FK Liepājas Metalurgs

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Full name

FK Liepājas Metalurgs

Founded

1997

Ground

Daugava Stadium
Liepāja, Latvia
(Capacity 5,100)

Chairman

Sergejs Zaharins

Manager

Jurijs Andrejevs

League

Virsliga

2007

Virsliga, 2nd





Home colours





Away colours

For the ice hockey club see HK Liepajas Metalurgs

FK Liepājas Metalurgs (Futbola klubs "Liepājas metalurgs") is a Latvian football club, based in the city of Liepāja and playing in the Virslīga. They play at the Daugava Stadium (capacity 5,008). In 2005 Liepajas Metalurgs became the first team other than Skonto FC of Riga to win the Virslīga since the league restarted in 1991.

[edit] History

Based in Liepāja, FK Liepājas Metalurgs, get their name from the city's metallurgical factory, founded in 1882, the only one of its kind in the Baltic States.

The history of the club can be traced back to 1945 when two football clubs were founded in Liepāja - Daugava Liepāja and Dinamo Liepāja.

[edit] Daugava Liepāja and Dinamo Liepāja: 1945-1947

In its debut season Daugava Liepāja were runners-up in the Latvian league behind the champions FK Dinamo Rīga. In 1946 Daugava were coached by former Olimpija Liepāja defender Kārlis Tīls and with one of the best former Olimpija players Ernests Ziņģis in attack won its first Latvian title. Both Valdis Pultraks and Voldemārs Sudmalis were in the squad. The 1947 Daugava again won the title in 1947 and the squad included Miervaldis Drāznieks who went on to score 160 goals in the Latvian league. Daugava Liepāja also won the Latvian Cup in 1946 and 1947.

Dinamo Liepāja did not play in the Latvian top league. However in 1948 Dinamo won the Latvian Cup with future Liepāja player Žanis Zviedris in the team.

[edit] Sarkanais Metalurgs: 1949-1961

In 1949 Daugava Liepāja and Dinamo Liepāja merged to form Sarkanais Metalurgs which, for the next decade was the strongest club in the Latvian league. In 1949 Sarkanais Metalurgs won both the league and the Latvian Cup. More titles followed in 1951, 1953, 1954, 1956-1958. They also won the Latvian Cup three times in a row from 1953 to 1955. In 1954 after beating Daugava Rīga in a match for the chance to play in the Soviet League a united Daugava-Metalurgs club was formed which included six Metalurgs players. In 1954 they competed in the "USSR Class B 1954, 2nd zone" of the Soviet First League the second tier in Soviet football.^[1] In the Latvian league the Metalurgs team was made up of mostly the reserves squad. In 1956 Daugava did not include the Metalurgs name in the Soviet League. In 1960 Sarkanais Metalurgs was given a place in the Soviet league and continued playing in the league under various names until 1990.^[2] In 1961 the club played as LMR Liepāja.

[edit] Zvejnieks Liepāja: 1962-1989

In 1962 the club changed owners and was renamed Zvejnieks Liepāja. It was considered as a second team for Daugava Rīga and the clubs better players usually had to leave for Daugava. Also if Daugava players needed match practice they were sent to Liepāja. In the Soviet league Zvejnieks never was usually a mid-table club. With the club now playing in a Soviet and not the local league players from other Republics of the Soviet Union came to play for Zvejnieks. In the 1960s, defender Mārtiņš Lube was the clubs captain.Jurijs Romaņenkovs who went on to become the clubs coach in 1989-90 played for Zvejnieks in the 1970s.

In the 1980s Vladimirs Žuks coached Zvejnieks and several bright players emerged with the club including Jānis Intenbergs, Ilmārs Verpakovskis, Vladimirs Babičevs and Ainārs Linards. A number of Daugava Rīga players also played for Zvejnieks including Raimonds Laizāns and Dainis Deglis.

[edit] Olimpija Liepāja: 1990-1993

In 1990 the club was renamed and given the name of a former Latvian club that plated in the 1920s-1930s - Olimpija Liepāja. As Olimpija the club played in the Soviet league in 1990, but in 1991 it played only in the Latvian league and finished in third place. The Olimpija period saw the emergence of Viktors Dobrecovs at the club. After the break up of the Soviet Union the first seasons in the newly independent Latvia were difficult for Olimpija as they grew financially weaker from year to year.

[edit] FK Liepāja: 1994

In 1994 the was renamed as FK Liepāja but played only the one season.

[edit] DAG Liepāja: 1995-1996

In 1995 FK Liepāja was merged with FC Dag Rīga to form DAG Liepāja. The club reached the 1995 Latvian Cup final where they lost 3-0 to Skonto FC. Ainārs Linards returned to the club in 1995. In the Latvian league the club finished 8th out of ten clubs and in 1996.

[edit] Baltika Liepāja: 1996-1997

In 1996 the club changed owners again and became Baltika Liepāja. In 1996 Māris Verpakovskis, the son of Ilmārs Verpakovskis and future Latvia national football team international made his debut for the club. For some time the club was on the brink of bankruptcy and struggled to keep stop the best players from leaving the club. However, the club got new funding from the local Metallurgy factory and for the 1997 season at last had a strong budget and ambitious plans again.

[edit] FK Liepājas Metalurgs: 1997 to present

In 1998 Metalurgs with Jurijs Popkovs as head coach finished second behind Skonto in the Virslīga and eacj season up to 2004 Metalurgs finished second in the Virslīga every year. In the Latvian Cup they also lost three cup finals. In 2005 Metalurgs finally became Virslīga champions and won the first title for Liepāja in an independent Latvia since the 1930s. In 2006 Metalurgs also finally won the Latvian Cup.

[edit] Players

[edit] Current squad

As of 9 February 2008

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Aleksejs Krucs
2	DF	Andrejs Žuravļovs
3	DF	Oskars Kļava
4	DF	Dzintars Zirnis
5	DF	Antonino
6	DF	Deniss Ivanovs
7	MF	Andrejs Rubins (on loan from Spartak Moscow)
8	MF	Imants Bleidelis
9	MF	Tomas Tamošauskas
11	FW	Aleksandrs Laktionov (on loan from Spartak Moscow)

No.	Position	Player
12	GK	Aleksandrs Vlasovs
13	MF	Pāvels Surņins
15	MF	Genādijs Soloņicins
16	MF	Darius Miceika
18	DF	Cristián Torres
22	MF	Vladimirs Kamešs
24	MF	Dmitrijs Mihailovs
28	DF	Antons Jemeļins
31	GK	Viktors Spole
77	FW	Andriy Kruglyak (on loan from Dynamo Kyiv)

[edit] Out on loan

No.		Position	Player
17		FW	Aleksandr Katasonov (to FK Jūrmala)

[edit] Reserve squad

No.		Position	Player
		DF	Dmitrijs Mihailovs
		MF	Igors Aleksejevs
		GK	Maksims Vitkovskis
		DF	Romans Gladiļins
		DF	Jevgēņijs Koršakovs
		DF	Ingus Šlampe
		DF	Toms Mežs
		MF	Roberts Pirktiņš
		MF	Andrejs Mališs
		MF	Vladimirs Korbuts
		MF	Nils Sitenkovs
		MF	Ģirts Džeriņš
		MF	Jevgēņijs Golovins

No.		Position	Player
			Aleksandrs Dmitrijevs
			Sergejs Malahovs
			Kirils Lavrovs
			Igors Rinkus
			Golovens Julians
			Deniss Šatalovs
			Aleksandrs Kotomkins
			Artūrs Karatajevs
			Aleksandrs Barans
			Krišjānis Dinsbergs
			Kristaps Janens
			Jevgēņijs Haitovs
			Sergejs Arefjevs

[edit] Notable former players

Miervaldis Drāznieks
Voldemārs Sudmalis
Ernests Ziņģis
Žanis Zviedris
Jānis Intenbergs
Ilmārs Verpakovskis
Ainārs Linards
Vladimirs Babičevs
Māris Verpakovskis

[edit] Managers

Figures correct as of November 13, 2007.

1945-1948 Kārlis Tīls (Daugava Liepāja coach)
1949-1951 Arturs Bušs
1953-1954 Ernests Ziņģis
1954-1961 Afanasijs Ptičkins
1961 Harijs Feldmanis
1962-1967 Lev Korchebokov
1967-1968 Boriss Graps
1968-1970 Raimonds Dambis
1971 Zigfrīds Driķis
1971-1978? Afanasijs Ptičkins
1978-1980 Boris Reinhold
1982 Valentins Obravins
1983-1984 Eduards Vlasovs
1985-1988 Vladimirs Žuks
1989-1990 Jānis Mežeckis
1991 Aivars Sveilis
1991 Jānis Zuntners
1992 Aleksandrs Jurenko
1993-1994 Jānis Zuntners
1994 Eduards Safjanovs
1994 Ilmārs Verpakovskis
1995 Viktors Ņesterenko
1996 Vladimirs Žuks
1996 Šendelas Geršovičius
1997 Jānis Gilis
1998-2000 Jurijs Popkovs
2000-2001 Anatoly Shelest
2002 Vladimir Muhanov
2002-2003 Viktors Lukins
2004-2007 Benjaminas Zelkevičius
2007- Jurijs Andrejevs

[edit] Honours

Virsliga winners
- 2005
Virsliga runners-up
- 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007
Latvian Cup winners
- 1946, 1947, 1948, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1963, 1964, 2006
Baltic League winners
- 2007
Latvian Soviet league winners
- 1946, 1947, 1949, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1958,