The big Optibet Virslīga 2023 season preview
We are just one day away from the new and exciting Virslīga season. There are a lot of questions to answer. Will Valmiera FC repeat their success from last year? Will Riga FC spending finally pay off? The battle between the projected bottom-of-the-table teams is set up really unpredictable right now with the way teams are complecting their squad. And VAR! It’s here! Yes the VAR will be in use at least one match in every matchday this season. Can’t wait for that experience.
This is the 4th year in a row I’m making the Virslīga season preview article. As always I’m going to take a deeper look at all the ten Virslīga teams who will participate in the competition this season. Go through their additions, departures, pre-season friendly games, and player to watch from each team and I will outline the potential starting lineup for each team. In the end, as each year I will give out my predictions (Player of the season, Young player of the season, League champions and etc). So let’s start as first we will look at the last season's Latvian champions Valmiera FC.
Valmiera FC – (Last season result – Optibet Virslīga champions).
First-time champions have had big changes in the offseason. A lot of the leaders from the last year are gone. The players who are going to try to replace them will have big shoes to fill. Last season League MVP Raimonds Krollis who scored 24 goals including the title-clinching goal moved to Italian Serie A side Spezia. His attacking partners Daisuke Yokota and Camilo Mena are now playing in Polish Ekstraklasa. 6 of the 11 starters from the last game of the 2022 season against FK Liepāja are not with Valmiera anymore. The new additions are also big unknowns till we can see them play as their CV doesn’t look impressive, but have to remember that Masaki Murata and Daisuke Yokota's CV didn’t look great either before they joined Valmiera FC and they ended up a gem. So it is a lottery in some way, but Valmiera are good at identifying talent, but they will have to adapt and I might see them struggling at the start. It is safe to say it will be tough to repeat the last year’s result. But also have to remember that almost no one predicted that Valmiera FC will be the league champions last year. If someone can squeeze something out of nothing it is the Valmiera FC manager Jurģis Kalns. They are still the champions and they have to be respected as champions.
Valmiera additions
Valmiera departures
Valmiera registered players
This symbol * next to the player means that he is a U-21 Latvian restriction eligible.
Valmiera's potential starting lineup
Valmiera player to watch.
#9 Ruan Ribeiro Rodrigues is an intriguing player. He has joined on loan with an option to buy from Brasilian highest league side Palmeiras. The 19-year-old was a Copinha 2023 champion and a top scorer with 9 goals. I can’t wait to see how he will do in Latvia.
From young Latvians to watch. #2 Daniels Balodis. It is rumoured that he rejected the Polish Ekstraklasa offer in the offseason. He will be a big key in the team if Valmiera will have success. And it’s time to take the next step.
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Riga FC (Last season result – 2nd place finish).
Riga FC is coming once again into the season with big expectations and favourites to win the league. For the sixth straight season, Riga FC will start the season with a different manager. The only manager who ended the season with Riga FC and started with it the next year was Vladimir Volchek in the 2016 and 2017 seasons. Croatian specialist Sandro Perkovic who was appointed in the summer before the European qualifiers did not manage to catch up with Valmiera FC in the standings and the team parted ways with him. He will be replaced by another Croatian – Tomislav Stipic who raised the Latvian Cup with FK Auda last season. Why do I have a strong feeling that this will work? And why for the first time in club history Riga FC will not change a manager mid-season? Because Tomislav Stipic has worked in Latvia before, the year with Auda was huge. He got to know the level of teams, the infrastructure and all the details about Latvian football. He knows what to expect from here. It will not be a surprise for him if we compare him to other managers who came to Latvia, in this case to Riga FC (Thorsten Fink last year is the biggest example). He was complaining about the infrastructure which ultimately led to his departure and to be honest his spell in Riga was underwhelming. Also, there have not been a lot of squad changes in the offseason. They have pretty much kept all their key players from last season. There are some departures, but the few additions are looking good and they have played an exciting brand of football in the pre-season friendly games under Stipic.
Riga additions
Riga departures
Riga registered player list
Riga FC potential starting lineup
Riga FC player to watch.
It’s this young man called Ousseynou Niang. He will have a bright future. He has the potential one day to play in a TOP-5 league. He is that good of a player. It will all depend on him, if he works hard and plays with the same passion as he was last year for Auda, he might be one of the best if not the best players in the league. He is a joy to watch, keep an eye on him.
From Latvian players, I have to go with Iļja Korotkovs. This will be one of the most important seasons in his young career. He is still just 22 and after making a move from Metta to Riga FC his run here has been underwhelming. I still like the way Iļja plays and still think he has the potential to be better. Knowing the injury problems at the back, he might have a chance to be a rotational player at the start.
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RFS (Last season – 3rd place finish).
2021 season RFS were the Latvian champions, thanks to that title, they had an easier path to make the historic path to their first European Club Competition Group Stage – UEFA Europa Conference League. They played admirably there played drew against Turkish Basaksehir at home and Serie A side Fiorentina on their home field as well as can’t forget about playing two good games against Hearts which did not result in points, but they earned respect on the European stage. Because of this long European run, something had to be sacrificed – it was the league as they realised they will not have the energy to play two games a week for seven straight weeks (27th of September till 6th of November, that is in 40 days combined they played 12 games total (league+cup+Europe)). That takes a lot of energy and tested their squad depth. In the end, the goal was reached – they will play in Europe next season. Talking about the new season they have had not a lot of changes in the squad. Some starters have left, but most of the key players are still with the team, even though there was an interest to acquire them from RFS. Three of the eleven players who started in the last game of the season against Riga FC will not be with the team anymore, but manager Viktors Morozs will not have time to panic about the losses, because the new additions are very strong and it is the reason why RFS are the co-favourites with the Riga FC according to the bookies to win the league title.
RFS additions
RFS Departures
RFS registered player list
RFS potential starting lineup
RFS player to watch
It is Andrej Ilič. Last season he scored 16 league goals and now RFS will look for him to contribute even more. He was getting interest from other clubs after the season, but RFS did not receive the offer they wanted. Safe to say if Ilic continues to show his goalscoring ability, then it might be the last season for him in Latvia.
From young Latvian players, it has to be Rodrigo Gaučis. The 17-year-old forward made a move from Optibet Nākotnes League (2nd tier) team Grobiņas SC/LFS. He scored for them 14 goals last season. He will have his chance this year with RFS's first team, whether it will be in the cup game or against the bottom-of-the-table team. He is obviously one for the future to keep an eye on.
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FK Liepāja (Last season result – 4th place finish).
Tamaz Pertia coached team coming into this season will be in a full rebuild if we compare it to the last season. Why? The answer is easy and understandable. This season they will not play in Europe, so they decided to cut costs – releasing players who were on big salaries and building a new football team. There are a lot of unknown young foreign players coming in from across the world, some of them were growing up and training in good European academies and now Liepāja will give them their first experience in professional football. They as well have signed multiple young Latvian players who had great seasons playing for teams who finished 6th-10th in the Virslīga. This project kind of feels like when Tamaz Pertia was the manager of Valmiera FC. In the 2019 and 2020 seasons, they signed various young unknown players. Now two years later a few of those foreigner signings were a big part of the championship-winning team. I see what vision Tamaz have, but will there be patience for it from the fans and especially the owner of the team? We will see. Because there are no big expectations for the upcoming season, especially with the injury of FK Liepāja's undisputed leader Mārtiņš Ķigurs who once again unfortunately injured his knee in the pre-season and will be out for almost all of the season for the second straight year.
Liepāja additions
Liepāja departures
Registered player list for Liepāja
Liepāja potential starting lineup
Player to watch
Markuss Kruglaužs is the guy to watch. He was a revelation last season with Tukums. He was a CB, but then the Tukums manager changed his position to a striker. And it changed everything as he ended up with 5 goals. It led to his first call-up to the U21 NT and now after a season a contract with FK Liepāja. He was a captain in some of the pre-season games for Tamaz Pertia and there is some buzz that he might start ahead of FK Liepāja goal-scoring veteran Brazilian forward Dodo who scored 13 goals last season for Liepāja. Tamaz loves to play young guys and Markuss will get plenty of chances under Pertia.
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FK Auda (Last season result – 5th place finish).
FK Auda will have a big year this season. They are going to make their European debut, as they will play in the UEFA Europa Conference League qualifying, thanks to the Latvian Cup win last year (beating RFS in the final). Auda in their return season to Virslīga was a solid TOP 5 team and they are looking to be there or even higher this season. If it will happen, it will be under another manager as Tomislav Stipic got “promoted” to Riga FC. This season Auda will be led by Finnish specialist Simo Valakari who is coming over from a successful time in his home country where he managed KuPS for the last few seasons. FK Auda to me is a little bit unknown, but they have some interesting names on the team. Looking at their squad, they have kept most of the starting lineup players, there is a mix of experience and youngsters. The biggest news was that the captain and leader of the team Fabrice Ondoa will still be the goalkeeper for Auda this season, as he signed a contract extension. Ondoa was very close in November to being selected for the World Cup in Qatar for Cameroon NT.
Auda additions
Auda departures
The registered player list for Auda
Auda potential starting lineup
Player to watch
There is some hype around the young forward Meleye Diagne which Auda is loaning from Riga FC. The 20-year-old Senegalese player will play his first professional season in Europe so let’s see how he will do under the Finnish specialist Simo Valakari.
FK Tukums 2000/Telms (Last season result – 6th place finish).
I predicted last year at this same preview that Tukums will be my surprise team from the projected bottom-of-the-table teams… and they delivered. They finished 6th which is the best achievement in their club history. Tukums struggled to start the season, but as the summer came they were on a roll. They got two wins against FK Liepāja and FK Auda, and played a draw against former champions RFS and champions Valmiera FC. I feel proud and good about my prediction thinking about it now. And to think about this season as I’m looking at their squad. They are gonna continue to do the same thing. Play with the youth they have, and slowly integrate into the first team the local academy products and weak points will be patched by some foreign players or loanees from the Top Latvian teams who will need playing time to progress. The gaffer Kristaps Dišlers and team president Verners Akimovs last season had success doing that. Ryuga Nakamura was loaned from Valmiera and was a hard-working midfielder. From RFS centre-back Niks Sliede also was one of the loanees, he was given an opportunity to play his first full season as a professional at the age of 18 and look at him now, he was sold to champions Valmiera FC. And lastly, goalkeeper Sergejs Vilkovs who was also loaned from RFS was having an excellent season and it’s great to see that RFS will loan him to Tukums once again this season. But still, the league is getting tougher and better as the years go. It will be tough to replicate the 6th place finish from last year.
Tukums additions
Tukums departures
Registered player list for Tukums
Tukums potential starting lineup
Player to watch
Sergejs Vilkovs the young goalkeeper had a great season with Tukums. He needs some more experience with Šteinbors as the #1 for RFS so Vilkovs was loaned out to Tukums again. With the team projected to be weaker, he will need to be on his A-game and be consistent. I think Sergejs will have a big season and he is obviously the future of the Latvian goalkeepers.
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BFC Daugavpils (Last season result – 7th place finish).
Believe it or not, BFC Daugavpils are still in Virslīga even when there are ongoing problems off the field. This time for the 2nd straight year the question about the home stadium. As I’m writing this, they still don’t know where they will play their home games and it is just a few days before the season starts. All this is because of the dispute between the city and the club which has been going on for the last few years. They are looking for where to play and they might even play their home games in Rēzekne, which is 90 kilometres away from Daugavpils. That would be embarrassing for the 2nd biggest Latvian city football club.
Talking about the squad and their off-season. Once again they made an interesting transfer. Another player from Daugavpils made a move to a better team before it was Chinonso Offor and Valerijs Lizunovs to RFS now it is a long-time Daugavpils player and their academy product Kirils Iļjins who moved to Riga FC and Nigerian attacking player Dele Ola Israel who made a transfer to Czechia highest league. The goal for BFC Daugavpils president is still the same, grow and give playing to their own academy players and hope to sell them. That’s pretty much the case for every single projected bottom-of-the-table team. We will see how they will do.
Daugavpils additions
Daugavpils departures
Registered player list for Daugavpils
Daugavpils potential starting lineup
Player to watch
Valērijs Lizunovs - The Daugavpils academy product for the 2nd straight season will be loaned to BFC Daugavpils from RFS. Last season he scored 10 goals for BFC. As it is normal, we will want to see some progress there. He had a great camp with RFS and now with William Mukwelle will try to make opposite defenders’ life a little tougher.
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FK Metta (Last season result – 9th place finish).
Now with Jūrmalas Spartaks out from Virslīga, FK Metta becomes the longest-tenured team in the top flight – 12th consecutive season. Metta under Andris Riherts is looking to be better than last year because they were very close to finishing last if not for Jānis Beks who made some spectacular saves in the last game of the season. The approach for them does not change. Play their youth, use their own infrastructure and play pre-season friendly games against teams from Baltics. Their main goal is to grow players, that’s what they do. They have a young squad, but their young players if we compare them with other teams have bigger Virslīga experience. Can’t forget about the next wave of players as there are a few (2005 born) who are knocking to the first team and will likely make their debut this season.
Metta additions
Metta departures
The registered player list for Metta
Metta potential starting lineup
Player to watch
Oskars Vientiess - I could pick out Bruno Melnis, Artjoms Puzirevskis, Lūkass Vapne or Jānis Beks, but I’m gonna go with the midfielder Oskars Vientiess. He has already 66 games under his belt in Virslīga at the age of 19. And there is some buzz that he has been looking great in the pre-season. Midfield position is the Achilles heel for the Latvian NT. And if we are looking long-term, Vientiess having a big season and a big progress would be great! So let’s keep an eye on him.
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SK Super Nova/Salaspils (Last season result – 10th place finish).
They were not supposed to be here this season, but with Jūrmalas Spartaks not playing this year SK Super Nova was the first reserve team to be selected if Jūrmala did not apply and they did not. I have high hopes for SK Super Nova this season, they are fielding an interesting squad. A few high-quality veteran players - Deniss Rakels who scored 10 goals for RFS last season, Oļegs Laizāns who did have statistically the best Virslīga season in his career at the age of 35 with Jūrmalas Spartaks, can’t forget about Eduards Višņakovs who was good for Super Nova last year. Team president Jānis Engelis doesn’t want to get relegated, he wants to keep his team in Virslīga and the first part is building a team… well he has done that well. Now Aleksandrs Koļinko will have his big season as a manager, will he do well or not? Might say this is his make-it-or-break-it season because he has a good team. The loanees they have acquired are good. Now it is his job to gel them together as a unit. I hope he will do it because I don’t want to see coaches fail.
SK Super Nova additions
SK Super Nova departures
SK Super Nova registered players
SK Super Nova Potential starting lineup
Player to watch
Deniss Rakels is the player to watch, he had 10 goals last season in 20 league games for RFS and he led the league in G+A per 90 minutes. He is a big-time addition to the Super Nova side and will be the leader of the team in my opinion. If we are talking about a young player to watch, to me it is Ivans Patrikejevs, I loved the way he played last year with the U-17 NT and he was also the captain of that team which played two draws against Sweden and suffered minimal losses against Denmark and Switzerland. I have big expectations for the kid.
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FS Jelgava (Last season result – 1st in Optibet Nākotnes League). Promoted.
FS Jelgava side who were dominant under manager Ervīns Pērkons in the Optibet Nākotnes League (2nd tier). And they rightfully earned the promotion to the Virslīga. Now they are coming with the big boys and finally, Jelgava will return to Virslīga (hoping Ventspils next year will do the same?). This team is Pērkons project ever since most of these kids were 13 years old. Most of the players who will play in this Virslīga season were the U-18 League champions two years ago. Because of that, they were able to play in the UEFA Youth Champions League where they lost to Hungarian MTK, I did watch the home game live in the stadium and I was impressed with the way the young Jelgava players were playing. Why I’m telling you that? Because most of the players from that team will be the starting players this season. It will be a huge experience for them and for Ervīns Pērkons himself also. There will be some tough times in the season for the team where they will struggle, but I think they will not give an easy game to any opponent, especially when they will play in front of their home crowd who are hungry for the Virslīga football. The city of Jelgava loves football and it is great that they will have the Virslīga football back.
FS Jelgava additions
FS Jelgava departures
FS Jelgava registered player list
FS Jelgava Potential starting lineup
Player to watch
Rūdolfs Zeņģis – the young left-back had some great games with Metta last season. He might become the leader of this Jelgava team as the season progress. Will closely watch how he will progress.
PREDICTIONS:
What will be the standings? I’m going to name the team and give a reason why I think they will finish there.
#10 FS Jelgava
I have to put someone last. And it will be unfortunately FS Jelgava. They have great young talent who on the team who have been playing together for the last few years, but Virslīga is a different beast right now. It’s at the all-time highest level in my opinion. And at the same time, they lack depth and especially experience in Virslīga if we compare it to the other projected bottom-of-the-table teams. Take out veteran defender Valērijs Redjko and Andrejs Kiriļins from the lineup than the rest of the players combined have played in 133 Virslīga games. That’s not a lot. I will gladly eat crow if I’m going to be wrong.
#9 FK Tukums 2000/Telms
I did predict them to finish 6th last season and they did, but I can’t put them higher than 9th in this season’s prediction. Last year they hit the jackpot with the loanees. Add to this that they have lost three starting players to Liepāja and Jelgava. It’s not looking good. Obviously, the big X-Factor to me will be Raivis Ķiršs who is on loan from FK Auda. He is still just 23 years old can he bring that magic back which he had with Daugavpils at the end of 2020 and the beginning of the 2021 season before making a move to Riga FC? If so then I might be wrong, because there is some offensive potential for this team with some of the loan moves. What scares me the most is the defensive side of the field. I trust Sergejs Vilkovs to have a great season in goal, but who will be the centre-back duo at the start? And how big of a depth do they have there? To be honest, if there is one manager who can retrain someone in a different position, this time at the centre-back it can be Kristaps Dišlers.
#8 BFC Daugavpils
I have Daugavpils finishing eight. They have a lot of talent up front. They have leaders and youth in the middle… I’m talking about Valerijs Afanasjevs who could break Virslīga record for most games played, he is just 26 games shy from Igors Korabļovs (483) and Gļebs Žaleiko who is loaned out from RFS and last year was a quite revelation for me. They have a balanced squad. We will see who will play at the back, the two foreign players (CBs from Czechia and Ghana) from the talks are looking quite good. So Daugavpils might end up higher. The thing that gives me an 8th-place vibe is that I might see Lizunovs leaving earlier in the summer with the condition that Valerijs will have a great start to the season and RFS sells Andrej Ilic.
#7 FK Metta
Yes! I have Metta finishing 7th! Why is that? Because they have kept all their key players. The attacking trio of Lūkass Vapne, Artjoms Puzirevskis and Bruno Melnis is TOP 6 front three for sure in the league. Might even have a discussion about putting them in the TOP 5. Also hearing that Oskars Vientiess is looking strong in the preseason, can’t forget about the goalkeeper Jānis Beks. Still, the biggest signing for them is the Latvian international and former FK Metta player – Vladislavs Fjodorovs. The 26-year-old right-back will be the veteran presence on the field, in the locker room and in training. The last time Fjodorovs played in Metta was in 2018. So I have high hopes for Metta this season and finally, I did not put them in the last or second to last place.
#6 SK Super Nova/Salaspils
This years FK Tukums for me. I have them very high right now, but there are good reasons for it. They have experience (Oļegs Laizāns, Deniss Rakels and Eduards Višņakovs), they have made great loan moves (Kaušelis, Lūsinš, Ostapenko and Raščevskis) and they have my personal favourite Latvian prospect Ivans Patrikejevs. I have a sweet spot for this team. And the club president Jānis Engelis has given manager Aleksandrs Koļinko a team for him to succeed. Will he take this opportunity? It is up to him. When you can get a player like Deniss Rakels who last season scored 10 Virslīga goals for RFS in 20 league appearances, then you should not battle for relegation.
#5 FK Liepāja
Too much of changes have happened with the team this offseason. How they will gel together? They have to build houses from bits and pieces, and they have to do it quickly because one off-season is not enough time in my opinion. Their pre-season has been happening since the season ended in November as they went to Turkey at the end of November for end of season training camp. So that might be one plus as the physical base might be at the top. Knowing Tamaz Pertia's physical training and the way his team needs to press and run they have to be good physically to start the season. Also, it might backfire them later in the season as injuries might pile up and Liepāja medical staff have to be questioned with all the injuries last season as well as the most painful subject – Mārtiņš Ķigurs ACL injury which will sideline him at least till the end of summer. There are some things to be said about that situation, but that is for another time. With all that said I have Liepāja finishing 5th. Too much unknown so far.
#4 FK Auda
Most of the key players are still with the team. Manager Simo Valakari will look to prove himself here. They have a young team but have also added some quality players. I don’t see how they have become weaker if we compare them to last year’s team, but it will be interesting to see how they will do. Even though they did not have a good pre-season in terms of winning games (I think they did not win a single game in the pre-season), but it is not the most important thing. The most important thing is to get the wins when it matters and it will be starting this Saturday. So that’s why I have them finishing ahead of FK Liepāja – 4th place.
#3 Valmiera FC
I predict that Valmiera will not repeat as champions. They lost too many star players in one off-season. They added some interesting pieces on the last day of the transfer window, but they have to adapt here first and then we can see what quality they bring to the team. Will it be too late? Maybe it can be, that’s why I can’t see how they will win the league title and go back-to-back. Also, have to keep in mind, the most important thing for Valmiera will be the Champions League. They know it is their biggest opportunity to make it to some kind of a European tournament group stage, because who knows when will be the next time when they will be Virslīga champions because the path from the UCL side is much much much easier if we compare it to the UECL path. Also, Valmiera will want to prove to the football fans here, that they are deserving of carrying the name of Virslīga in Europe because the previous European experiences for them have been disappointing, especially the last season against Shkendija. Let’s hope they prove the doubters wrong.
#2 RFS FK
According to bookmakers 1A and 1B are favourites with Riga FC. And I have to agree, but I will give Riga FC the edge over RFS. RFS has collected a strong squad. They have a lot of quality Latvian players still with the team and joining the team. They still have their key foreign players as only a few of them left most notably Kevin Friesenbichler, but Emerson, Ziga Lipuscek, Andrej Ilic, and Petr Mares are still there. I think they will give Riga a run for the money but will come up a little bit short at the end.
#1 Riga FC
For the 4th straight year, my favourite to win it all. Let’s say I’m a sucker for punishment. But this time I believe in Riga. A large part of it is because of Tomislav Stipic. He is not your typical Riga FC foreign coach who comes in and everything is new to him. Stipic worked here in Latvia with Auda, he knows the teams, he knows the coaches, and the infrastructure here it will be a big advantage to him if we compare to other previous Riga FC coaches who came in. The quality of players in all the positions is massive. Attack, midfield, wings, goalkeeper there is a lot of depth. The only question is about the centre-backs. RFS have better quality there, but Riga still has two good CBs on the injured list - Baba Musah (one of my favourite CBs in the league) and Dulanto who was bought last year from Sheriff. So it will be interesting to see how will they do to start the season because the offensive firepower is unbelievable + Niang running around everyone will be a joy to watch. That’s why I have Riga FC as champions in the Optibet Virslīga 2023 season.
Individual predictions:
Top goalscorer - Marko Dabro (Riga FC)
Top Latvian goalscorer – Valērijs Lizunovs (BFC Daugavpils)
Season MVP – Douglas Aurelio (Riga FC)
Top young player (U-21) – Lūkass Vapne (FK Metta)
Rookie of the year – Ivans Patrikejevs (SK Super Nova/Salaspils)
Good luck to all the teams and as always all the games will be broadcasted live on the OneFootball application. Catch Latvian football and pick your favourite team to root for. Football season starts NOW!!!
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