Baltic League Explained

Baltic League
Country: Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Founded:2007
Folded:2011
Champions: Skonto
Season:2010–11
Most Successful Club: Metalurgs
Kaunas
Ventspils
Skonto (1 title)
Teams:12 (2007–2008)
16 (2009–2011)
Tv:Viasat Sport Baltic

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.[1] Launched in 2007 inspired by the now defunct Scandinavian tournament Royal League and by the Baltic Basketball League.

History

See also: 1990 Baltic League. 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

width=5%Seasonwidth=15%Winnerwidth=10%Scorewidth=15%Runner-upwidth=22%Venue(s)width=15%Referee
2007 Metalurgs8 – 2 (aggregate)
3 – 1, 5 – 1
VentspilsVentspils Olimpiskais Stadions, Ventspils
Daugava Stadium, Liepāja
Kristo Tohver
Audrius Žuta
2008 Kaunas2 – 1
SkontoSkonto Stadions, Riga Hannes Kaasik
2009–10 Ventspils3 – 3 (a.e.t.)
5 – 3 (pen.)
SūduvaSūduva Stadium, Marijampolė Sten Kaldma
2010–11 Skonto1 – 1 (a.e.t.)
5 – 4 (pen.)
VentspilsVentspils Olimpiskais Stadions, Ventspils Nerijus Dunauskas

Statistics

Performances by club

width=120Clubwidth=401stwidth=402ndwidth=40width=120Seasons Won
Ventspils 1 2 4  2009–10
Skonto 1 1 4  2010–11
1 0 4  2007
Kaunas 1 0 2  2008
0 1 3  
Ekranas 0 0 4  
Flora 0 0 4  
0 0 4  
Trans 0 0 4  
Dinaburg 0 0 2  
0 0 2  
TVMK 0 0 2  
Vėtra 0 0 2  
0 0 2  
Jūrmala 0 0 2  
Kalju 0 0 2  
0 0 2  
Šiauliai 0 0 2  
0 0 2  
Rīga 0 0 1  
Olimps 0 0 1  
Blāzma 0 0 1  

By country

width=160Country!width=401st!width=402nd!width=160Seasons Won
3 3  2007, 2009–10, 2010–11
1 1  2008
0 0  

All-time top goalscorers

width=40width=200Playerwidth=40Goals
1 Aleksandrs Cauņa10
Ģirts Karlsons10
3 Ričardas Beniušis8
4 Rafael Gaúcho7
5 Genādijs Soloņicins6
Egidijus Varnas6
7 Mindaugas Kalonas5
Mihails Miholaps5
Andrejs Perepļotkins5
10 Viktors Dobrecovs4
Aleksandr Dubõkin4
Vladimir Dvalishvili4
Oļegs Laizāns4
Vīts Rimkus4
Serhij Sernecki4
Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko4
Aleksejs Višņakovs4

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Baltic Club Competitions – Overview . . 18 January 2022.