This week, Baltic football takes center stage in Europe! Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian clubs are gearing up for crucial clashes in both the UEFA Champions League and the Conference League qualifiers.What to look out for:-The Baltic derby between Levadia and RFS in the Champions League-Žalgiris Vilnius battling Hamrun Spartans from Malta-Kauno Žalgiris heavy favorites against Penybont of Wales-Nõmme Kalju, Daugavpils, Hegelmann, Auda, and Flora Tallinn chasing Conference League success-Key od...
Jul 08, 2025•5 min•Season 3Ep. 9
In this episode, we catch up on the Baltics leagues to see What's Hot and What's Not in Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian football before delving into the hype and opportunities of Artificial Intelligence in football - from how it's been used elsewhere to what are the potential use cases in the context of the Baltics.(00:02:00) Riga FC are Hot(00:04:22) Riga FC Women are HOT!!(00:08:00) FS Jelgava are Hot(00:09:52) FK Suduva are Hot(00:14:00) Kauno Zalgiris are Hot (and Vilnius Zalgiris are Not h...
May 20, 2025•1 hr•Season 3Ep. 8
Recent weeks kicked up some alarming news about the President of the Estonian FA allegedly blacklisting referees he doesn't like and the owners of FK Riteriai allegedly embezzling funds intended for running of the club. As we unpack all of this and catch up on the football side of things across the A Lyga, Virslīga and the Premium liiga, these developments also promted us to take a closer look at the quality of governance in football in the Baltics. Hence, the 'Dodgy Governance Index' was born, ...
Apr 18, 2025•1 hr•Season 3Ep. 7
Baltic football is now underway, so we catch-up on what’s been happening before the first international break of 2025 – whether it’s the surprising results in Estonia, edge-of-your seat friction in Latvia, and absolute mayhem in Lithuania, the start of the season in the region is exceeding all expectations. For the second part of the episode, Frank sits down with the President of the Latvian Football Federation, Vadims Ļašenko, to find out about the plans and activities around developing profess...
Mar 16, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Season 3Ep. 6
Football in the Baltics is finally back! As A Lyga, Virsliga and Premium liiga are all about to kick off, we offer a quick, 3-in-1 preview to this year's season in each of the Baltic nations. From how we got to where we are, to who are the players to watch, to our predictions for each of the competitions in 30 minutes or less - we got you covered! (00:01:01) A Lyga season preview(00:07:17) A Lyga players to watch(00:10:45) A Lyga 2025 predictions(00:11:10) Virsliga season preview(00:17:34) Virsl...
Feb 25, 2025•28 min•Season 3Ep. 5
In this ultimate superhero showdown of Baltic Football News, the podcast team takes on the editorial team to find out who knows more about football in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia (or whether any of us know anything at all!)!Do you think you could do better? Share how many of the questions you got right in the comments below! For all information about Baltic football in English and for latest football news from the region, including Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian players abroad, visit www.bal...
Feb 08, 2025•31 min•Season 3Ep. 4
It's time to talk about Baltic football. Why care about Baltic football, you may ask? It is exciting. It is unpredictable. It is accessible. And, it is authentic. For us, it is also local and we are very excited to expand our aperture to include Lithuania and Estonia to our previous coverage of Latvia. Whether you reside in one of the Baltic states and want to learn about what's going on next door or you are one of our many international listeners with great taste in football, we and our pan-Bal...
Feb 01, 2025•35 min•Season 3Ep. 3
The Europa league stage is set to conclude with an intriguing clash between two teams that know one another quite well - FC RFS and FC Dynamo Kyiv. While both teams got some results in their previous match (RFS beating Ajax 1-0 and Dynamo drawing Galatasaray 3-3) both are also eliminated and have nothing but respect and UEFA money and coefficient points to play for. For this final episode of this unexpectedly, yet delightfully long series on next opponents of Latvian clubs in Europe which starte...
Jan 28, 2025•25 min•Season 3Ep. 2
On January 23, 2025, FC RFS will take on Dutch giants AFC Ajax in the Europa League at the Daugava Stadium, with over 2,500 Ajax supporters expected to travel to Riga. For RFS, who have never played competitive football in January, preventing Ajax from coming away with 3 points will be a monumental challenge. As anticipation builds, we explore what the Latvian champions and their fans can expect from this formidable Ajax side. To learn more, we interviewed Thijs Zwagerman - journalist for the ES...
Jan 19, 2025•22 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Europa league continues and Riga is about to welcome Greek champions PAOK as they travel to a snowy Latvia to challenge FC RFS this Thursday. Latvian champions, of course, are undefeated at home, so this one should be extra interesting! To find out more about PAOK, we sat down with Dimitris Vasilakos from Betarades.gr and the "You'll never stand alone' podcast. MANSCAPED.COM know that our listeners are some of the most attractive human beings out there and they want to do their bit to help other...
Nov 25, 2024•25 min•Season 2Ep. 18
Virsliga season 2024 is over and what a ride it's been! RFS won the League and the Cup, Valmiera almost ceased to exist, and Daugavpils made a legitimate run for Europe! We sit down to review the ups and the downs, to reflect on our start-of-season predictions and review how our 'players to watch' did, to award our season awards, and to ponder on what to look forward to next year! (00:02:05) End-of-season table review (00:19:25) Reflecting on our start-of-season predictions (00:25:44) How did ou...
Nov 16, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 2Ep. 17
We sit down with one of the Metta Academy coaches - James Prieditis, former coach at Huddersfield, Rochdale and Burnley - to talk about Latvian football, youth development, things to consider when picking an academy for your child, and about his extraordinary connection with Latvia. *please note that the original interview was about twice longer, but we lost half the footage due to a technical glitch :( Would you like to look as slick as James? Our friends at Manscaped have you covered with a ra...
Oct 31, 2024•17 min•Season 2Ep. 16
Matchday 3 of Europa League 2024/2025 is here and RFS are heading out to Germany, to play one of the most formidable teams on their fixture list - Eintracht Frankfurt. A club with 125 year history and a 58000 capacity stadium, which is expected to be sold out, is a proper powerhouse of European football. To learn more about them, their style of play, and their famous fans, we are joined by Oliver Schliegl, a football agent and former CEO of Latvian Virsliga, to share his unique experience of bei...
Oct 23, 2024•25 min•Season 2Ep. 15
With only four rounds to go, there is no shortage of drama and excitement remaining in Virsliga 2024! Whether it is last minute coach changes at Riga FC, seemingly unbeatable RFS, emergent Metta and resurgent Liepaja, failing Valmiera or Grobina in a free-fall, the conclusion of this season is promising to be emotional! (02:50) Riga rumours and Simo Valakari departure (09:45) The Latvian Cup - all that happened, scores and misfortunes (14:00) The cup curses - PPK and Grobina (20:55) Do Daugavpil...
Oct 17, 2024•39 min•Season 2Ep. 14
Europa league is underway and one of the largest clubs in the world is about to visit Riga for RFS’s first home fixture at the almost fully sold out Daugava stadium. We are, of course, talking about Turkish Galatasaray! To learn about what we could expect from visiting supporters, as well as to catch up on how Galatasaray currently play, their strengths and weaknesses, Frank sat down with Ahmet Atasoy of the Tottiler Messiler podcast (@messiler)! Our friends at Manscaped have a range of new prod...
Oct 02, 2024•23 min•Season 2Ep. 13
RFS, Auda, Riga FC and Liepaja delivered a long and generally very successful qualification campaign in Europe, culminating with RFS making history by qualifying for the Europa League league stage, where they will face Galatasaray, Anderlecht, PAOK, Ajax, FCSB, Eintracht Frankfurt and Maccabi Tel-Aviv! But with all this excitement, we feel that Virsliga got a bit neglected, so, in this episode, we catch up on what's been going on during the summer! (00:00) Table update (19:57) Niang to USG! (22:...
Sep 05, 2024•40 min•Season 2Ep. 12
And then there was one! With Auda unable to hold on to their first leg advantage against FC Drita from Kosovo and losing 3-2 in the second leg away, it is now up to RFS to represent Latvia in Europe! And they will whatever the outcome of the final qualification round but, having already qualified for the Conference League, wouldn't it be nice to up the ante and take it all the way to the Europa League? With only the Cypriot champions APOEL in the way, we are joined by Stel from the This is Mappa...
Aug 17, 2024•31 min•Season 2Ep. 11
We continue to reflect on how Latvian clubs performed in the European competitions, where three Riga teams played against clubs from Norway, Poland, and Northern Ireland: Bodo/Glimt, Śląsk Wrocław, and Cliftonville. One game won, one game lost, and one game broke our hearts... We then look ahead to the upcoming Europa league QR3 match between FC RFS and Andorran champions UE Santa Coloma, and Frank interviews Eljon Kastrati of Kosovo Football (@FootballKosovo) about FK Auda's Conference League Q...
Aug 07, 2024•47 min•Season 2Ep. 10
European cup qualification rounds 1 are behind us and the highlight is RFS breaking the 15-year long curse of Latvian clubs not progressing past QR1 of the Champions League by convincingly beating Northern Irish Champions Larne FC 7-0 on aggregate! FK Auda also made history by winning their first ever European game and by progressing through a European qualification round for the first time, beating Faroese B36 Torshavn 3-0 on aggregate. Liepaja didn't make it (unsurprisingly) and Riga FC only s...
Jul 19, 2024•46 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Champions of Northern Ireland - Larne FC - have been drawn as Champions League Qualification Round 1 opponents of Latvian Champions FC RFS. But who are this red and white team from just north of Belfast and what are they all about? We are joined by Brian Haveron, a Larne FC supporter of more than 50 years, to introduce us to his club, it's history, and it's role in the local community of just under 20000 residents. For a more analytical approach, check out this analysis by our friend at Latvian ...
Jul 05, 2024•30 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Baltic Cup - contested every two years by Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia - is the second (or third) oldest international competition in the world, and the oldest one still running. Older than the FIFA World Cup by 2 years and than UEFA EUROs by 30 years, the Baltic Cup is a fascinating event that not only mirrors the histories of the three Baltic states, but also features some of the most hilarious controversies you'll find in international football. To learn more about all this, we are joined by...
Jul 02, 2024•28 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Much has happened during the international break, which brought us to the halfway point of Virsliga 2024. In this episode, we catch up on the competition and the surrounding news, as well as take a first look at the Champions League and the Conference League draws for the Latvian clubs. (00:01:05) Table update (00:09:24) FC RFS - Riga FC, the Big Riga Derby (00:13:54) Kalns leaves Valmiera FC for Visakha FC (00:20:09) Almeida sacked from FK Auda, replaced by Zeljkovic (00:24:44) Transfer rumours...
Jun 19, 2024•48 min
Who are the supporter groups - the Ultras - of Virsliga? In this episode, we delve into the very public yet poorly understood and, in some cases, deliberately concealed world of Latvian Ultras to find out more about who they are, how they function and what they are all about. Additionally, we are joined by football statistician David Parkes to talk about what are club and league coefficients and how they affect clubs and fans from season to season. All of this, of course, after we catch up on th...
May 15, 2024•1 hr 53 min
Virsliga 2024 is up and running and we sit down to look back at the first five rounds of what is proving to be a truly unpredictable, dynamic and highly competitive league this year! We also put FK Liepaja under the microscope and discuss possible causes of their poor performance as well as offer our Best XI for March-April. (00:01:02) Reflections on the first 5 rounds (00:10:41) Impactful players (00:17:51) Teams to watch (especially if you are new to the league!) (00:21:35) What's wrong with F...
Apr 13, 2024•1 hr 18 min
Virsliga 2024 is upon us and so is the second year of the podcast. In this episode, we introduce some changes to the format and composition of the show, talk about major news from pre-season, and introduce the upcoming eight months of highly anticipated Latvian club football! We think this is going to be the best season yet, so tune in to find out why! (00:00) New cast and new format (02:44) Paolo Nicolato - new Latvia coach (07:51) The failed Leevon Saldus takeover (11:32) Livonian Winter Leagu...
Mar 06, 2024•1 hr 22 min
As the first run of the Livonian Winter League - an international pre-season competition between 24 Latvian and Estonian clubs - comes to a close with a narrow victory for Latvia, we sit down with the Estonian Football Podcast to reflect on the competition, the good and the bad things about it, as well as to have a general chat about the state of Latvian and Estonian association football, not forgetting to briefly discuss the Baltic League idea and the Estonian resistance to it. Tune in, enjoy o...
Feb 26, 2024•51 min
The Baltic League is a pioneering cross-border league project within the UEFA, meant to unite and enlarge the football markets and competitive levels of Latvian, Estonian and Lithuanian clubs. But while there are many things that make a great deal of sense about the proposal spearheaded by the Latvian Virsliga, many questions, concerns and even sources of political resistance remain. Pivoting off of the Livonian Winter League, Nick Ames, The Guardian's European sport correspondent, travelled to ...
Feb 22, 2024•38 min
What does the Virsliga look like to a Latvia-based Welshman and how did he come to support Valmiera FC? Frank Marr joins the show to talk about his love of football, the good and the bad things about Latvian football and the Latvian National Team (NB. this episode was recorded before the appointment of Paolo Nicolato), and about his vision for the future growth of association football in Latvia and in the Baltics!
Feb 16, 2024•24 min
Dmitrijs sits down with Charlotte Patterson, an avid football fan and prolific reader, writer, scout, commentator and media manager for Durham City AFC, to find out how she discovered Latvian Virsliga, what she likes and does not like about it, and why Riga is a surprising yet very worthwhile football getaway destination! Charlotte's book recommendations: Titans of the Teardrop Isle: A Season as a Pro Footballer in Sri Lanka, by Seth Burkett Up Pohnpei: Leading the ultimate football underdogs to...
Feb 05, 2024•32 min
In this new segment, Dmitrijs sits down with Ben Griffis to find out what Virsliga looks like from the outside (of Latvia). We talk about how Ben, himself from the USA, discovered Latvian football and the Virsliga, what he likes or does not like about it, as well as his work with football data and which of Virsliga teams is the closest to his heart. Ben Griffis is a football analyst perhaps best known for his work with data and statistical model-building, which he shares on social media (on Twit...
Jan 26, 2024•27 min
