FK Ventspils

FK Ventspils
	FK Ventspils emblem
Full name	Futbola Klubs Ventspils
Nickname(s)	Dzeltenzilie, Жёлто-Синие (Yellow-Blue)
Founded	1997
Ground	Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions,; Ventspils, Latvia
Capacity	3,200
Chairman	Jurijs Bespalovs
Manager	Roman Grigorshuk
League	Virsliga
2008	Virsliga, 1st
Home colours	Away colours

FK Ventspils is a Latvian Virsliga football team. The club's home ground is the 3,200 capacity Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions in Ventspils, Latvia. In total, FK Ventspils have won three league titles and four Latvian Cups. At the end of the 2006, 2007 and 2008 seasons, they became Virsliga champions.

History

FK Ventspils was founded in 1997 with the merger of two former Ventspils clubs - FK Venta and FK Nafta. Its predecessor Venta was one of the leading clubs in the Latvian league in 1960s.

FK Venta

In 1963 Ventspils gained a place and rights to play in Latvian championship Virsliga. The next major achievement for "Venta" came in 1967, when it won the Latvian Cup. In 1969 "Venta" were champions of Latvia, in that season "Venta" got 43 points, 20 matches won, 3 drawn and 3 lost. In 1970s the team lost its positions, in 1980s lost its financial support and became defunct for some years. In 1994 Venta returned to 1. liga but after the season many players left the club as FK Nafta was formed. Until the merger Venta played in 1. liga.

FK Nafta

FK Nafta was formed in 1995, in the first season the club won its 2nd league division and earned a promotion to the 1st league. In its only season there the club finished higher than FK Venta. After the season the teams merged to form FK Ventspils

FK Ventspils

The history of the current FK Ventspils started in 1997 with the merger of Venta and Nafta. Since that time FK Ventspils has become one of the strongest Latvian clubs and it has won Virslīga in both 2006 and 2007.

Before that in 2003 FK Ventspils won the Latvian Cup for the first time . Also in 2004 and in 2005 FK Ventspils won the trophy, but only managed to finish second or third in the Latvian first division championship (Virsliga.) Finally in 2006 Roman Grigorshuk, the head coach from Ukraine, took the team to the league championship. Before him, the team was managed by Russian coach Boris Sinicin, an English coach Paul Anthony Ashworth, a Lithuanian coach Šauļus Širmalis and a local Latvian coach, Sergejs Semjonovs.

FK Ventspils has also made it's mark in UEFA Cup history. They debuted in the Intertoto cup in 1999, when they beat Norwegian club Vålerenga over two legs. After that FK Ventspils only participated in the UEFA Cup, playing against a number of major clubs such as German side VfB Stuttgart, Norwegian side Rosenborg B.K., Danish club Brøndby IF and the English club Newcastle United. The draw in the away match against Newcastle (0:0) could be counted as FK Ventspils highest achievement after the LMT Virslīga 2006 championship win. FK Ventspils participated in the UEFA Champions League for the first time in 2007.

Honours

Virsliga winners
- 2006, 2007, 2008
Virsliga runners-up
- 2000, 2001, 2002
Latvian Cup winners
- 2003, 2004, 2005

Livonia Cup winners
- 2007

CIS Cup runners-up
- 2007

Participation in Latvian Championships

2008 - champions
2007 - champions
2006 - champions
2005 - 3rd
2004 - 3rd
2003 - 3rd
2002 - 2nd
2001 - 2nd
2000 - 2nd
1999 - 3rd
1998 - 3rd
1997 - 4th

Participation in UEFA cups

UEFA Champions League

2008
- First Qualifying Round
  - Jul 15 Llanelli A.F.C. (Wales)0-1
  - Jul 22 Llanelli A.F.C. 2-0
- Second Qualifying Round
  - Jul 30 Brann (Norway) 1-0
  - Aug 5 Brann (Latvia) 2-1
2007
- First Qualifying Round
  - Jul 17 The New Saints F.C. (TNS) (Wales) 2:3
  - Jul 25 The New Saints F.C. 2:1
- Second Qualifying Round
  - Aug 01 FC Red Bull Salzburg (Austria) 0:3
  - Aug 08 FC Red Bull Salzburg 0:4

UEFA cup

2006
- First Qualifying Phase
  - Jul 13 GÍ Gøta (Faroe Islands)2:1
  - Jul 27 GÍ Gøta 2:0
- Second Qualifying Phase
  - Aug 10 Newcastle United (England) 0:1
  - Aug 24 Newcastle United 0:0
2005
- First Qualifying Phase
  - Jul 14 Linfield (Northern Ireland) 0:1
  - Jul 28 Linfield 2:1
2004
- First Qualifying Phase
  - Jul 15 B68 (Toftir) (Faroe Islands) 3:0
  - Jul 29 B68 (Toftir) 8:0
- Second Qualifying Phase
  - Aug 12 Brøndby IF (Denmark) 0:0
  - Aug 26 Brøndby IF 1:1
- First Round
  - Sep 16 Amica Wronki (Poland) 1:1
  - Sep 30 Amica Wronki 0:1
2003
- Qualifying Phase
  - Aug 14 Wisła Płock (Poland) 1:1
  - Aug 28 Wisła Płock 2:2
- First Round
  - Sep 24 Rosenborg BK (Trondheim) (Norway) 1:4
  - Oct 15 Rosenborg BK (Trondheim) 0:6
2002
- Qualifying Phase
  - Aug 15 FC Lugano (Switzerland) 3:0
  - Aug 29 FC Lugano 0:1
- First Round
  - Sep 19 VfB Stuttgart (Germany) 1:4
  - Oct 03 VfB Stuttgart 1:4
2001
- Qualifying Phase
  - Aug 09 HJK Helsinki (Finland) 1:2
  - Aug 23 HJK Helsinki 0:1
2000
- Qualifying Phase
  - Aug 10 Vasas (Budapest) (Hungary) 2:1
  - Aug 24 Vasas (Budapest) 1:3

UEFA Intertoto Cup

1999
- Round 1
  - Jun 19 Vålerenga IF (Norway) 0:1
  - Jun 26 Vålerenga IF 2:0
- Round 2
  - Jul 03 Kocaelispor (Turkey) 1:1
  - Jul 10 Kocaelispor 0:2

Players

Current squad

As of March 14, 2009 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	LVA	Māris Eltermanis
2	DF	LVA	Aleksejs Soleičuks
3	MF	LVA	Visvaldis Ignatans
4	MF	LVA	Jurijs Žigajevs
5	MF	LVA	Jevgēņijs Kosmačovs
6	MF	LVA	Artis Lazdiņš
7	DF	SRB	Saša Cilinšek
8	DF	LVA	Deniss Kačanovs
9	FW	LVA	Vits Rimkus
10	MF	GEO	Zurab Menteshashvili
11	MF	LVA	Aleksejs Višņakovs
12	DF	LVA	Igors Savčenkovs


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
14	FW	RUS	Ivan Shpakov
15	FW	RUS	Grigori Chirkin
16	GK	LVA	Andris Vaņins
17	DF	CMR	Jean-Paul Ndeki
19	MF	RUS	Aleksandr Misikov
20	FW	MDA	Alexandru Dedov
22	FW	MDA	Igor Tsigirlash
23	DF	LVA	Vladimirs Bespalovs
25	FW	LVA	Ritvars Rugins
30	GK	LVA	Andrejs Pavlovs
32	FW	LVA	Andrejs Butriks
—	GK	LVA	Diguļovs Sergejs

Famous players

Managers

Figures correct as of July 19 2007.

External links

Official website

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