FK Rīgas Futbola skola
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| File:Rigas Futbola skola logo.png | |||
| Full name | Rīgas Futbola Skola | ||
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| Founded | 1962 | ||
| Ground | NSB Arkādija Riga, Latvia |
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| Manager | Jurijs Popkovs | ||
| League | First League | ||
| 2014 | 5th | ||
| Website | Club home page | ||
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Rīgas Futbola skola is a Latvian football club from Riga, which participated in the Latvian First League. Formerly known as Daugava, the team was one of the strongest in Latvian football, where most of the country's top players played, but with the collapse of the Soviet Union the team ceased to exist. The latest chapter in the history of "Daugava" began when the well-known Latvian football coach Vladimir Belaev and the former Daugava player, who is at present a football agent, Andrei Baharev, decided to re-develop the popular football club in the city of Riga. They chose to develop FC Daugava and its own players through establishing a youth program. From 2003 the "kids of Daugava" won all levels of the Latvian leagues and were promoted into the Latvian top league in 2008, but were relegated in 2011. Over 200 youth players are in the "Daugava Riga" program. Still it can be debated whether FK Daugava Riga or Daugava Daugavpils could be considered the successor to the Daugava and Pārdaugava teams of the 1940s-1990s. The brand and logo of FK Daugava Riga is the property of Andrei Baharev, but the name "Daugava" can be used freely.
History
Daugava was founded in 1944. It had its debut in the Latvian championship in 1946 by finishing 5th among 8 teams. In 1948 Daugava joined FC Dinamo Rīga as the second team from Latvia to play in the Soviet First League. For the 1949 season thanks to a changes in the tournament system Daugava was promoted to the Soviet Top League where it managed to remain for 4 seasons until being relegated in 1952.
The following years brought more and more disappointments for Daugava with the team failing to leave an impression among Class B squads. However, in 1960 the team once again had the opportunity to play against the top Soviet teams - thanks to another decision from above. The first season there was by far the best - the 12th position among 22 teams, including 2 wins against the eventual league winners - Torpedo Moscow. This season was one of the best for Georgijs Smirnovs, it also was one of the best for the Lithuanian goalkeeper Vladas Tučkus who had won the Soviet Championship in 1956 with Spartak Moscow but had trouble recapturing his previous form afterwards.
However, the next 2 seasons in Class A were less successful and in 1962 Daugava was relegated back to Class B (although it was officially renamed to Class A Second Group, essentially it was the second league). In 1967 Daugava was very close to promotion to Class A - it finished second after Dynamo Kirovabad and a win with a four-goal difference in the last match would have put Daugava first, however a missed penalty from Gunārs Ulmanis and a rather bleak second half of the last match didn't let that happen.
The failure to get a promotion to the top division brought changes to the Daugava team with the results getting worse from year to year and in 1971 Daugava was relegated to the Second League (third division of Soviet football) where it joined another Latvian team - Zvejnieks Liepāja. Climbing back the first league proved to be a tough task - despite being close to the top every season only in 1975 Daugava managed to get a promotion. That season saw the emergence of Sergey Shavlo who later became a key player for Spartak Moscow. However, after just a year Daugava was back in the second division and remained there until 1981 when under the management of Jānis Skredelis it proved itself significantly stronger than the rest of the second division squads.
The first years back in the first division brought mixed results until in 1985 Daugava won the 1st division and was as close to returning to the top league as ever. But it wasn't enough - as the top division was shortened after the 1985 season Daugava had to participate in a playoff tournament where it finished last despite a draw and a win against CSKA Moscow. The next season Daugava was again close to promotion but lost several points because of the "draws limit" (no points were awarded for drawn games for teams which had reached the draws limit). Financial difficulties had Daugava relegated to the second division in 1989, in 1991 the team was back in the first division under the name of "Pārdaugava" and finished last there. Since it was also the end for the Soviet Union, Pārdaugava joined the Latvian Virslīga. In 1995 with the bankruptcy of its sponsors Pārdaugava ceased to exist.
Another team under the name of Daugava Rīga appeared in 1996 but it cannot be really considered a successor to the "original" Daugava team as it came into existence in the form of a name change to the former Torpedo Rīga, but it also went bankrupt in 2000. Later the name of Daugava emerged again in its current status as a youth squad as it does not have the original Daugava logo and is not an official successor to Pārdaugava either. In 2007 FC Ditton from Daugavpils changed its name to FK Daugava Daugavpils and took up the old Daugava logo, still it could be debated which of the new Daugavas should be considered the successor to the old one.
Players
Current squad
- As of 26 March 2015
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Notable players
External links
- (Latvian) Official website
