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. They are ranked as the worst football team in the world according to footballdatabase.com.[1]

FK Metta
Full nameFutbola Klubs METTA
(Football Club METTA)
Founded2 May 2006
GroundDaugava Stadium, Riga
Capacity10,461
ChairmanĢirts Mihelsons
ManagerAndris Riherts
LeagueVirslīga
2023Virslīga, 9th of 10
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
  • Andris Riherts (02.05.2006 – 09.06.2021)
  • 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  LVA Alvis Sorokins
2 DF  LVA Rendijs Šibass
3 MF  USA Jordan Bender
4 DF  LVA Kārlis Vilnis
5 DF  GHA Yusif Yakubu
6 MF  LVA Oskars Vientiess
7 FW  SEN Mohamet Lamine Corréa
8 MF  SEN Ousmane Sow
9 FW  BRA Vinícius Souza
10 FW  LVA Bruno Melnis
12 GK  LVA Toms Tolmanis
13 MF  LVA Tomass Zants
14 DF  LVA Hugo Jesse
No. Pos. Nation Player
15 MF  LVA Daņiils Čiņajevs
17 FW  LVA Markuss Ivulāns
18 DF  LVA Mikus Vasilevskis
19 MF  LVA Ralfs Pakulis
20 MF  LVA Emils Aizpurietis
21 MF  LVA Kristofers Rēķis
23 FW  GHA Mahamud Karimu
24 MF  UKR Yevhen Stadnik
26 MF  UKR Oleksandr Kurtsev
27 DF  LVA Maksims Semesko
28 MF  LVA Daniils Ulimbaševs
30 MF  LVA Dans Sirbu (on loan from Riga FC II)
33 DF  LVA Jegors Novikovs (on loan from FK Auda)

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
— GK  LVA Ņikita Parfjonovs (at Akritas Chlorakas until 30 June 2024)
— DF  LTU Kristupas Keršys (at FA Šiauliai until 30 November 2024)
— MF  LVA Lūkass Vapne (at Valmiera until 31 December 2024)
No. Pos. Nation Player
— MF  LVA Deniss Stradiņš (at FK Baník Most-Souš until 30 June 2024)
— FW  LVA Artjoms Puzirevskis (at Tikvesh until 31 December 2024)

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

Club officials

Board of directors
  • General secretary: Ģirts Mihelsons
  • Executive Director: Maira Mihelsone

Coaching staff
  • Manager: Andris Riherts
  • Coach: Kristaps Niemans
  • Coach: Jurģis Rosenbergs
  • Fitness Coach: Filips Grojsmans
  • Second team coach: Aleksejs Berezins
  • Goalkeeping Coach: Vsevolods Popkovs

Medical staff
  • Physiotherapist: Rajmonds Hegels
  • Physiotherapist: Aleksandrs Volodins

Staff
  • Press Officer: Māris Gerhards
  • PR manager: Vladimirs Morozovs
  • Technical manager: Ivans Rebrovs

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

References
  1. "Oficiāli: "Metta"/LU no skolas laukuma pārcelsies uz "Daugavas" stadionu". Sportacentrs.com (in Latvian). 2018-05-17. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
  2. "Metta" uzvar 1. līgā un nākamgad spēlēs Virslīgā Archived 2012-12-05 at the Wayback Machine (Latvian)
  3. Komanda Archived 2016-07-27 at the Wayback Machine (Latvian)
  4. "FK Metta - the youngest team in European football highest leagues". 25 July 2020.
  5. "Sezonas apskats - Andris Riherts: Paši sevi nolikām uz izkrišanas sliekšņa, kas nebija patīkami.". 6 December 2020.
  6. "Atskats METTAs vēsturē: Zīmīgākie notikumi septembrī". 9 September 2020.
  7. "Futbola skola "METTA"".
  8. "Players".
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