Baltic League

The Baltic League (officially known as the Triobet Baltic League) was a Baltic men's football club tournament held four times between the top club sides from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Launched in 2007 inspired by the now defunct Scandinavian tournament Royal League and by the Baltic Basketball League.

Baltic League
Founded2007
Folded2011
Country Estonia
 Latvia
 Lithuania
Number of teams12 (2007–2008)
16 (2009–2011)
Last champions Skonto
(2010–11)
Most championships Metalurgs
Kaunas
Ventspils
Skonto (1 title)
TV partnersViasat Sport Baltic

History

The first two tournaments were held between top four club sides from each country. For 2009–10 the competition was expanded to 16 teams, with five sides from every Baltic state taking part. One additional slot was allocated to the sixth best team from the country of the previous winner.

A similar competition was the Baltic Champions Cup which featured the league champions of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The inaugural tournament in 2007 finished as a two legged final. This format was abandoned for the second tournament and subsequent finals were played as a single match at the home of one of the finalists. After this format was introduced, the team hosting the match did not win despite the added home advantage.

The first two tournaments were played from Spring to Summer with 12 entrants but this changed to a longer Winter to Summer tournament with four more clubs taking part.

Finals

Season Winner Score Runner-up Venue(s) Referee
2007 Metalurgs 8 – 2 (aggregate)
3 – 1, 5 – 1
Ventspils Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions, Ventspils
Daugava Stadium, Liepāja
Kristo Tohver
Audrius Žuta
2008 Kaunas 2 – 1
Skonto Skonto Stadions, Riga Hannes Kaasik
2009–10 Ventspils 3 – 3 (a.e.t.)
5 – 3 (pen.)
Sūduva Sūduva Stadium, Marijampolė Sten Kaldma
2010–11 Skonto 1 – 1 (a.e.t.)
5 – 4 (pen.)
Ventspils Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions, Ventspils Nerijus Dunauskas

Statistics

Performances by club

Club 1st 2nd Seasons Seasons Won
Ventspils124 2009–10
Skonto114 2010–11
Metalurgs104 2007
Kaunas102 2008
Sūduva013 
Ekranas004 
Flora004 
Levadia004 
Trans004 
Dinaburg002 
Žalgiris002 
TVMK002 
Vėtra002 
Banga002 
Jūrmala002 
Kalju002 
Sillamäe Kalev002 
Šiauliai002 
Tauras002 
Rīga001 
Olimps001 
Blāzma001 

By country

Country1st2ndSeasons Won
 Latvia33 2007, 2009–10, 2010–11
 Lithuania11 2008
 Estonia00 

All-time top goalscorers

# Player Goals
1 Aleksandrs Cauņa 10
Ģirts Karlsons 10
3 Ričardas Beniušis 8
4 Rafael Gaúcho 7
5 Genādijs Soloņicins 6
Egidijus Varnas 6
7 Mindaugas Kalonas 5
Mihails Miholaps 5
Andrejs Perepļotkins 5
10 Viktors Dobrecovs 4
Aleksandr Dubõkin 4
Vladimir Dvalishvili 4
Oļegs Laizāns 4
Vīts Rimkus 4
Serhij Sernecki 4
Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko 4
Aleksejs Višņakovs 4
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.