FK Ventspils

Football club infobox
clubname = FK Ventspils


fullname = Futbola Klubs Ventspils
nickname = Dzeltenzilie, Жёлто-Синие ("Yellow-Blue")
founded = 1997
ground = Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions,
Ventspils, Latvia
capacity = 3,200
chairman = flagicon|Latvia Jurijs Bespalovs
manager = flagicon|Ukraine Roman Grigorshuk
league = Virsliga
season = 2007
position = Virsliga, 1st
pattern_la1=_blueshoulders|pattern_b1=_fkventspils_home_1|pattern_ra1=_blueshoulders
leftarm1=FFEF00|body1=FFEF00|rightarm1=FFEF00|shorts1=4169E1|socks1=FFEF00
pattern_la2=_shouldersonwhite|pattern_b2=_adidasliberowhite|pattern_ra2=_shouldersonwhite
leftarm2=4169E1|body2=4169E1|rightarm2=4169E1|shorts2=FFFFFF|socks2=FFFFFF

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 two league titles and four Latvian Cups. At the end of the 2006 and 2007 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
* 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

* 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

Players

Current squad

"As of March 20, 2008"

Reserves squad

Famous players

*flagicon|Latvia Vits Rimkus
*flagicon|Latvia Vladimirs Koļesņičenko
*flagicon|Latvia Māris Smirnovs
*flagicon|Latvia Igors Korabļovs
*flagicon|Latvia Kaspars Gorkšs
*flagicon|Cameroon Jean-Paul Ndeki

Managers

"Figures correct as of July 19 2007".
* 1997-1998 flagicon|Belarus Sergei Borovski
* 1998 flagicon|Latvia Sauļus Cekanavičus
* 1999-2000 flagicon|Russia Boris Sinicin
* 2000 flagicon|Latvia Sauļus Cekanavičus
* 2001-2003 flagicon|England Paul Ashworth
* 2003-2004 flagicon|Lithuania Sauļus Širmelis
* 2005 flagicon|Latvia Sergejs Semjonovs
* 2005- flagicon|Ukraine Roman Grigorshuk

External links

* [http://www.fkventspils.lv/ Official website]