FK Ventspils

FK Ventspils
Full name	Futbola Klubs Ventspils
Nickname(s)	Champions 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

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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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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

[edit] 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 its 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.

[edit] 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

[edit] Players

[edit] Current squad

As of June 18, 2009

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Maris Eltermanis
30	GK	Andrejs Pavlovs
2	DF	Aleksejs Soleičuks
7	DF	Saša Cilinšek
8	DF	Deniss Kačanovs
12	DF	Igors Savčenkovs
17	DF	Jean-Paul Ndeki
23	DF	Vladimirs Bespalovs
27	DF	Pāvels Mihadjuks
4	MF	Jurijs Žigajevs

No.	Position	Player
5	MF	Jevgēņijs Kosmačovs
19	MF	Aleksandr Misikov
22	MF	Igor Ţigirlaş
6	MF	Artis Lazdiņš
3	MF	Vitālijs Astafjevs
9	FW	Vits Rimkus
14	FW	Ivan Shpakov
20	FW	Alexandru Dedov
25	FW	Ritvars Rugins
32	FW	Andrejs Butriks
TBA	FW	João Pedro Pinto Martins