As the first run of the Livonian Winter League - an international pre-season competition between 24 Latvian and Estonian clubs - comes to a close with a narrow victory for Latvia, we sit down with the Estonian Football Podcast to reflect on the competition, the good and the bad things about it, as well as to have a general chat about the state of Latvian and Estonian association football, not forgetting to briefly discuss the Baltic League idea and the Estonian resistance to it. Tune in, enjoy our first ever crossover episode and please leave a review on whatever platform you use to listen to podcasts!

Estonian Premium liiga starts 1st March and Latvian Virsliga a week later, on the 8th March!

The Baltic League is a pioneering cross-border league project within the UEFA, meant to unite and enlarge the football markets and competitive levels of Latvian, Estonian and Lithuanian clubs. But while there are many things that make a great deal of sense about the proposal spearheaded by the Latvian Virsliga, many questions, concerns and even sources of political resistance remain. Pivoting off of the Livonian Winter League, Nick Ames, The Guardian's European sport correspondent, travelled to Riga to find out about the idea first-hand. In this episode, Dmitrijs and Nick sit down to talk about his visit, what he thought of Latvian and regional football, and about the idea of cross-border leagues in general and the proposed Baltic League in particular!

Nick's article in The Guardian 'Baltic League could be pioneer for cross-border football in Europe' (17 Feb 2024): https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/feb/17/baltic-league-could-be-pioneer-for-cross-border-football-in-europe

What does the Virsliga look like to a Latvia-based Welshman and how did he come to support Valmiera FC? Frank Marr joins the show to talk about his love of football, the good and the bad things about Latvian football and the Latvian National Team (NB. this episode was recorded before the appointment of Paolo Nicolato), and about his vision for the future growth of association football in Latvia and in the Baltics!

Dmitrijs sits down with Charlotte Patterson, an avid football fan and prolific reader, writer, scout, commentator and media manager for Durham City AFC, to find out how she discovered Latvian Virsliga, what she likes and does not like about it, and why Riga is a surprising yet very worthwhile football getaway destination!

Charlotte's book recommendations:

• Titans of the Teardrop Isle: A Season as a Pro Footballer in Sri Lanka, by Seth Burkett
• Up Pohnpei: Leading the ultimate football underdogs to glory, by Paul Watson (of the Sweeper podcast)
• One Football, No Nets, by Justin Walley

In this new segment, Dmitrijs sits down with Ben Griffis to find out what Virsliga looks like from the outside (of Latvia). We talk about how Ben, himself from the USA, discovered Latvian football and the Virsliga, what he likes or does not like about it, as well as his work with football data and which of Virsliga teams is the closest to his heart.

Ben Griffis is a football analyst perhaps best known for his work with data and statistical model-building, which he shares on social media (on Twitter/X under the username @begriffis) in order to highlight and promote the beauty of football around the world.

We are joined by Guntars Indriksons for a long and candid conversation about the state of Latvian football. Guntars is one of the most prolific Valmiera FC fans, a former manager of Skonto Stadium and a former member of the Latvian FA Infrastructure Development Committee. Tune in for an uncensored view of the good, the bad, the ugly and the hopeful of Latvian football!

(00:00) Guntars Indriksons - football man, Valmiera fan
(04:52) Latvian National Team
(11:05) Latvia vs Wales
(16:16) #DainisOut, but who instead?
(19:56) On supporting the National Team
(26:14) The Valmiera FC Grand-Player-Garage-Sale: causes and consequences
(33:17) Race for the third place
(38:42) Skonto Stadium
(55:32) What is the ideal stadium capacity for Latvia?
(1:04:45) UAE money for the new national stadium?
(1:10:06) The state of football infrastructure and how it affects the game
(1:29:12) Is football really not King in Latvia?

In part 2 of our end-of-season-review, we talk about who we thought were the best players and the biggest surprises, as well as reflect on our beginning of the season predictions and on whether we thought 2023 was a step forward for Virsliga or not.

(01:05) Looking back at our predictions
(11:28) Virsliga 2023 Best XI
(36:56) Best Young Player
(38:32) Biggest Flop
(44:47) Biggest Surprise
(46:59) Virsliga 2023 MVP
(49:05) Coaches, goalkeepers, and yellow cards
(52:58) Is Virsliga developing?

Virsliga 2023 is over, so it’s time to reflect on how it ended, who won (or lost) what, who scored how many goals. In this first episode, we talk about the final standings and the top scorers.

(00:00) How it all ended
(07:07) FK RFS and Riga FC
(10:49) FK Auda
(15:37) Valmiera FC
(21:56) FK Liepaja
(28:42) FS Jelgava
(34:07) BFC Daugavpils
(38:01) FK Tukums 2000/Telms
(42:35) FK Metta
(49:03) SK Super Nova Salaspils
(56:09) Top scorers

Latvian Cup 2023 is over and Riga FC had won it in a penalty shoot-out against their arch rivals - RFS. Join us as we sit down right after the match to reflect on how it went and on what we can look forward to!

Jānis Vītols of Latvian Footy in English (@LV_footballnews) joins us for our second special episode to reflect on the Virsliga summer transfer window 2023. Who came, who left, who got loaned out and why, and was this transfer window a net gain for the Latvian Higher League? Tune in to find out what the man behind the largest Latvian football English-language social media account thinks of it all!