Rīgas FK
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Riga FK (Rīgas futbola klubs, short - RFK) was a Latvian football club which was founded December 14, 1923. It was the strongest and most popular Latvian football club in 1920s and 1930s, it was also the base team for Latvia national football team in its early years. It was closed after World War 2.
The idea for its creation appeared in 1922 with the goal to unite Latvian players in a team which would be able to beat the mostly-german Ķeizarmežs. The founder and its manager was Juris Redlihs, one of the most active football organizers in Latvia. In 1923 most of the best Latvian footballers from JKS moved to Riga FK. Those included Saltups, Ašmanis, Eihmanis, Roga, Bone, Sokolovs, Zemīts and brothers Bārda.
In its first season in the Riga championship Riga FK finished second - one point behind Ķeizarmežs. In 1924 Riga FK had a new manager who also managed the Latvia national football team - V.Malošek from Austria. Because for that season it was prohibited to have foreign citizens playing in the Latvian league, Ķeizarmežs didn't play there in 1924 and Riga FC easily bet its closest rivals - ASK Riga in the Riga championship and beat 5:1 the province champions from Cēsis thus winning its first Latvian championship. In 1925 and 1926 Riga FK won its second and third titles.
Only in 1927 its domination in Latvian football was threatened by a serious rival - Olimpija Liepāja took gold leaving RFC with second place. Several players left Riga FK during this season in order to found a new team - Riga Vanderers. Olimpija also beat RFK in the battle for title in 1928 and 1929.
Early 1930s with the emergence of the best pre-war Latvian footballer Ēriks Pētersons brought good results once again for Riga FK - titles in 1930 and 1931 but in 1932 the team finished in its worst position so far - 3rd behind ASK and Riga Vanderers. The next title for RK came in 1934 with the team beating its followers by a huge margin, the same repeated in 1935.
For the last time RFK won the Latvian title in 1940 - just months before Soviet occupation of Latvia. RFK was disbanded with best its players joining FK Dinamo Rīga. In 1941 with the German occupation of Latvia Riga FK together with other Latvian football teams was restored and participated in the 1942-1944 championships. The fate of former RFK was different - some continued playing football in Soviet Latvia, others went into emigration, some were killed in the war.
In 1992 the former FK Auda was renamed to Riga FK but after a couple of seasons without serious results it was decided that the team didn't live up to its name and was renamed to Auda again.
[edit] Honours
- Latvia top league:
- Winners: 8 (1924-1926,1930-1931,1934-1935,1940)
- Runners-up: 6 (1923,1927-1929,1933,1938)
- Latvian Cup:
- Winners: 2 (1937, 1939)
