Latvian Football Federation

Latvian Football Federation
UEFA
Founded 19 June 1921
FIFA affiliation 1922
UEFA affiliation 1992
President Kaspars Gorkšs
Website www.lff.lv

The Latvian Football Federation (LFF) (Latvian: Latvijas Futbola federācija) is the governing body of football in Latvia with its headquarters located in the capital Elektrum Sports Center in Riga. Its activities include the organizing of the Latvian football championship (SMScredit.lv Virslīga), Komanda.lv First League and Latvian Second League as well as lower league championships and the Latvian Football Cup. The federation also manages the Latvia national football team.

1918—1940

The LFF was established on June 19, 1921 as the Latvian Football Union (Latvian: Latvijas Futbola savienība) and was active until 1940 when it was closed down after the Soviet occupation of Latvia. In 1922, the Latvian Championship organized by Latvian Football Union consisted of 12 associations, 22 teams and 479 football players. A year earlier, rules of football were published in Latvian for the very first time and in May 1923 Latvia was accepted into FIFA. Herberts Baumanis was the representative of Latvia in the acceptance ceremony in France. In 1925, the Latvian Football Union established football unions in the regions of country and in 1927 the Virslīga top-level competition was launched. It consisted of three of the strongest teams from Riga and a club from Liepāja while others were playing in tournaments of their regions. This system was in place up until 1940, and the number of teams in the Virslīga grew to eight.[1]

From 1991

LFF renewed its operations in 1990 under its current name right after Latvia regained independence. It was re-accepted by FIFA in 1992 and in the same year it joined UEFA.

In 2015, the federation had a staff of 47 people. The current president of LFF since 2018 is former national team captain Kaspars Gorkšs. Daily affairs of the LFF are managed by its General Secretary Jānis Mežeckis who works in LFF since 1993.

On 27th April of 2018, the long-time president Guntis Indriksons left his position after 22 years in office, becoming Honorary President of the LFF in an advisory role. Gorkšs was elected as his successor by the member organizations of the federation.[2]

Chairmen/Presidents of the Federation

  • Vladimirs Ļeskovs (1990–1995)
  • Modris Supe (1995–1996)
  • Guntis Indriksons (1996–2018)
  • Kaspars Gorkšs (2018-)

References

  1. ↑ "Latvijas Futbola vēsture", Miķelis Rubenis, 2000
  2. ↑ "Gorkšs takes over at Latvian Football Federation". LSM.lv. April 28, 2018. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.