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Latvian football may have a relatively low profile in France, but it has its fans! As the lads prepare for their first away trip of the new season, Girondins.com got in touch with Baltic football specialist Viktor Lukovic, who writes for Footballski.fr among other sites, for the low-down on tonight's opponents.
A relatively new club
"Ventspils isn't a very big town, it's a port with a population of about 40,000, named after the River Venta. Ventspils literally means "the castle on the Venta."
FK Ventspils was officially formed in 1997 by merging FK Venta with FK Nafta, a merger led by businessman Yuri Bespalov, the club's founder and main sponsor until his death in 2012. Ventspils have been league champions six times, most recently in 2014, and won the Latvian Cup seven times."
"When Yuri Buspalov died, the town of Ventspils became the club's main owner and sponsor. That lasted until a new buyer stepped in earlier this year: the notorious Adlan Shishkhanov. That's a name that should be familiar to fans of Eastern European football. He used to own Dacia Chisinau, in Moldova, but he abandoned the club without warning in order to take over at FK Ventspils. He even brought over a few Dacia players to Latvia with him."
"Ventspils have had some good moments over the years. In 2002 they knocked out Lugano in the UEFA Cup, then in 2004 they beat Brøndby.
Those are huge results for a Latvian club, but the best came in 2009-2010 when they had a decent run in the Champions League qualifying rounds. They beat Dudelange and Bate Borisov, before losing to Zürich.
They then ended up in the Europa League, in a group with Hertha Berlin, d’Heerenveen and Sporting du Portugal. They didn't make it out of the group, but they did manage to get three draws which is pretty respectable."
An attacking team with several internationals
"I spoke to a few Latvian journalists to get the low-down on Ventspils," Viktor continues. "They told me that Dejan Vukićević is the best coach in Latvia right now. They play a very direct style of football, pressing hard and moving the ball around quickly, breaking down the wing whenever they can. They've got a very fast right winger. They also have a number of foreign players. Ventspils are the second best team in Latvia, after RFS. They play an efficient, modern type of football."
"Ventspils' biggest attacking asset is their trio of young Nigerian forwards, who have had an explosive impact on the Latvian league. Adeleke Akinyemi is the biggest threat, he joined in 2017 straight out of the Real Sapphire FC youth academy in Lagos. At just 19 years old, he's Ventspils' top scorer: 10 goals in 23 games last year, and this season he's already up to 11 goals from just 15 league games. He also scored 6 goals over the two legs of their first Europa League qualifying tie…
Another Real Sapphire FC alumnus, Tosin Aivegun (20) scored 9 goals last season. He hasn't netted so many this year, but he's provided plenty of assists for his compatriot. Finally, Abdullahi Alfa, 21, is the least flamboyant of the Nigerian cohort but he's been very good in the Europa League.
The club's Latvian captain Ritvars Rugins is a real midfield general. He's spent most of his career with the club, and won 27 caps for his country. A more recent recruit, Vitalijs Jagodinskis, is the lynchpin of the defence. He's 26 and has 22 caps for Latvia. Another one to watch in defence is Abdoul Gafar Mamah. The right back is very experienced, with 74 caps for Togo, and can cover a lot of distance over 90 minutes.
Those three players are the backbone of the team, with the Nigerian trio providing the goalscoring menace at the other end. The Girondins need to be careful not to give them too much space."
Thank you to Viktor and Footballski.fr for the information!
