a Latvian professional football club playing in the Altero.lv LIIGA, the third highest division in the Latvian football league system. The club is based in the city of Valmiera. By winning the Latvian First League i ...

reserve team. After several years in this league, Auda finished first in 2001 and were promoted to the

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 F ...

. After three seasons in the top tier, in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Auda was relegated back to the 1st division. On 15 October 2005, Auda played its first game at its new stadium in

. In 2007, ''FK Auda'' and ''FK Alberts'' merged into a new club - ''FK Auda/Alberts.'' After a long stint in the First League, Auda achieved promotion once again and returned to the Virslīga in 2022. On 19 October 2022, ''Auda'' won their first ever major trophy by beating RFS 1–0 in the final of the

. This also secured them European football for the first time in their history. In the

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

season, under

Simo Valakari Simo Johannes Valakari (born 28 April 1973) is a Finnish football manager and a former international football player. He is currently the manager of Scottish Championship side St Johnstone. Playing career Club Valakari played in the youth sector ...

, Auda finished 3rd in the league and qualified for the

2024–25 UEFA Conference League The 2024–25 UEFA Conference League was the fourth season of the UEFA Conference League, Europe's tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA. From this season, the competition was renamed from the UEFA Europa Conference League to the ...

qualifiers. At the end of the season, Valakari departed for

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 ...

and Filipe Almeida from Portugal took over as the new head coach. Slovenian

Zoran Zeljković Zoran Zeljković (born 9 May 1980) is a Slovenian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Russian club Rodina Moscow. He made one appearance for the Slovenia national team, in 2008 against Sweden. Honours Do ...

led the team through the

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

season, but was replaced by Jurģis Kalns before the start of the

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

season. During this time, Auda switched from playing in Ķekava to the more spacious

Skonto Stadium Skonto Stadium () is a football stadium in Riga, Latvia. The stadium was built in 2000 and currently has 8,087 seats in total (open for spectators & VIP guests on matchdays). It is the 2nd-largest stadium in Latvia, behind Daugava Stadium, also ...

in Riga, with occasional home matches played in Mežaparks Sports Village in

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 ...

European record

;Notes * QR: Qualifying round

Honours

**Winners:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

***Runner-up:

**3rd place:

;

Players

First-team squad

Out on loan

References

External links

* {{Latvian Higher League Auda Alberts

Auda .au Domain Administration (auDA) is the policy authority and industry self-regulatory body for the .au, .au domain, which is the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Australia. It was formed in 1999 to manage the .au ccTLD with the endorse ...

1991 establishments in Latvia