FK Metta

FK Metta (also called FK Metta/Latvijas Universitāte from 2007 till the end of 2018 season) is a professional Latvian football club in Riga. As of 2012 they play in the Latvian Higher League. Metta play their home games at Daugava Stadium. Until June 2018, their home venue was the Riga Hanza Secondary School Stadium.[1]

FK Metta
Full nameFutbola Klubs METTA
(Football Club METTA)
Founded2 May 2006
GroundDaugava Stadium, Riga
Capacity10,461
ChairmanĢirts Mihelsons
ManagerAndris Riherts
LeagueVirsliga
20229th
WebsiteClub website

History

FS Metta was officially founded on May 2, 2006, though the club had been active in youth tournaments since 2000. In 2007 FS Metta and University of Latvia (Latvijas Universitāte) merged as a senior professional team and participated in the Latvian Championship first division (Traffic 1. līga). They finished the season in the fourth position. The club remained at the same level for the next four seasons. Though a professional club, Metta retained the prefix FS (Futbola Skola), since their policy was to invest in youth players. In 2011 Metta won the Latvian First League championship and were automatically promoted to the Latvian Higher League – the top tier of Latvian football.[2]

The affiliation with the university provides the club with a greater financial backing and the players with the opportunity, if wanted, to study at the most prestigious Latvian University. The club was created with the aim to gather the greatest youth talents from across the country and surrounding areas to build and shape them into expensive players for sale to bigger clubs.[3]

In 2020 FK Metta were the youngest top-tier team in Europe.[4] At the end of the season, the team's average age was 19,5.[5]

In September 2020, FK Metta forward Raimonds Krollis made his debut for the Latvia national football team.[6] He became the first-ever player that has gone through the whole FK Metta academy and played for the Senior national team.

Patron of the University of Latvia

Football school "Metta" is a silver patron of the University of Latvia Foundation. They have supported the University of Latvia since 2016, donating to the football system and scholarships.[7]

Participation in Latvian Championships

Season Division (Name) Pos./Teams Pl. W D L GS GA P Latvian Football Cup
2007 2nd (1.līga) 4/(16) 30 18 7 5 67 23 61 1/8 finals
2008 2nd (1.līga) 5/(15) 28 13 9 6 43 27 48 1/8 finals
2009 2nd (1.līga) 6/(14) 26 13 6 7 47 19 45 Not Held
2010 2nd (1.līga) 5/(12) 22 10 6 6 42 25 36 1/8 finals
2011 2nd (1.līga) 1/(13) 24 17 5 2 61 14 56 1/8 finals
2012 1st (Virslīga) 8(10) 36 7 8 21 39 82 29 1/8 finals
2013 1st (Virslīga) 9(10) 27 4 7 16 15 47 19 1/16 finals
2014 1st (Virslīga) 9(10) 36 3 7 26 26 69 16 1/16 finals
2015 1st (Virslīga) 7(8) 24 3 3 18 19 56 12 1/4 finals
2016 1st (Virslīga) 7(8) 28 8 6 14 32 47 30 1/4 finals
2017 1st (Virslīga) 7(8) 24 3 6 15 21 46 15 1/4 finals
2018 1st (Virslīga) 7(8) 28 5 4 19 24 52 19 1/2 finals
2019 1st (Virslīga) 9(9) 32 6 8 18 35 60 26 1/8 finals
2020 1st (Virslīga) 9(10) 27 4 4 19 22 55 16 1/8 finals

Honours

Managers

  • Latvia Andris Riherts (02.05.2006 – 09.06.2021)
  • Latvia Andrejs Gluščuks (11.06.2021 – present)

Current players

First-team squad

As of 9 April, 2023 [8] 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 Latvia LVA Jānis Beks
2 DF Latvia LVA Gabriels Kirkils
3 DF Latvia LVA Normunds Uldriķis
4 MF Lithuania LTU Kristupas Keršys
5 DF Georgia (country) GEO Zurab Rukhadze [9]
6 MF Latvia LVA Oskars Vientiess
7 FW Senegal SEN Mohamet Corréa
8 MF Senegal SEN Ousmane Sow
9 FW Latvia LVA Artjoms Puzirevskis
10 MF Latvia LVA Lūkass Vapne
11 FW Latvia LVA Bruno Melnis
12 GK Latvia LVA Alvis Sorokins
No. Pos. Nation Player
13 MF Latvia LVA Tomass Zants
14 MF Latvia LVA Noa Meroža
15 MF Latvia LVA Daņiils Čiņajevs
16 DF Latvia LVA Kārlis Vilnis
18 DF Latvia LVA Mikus Vasilevskis
20 MF Latvia LVA Emils Aizpurietis
21 MF Latvia LVA Kristofers Rēķis
22 DF Latvia LVA Rendijs Šibass
24 GK Latvia LVA Ņikita Parfjonovs
26 MF Ukraine UKR Oleksandr Kurtsev
27 DF Latvia LVA Vladislavs Fjodorovs

Player of the year

Season Player
2006 Latvia Jānis Kauss
2007 Latvia Vladimirs Cīmanis
2008 Latvia Ivars Gailis
2009 Latvia Marsels Vapne
2010 Latvia Juris Skābardis
2011 Latvia Rūdolfs Puķītis
2012 Latvia Mārtiņš Milašēvičs
2013 Latvia Gatis Kalniņš
2014 Latvia Edgars Vardanjans
2015 Latvia Eduards Emsis
2016 Latvia Roberts Uldriķis
2017 Latvia Dāvis Indrāns
2019 Latvia Dāvis Ošs
2019 South Africa Kgotso Masangane
2020 Latvia Raimonds Krollis
2021 Latvia Lūkass Vapne
2022 Latvia Jānis Beks

Club officials

Board of directors

  • General secretary: Ģirts Mihelsons
  • Executive Director: Maira Mihelsone

Coaching staff

  • Manager: Andrejs Gluščuks
  • Coach: Andrejs Karpovs
  • Coach: Viktors Mazurs
  • Fitness Coach: Jānis Skābardis
  • Second team coach: Jānis Goba
  • Goalkeeping Coach: Artūrs Biezais

Medical staff

  • Physiotherapist: Sergejs Davidovičs
  • Physiotherapist: Ēriks Čuhnovs

Staff

  • Press Officer: Miks Vilkaplāters
  • PR manager: Rihards Krēvics
  • Technical manager: Harijs Toms

Shirt sponsors and manufacturers

Period Kit manufacturer Shirt Sponsor
2007 United States Nike Latvia Deac
2008 Latvia Elko
2009 Latvia Deac
2010
2011
2012 Latvia SMScredit.lv
2013
2014 none
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021

References

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