Ķeizarmežs
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| Ķeizarmežs | |
| Full name | Kaiserswald Riga |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1909 |
| Ground | Ķeizarmežs |
| 1926 | defunct |
Ķeizarmežs (German - Kaiserswald) was a Latvian football club which was founded by the Riga German community in 1909. It was one of the founders of the first football organization in Latvia - Riga Football League (1910).
[edit] Team history
Ķeizarmežs was founded in 1909 as the third football club in Riga (British Football Club and Union Riga were the first two). Most of its players and management were Germans. The first team manager was gymnastics teacher Kārlis Verkentins.
In 1910 the Ķeizarmežs juniors squad became the first winners of the Hatton-Hall Cup - one of the first football tournaments in Latvia. In 1912 and 1913 Ķeizarmežs main team won the Riga Cup. Between 1910 and 1914 Ķeizarmežs played in the Riga Football League finishing second 3 times and third one time.
In 1912 Ķeizarmežs became the first Latvian team to play an international match - it played against Finland Olympic football team (and was beat 1:9).
Because of World War I football life in Latvia stopped for several years and it resumed only around 1920. In 1921 the first Latvian championship was started with Ķeizarmežs playing in the top division. However the season was stopped because of early winter (Ķeizarmežs was by then the group leader).
In 1922 Ķeizarmežs won the first Latvian football championship. In 1923 Ķeizarmežs won its second title in a tight battle with RFK - the first strong team in Latvia which mostly relied on Latvian players. In 1924 Ķeizarmežs was suspended from the Latvian Football League because of a decision that only Latvian citizens could play in the league while Ķeizarmežs had German, Dutch, Polish and British citizens in its squad.
In 1925 Ķeizarmežs was back in the Latvian Football League but it couldn't compete with the best Latvian teams anymore and finished only fifth among 6 teams. In 1926 Ķeizarmežs became defunct as it didn't have enough young players who could replace the retired veterans.
Still Ķeizarmežs has deserved its place in history as the first champions of Latvia.
