Olimpija Rīga 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 based in

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 ...

that played in the Latvian

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 ...

from 1992 to 1995.

History

The club was founded in 1992 as Kompar-Daugava, using the name of the former FK Daugava in addition to the sponsors name of the new club. In the club's first season at Virslīga, they finished in fifth place during its first season in Virslīga. Jurijs Hudjakovs was named the best goalscorer of the club,

Dzintars Sproģis Dzintars Sproģis (born 13 May 1971) is a former Latvian football defender. Sproģis was recognized as the best defender in the first season of Virslīga. Playing biography Dzintars Sproģis came from a sporting family - his father Aivars play ...

was named the best defender in the Latvian league. The same year, Kompar-Daugava also reached the

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 W ...

final, losing 1–0 in extra time in the final against

Skonto FC Skonto FC was a Latvian professional Association football, football club, active from 1991 until 2016. The club played at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Skonto won the Virsliga in the first 14 seasons of the league's resumption (15 in total), and o ...

. In 1993, the club was renamed to Olimpija Rīga, after the Riga Olimpija bank, which financed the club. The new government brought serious money to the club which now had one of the best squads in Latvia. In 1993, Olimpija were runners-up, of Virslīga, finishing second behind

. Goalkeeper

Ēriks Grigjans Ēriks Grigjans (born 25 December 1964) is a retired Latvian football goalkeeper. References

1964 births Living people Soviet men's footballers Latvian men's footballers FK Liepājas Metalurgs players Valmiera FC players FK Rīga playe ...

and midfield

Andrejs Štolcers Andrejs Štolcers (born 8 July 1974) is a Latvian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Club career Born in Riga, Latvia, Štolcers started his career for Olimpija Rīga. He played there for two years from 199 ...

were both nominated the best in the league in their respective positions. For the 1994 season, Olimpija acquired Latvia national team goalkeeper

Oļegs Karavajevs Oļegs Karavajevs (13 February 1961 – 6 October 2020) was a Latvian professional association football, footballer who played as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. He was the goalkeeper who made the most appearances for the Latvia ...

. The club finished in fourth place in the league, but won the Latvian Football Cup, after a 2–0 win against Dag Rīga. In 1995, most of its best players left the club as the bank that sponsored the club was on its way to

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

. In the league, they finished in ninth place from ten teams and after the season, the club became defunct. In its management over the few seasons of the clubs, existence worked several of the most noted football managers in Latvia including Jānis Skredelis,

Aleksandrs Starkovs Aleksandrs Starkovs (born 26 July 1955) is a Latvian football coach and a former footballer who played as a forward. Most recently he coached FK Liepāja. Starkovs has managed clubs such as Spartak Moscow in Russia, FK Baku in Azerbaijan and ...

and Vladimirs Žuks.

Honours

: 1 **1994

European history

References

Defunct football clubs in Latvia Association football clubs established in 1992 Association football clubs disestablished in 1995 Football clubs in Riga 1992 establishments in Latvia 1995 disestablishments in Latvia {{Latvia-footyclub-stub

History

Honours

European history

See also

References