FK Metta

FK Metta

Full name	Futbola Klubs METTA (Football Club METTA)
Founded	2 May 2006
Ground	Daugava Stadium, Riga
Capacity	10,461
Chairman	Ģirts Mihelsons
Manager	Andris Riherts
League	Virslīga
2024	Virslīga, 7th of 10
Website	http://www.fsmetta.lv/
Home colours Away colours Third colours

FK Metta (also called FK Metta/Latvijas Universitāte from 2007 till the end of 2018 season) is a professional Latvian football club in Riga. As of 2012 they play in the Latvian Higher League. Metta play their home games at Daugava Stadium. Until June 2018, their home venue was the Riga Hanza Secondary School Stadium.

History

FS Metta was officially founded on May 2, 2006, though the club had been active in youth tournaments since 2000. In 2007 FS Metta and University of Latvia (Latvijas Universitāte) merged as a senior professional team and participated in the Latvian Championship first division (Traffic 1. līga). They finished the season in the fourth position. The club remained at the same level for the next four seasons. Though a professional club, Metta retained the prefix FS (Futbola Skola), since their policy was to invest in youth players. In 2011 Metta won the Latvian First League championship and were automatically promoted to the Latvian Higher League – the top tier of Latvian football.

The affiliation with the university provides the club with a greater financial backing and the players with the opportunity, if wanted, to study at the most prestigious Latvian University. The club was created with the aim to gather the greatest youth talents from across the country and surrounding areas to build and shape them into expensive players for sale to bigger clubs.

In 2020 FK Metta were the youngest top-tier team in Europe. At the end of the season, the team's average age was 19,5.

In September 2020, FK Metta forward Raimonds Krollis made his debut for the Latvia national football team. He became the first-ever player that has gone through the whole FK Metta academy and played for the Senior national team.

Patron of the University of Latvia

Football school "Metta" is a silver patron of the University of Latvia Foundation. They have supported the University of Latvia since 2016, donating to the football system and scholarships.

Participation in Latvian Championships

Season	Division (Name)	Pos./Teams	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Latvian Football Cup
2007	2nd (1.līga)	4/(16)	30	18	7	5	67	23	61	1/8 finals
2008	2nd (1.līga)	5/(15)	28	13	9	6	43	27	48	1/8 finals
2009	2nd (1.līga)	6/(14)	26	13	6	7	47	19	45	Not Held
2010	2nd (1.līga)	5/(12)	22	10	6	6	42	25	36	1/8 finals
2011	2nd (1.līga)	1/(13)	24	17	5	2	61	14	56	1/8 finals
2012	1st (Virslīga)	8(10)	36	7	8	21	39	82	29	1/8 finals
2013	1st (Virslīga)	9(10)	27	4	7	16	15	47	19	1/16 finals
2014	1st (Virslīga)	9(10)	36	3	7	26	26	69	16	1/16 finals
2015	1st (Virslīga)	7(8)	24	3	3	18	19	56	12	1/4 finals
2016	1st (Virslīga)	7(8)	28	8	6	14	32	47	30	1/4 finals
2017	1st (Virslīga)	7(8)	24	3	6	15	21	46	15	1/4 finals
2018	1st (Virslīga)	7(8)	28	5	4	19	24	52	19	1/2 finals
2019	1st (Virslīga)	9(9)	32	6	8	18	35	60	26	1/8 finals
2020	1st (Virslīga)	9(10)	27	4	4	19	22	55	16	1/8 finals

Honours

• Latvian First League
  • Champions (1): 2011

Managers

• Andris Riherts (02.05.2006 – 09.06.2021)
• Andrejs Gluščuks (11.06.2021 – present)

Current players

First-team squad

As of 2 September, 2024 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	LVA	Alvis Sorokins
2	DF	LVA	Rendijs Šibass
3	MF	USA	Jordan Bender
4	DF	LVA	Kārlis Vilnis
5	DF	GHA	Yusif Yakubu
6	MF	LVA	Oskars Vientiess
7	FW	SEN	Mohamet Lamine Corréa
8	MF	LVA	Kristaps Grabovskis (on loan from Rapid Wien II)
9	FW	BRA	Vinícius Souza
10	FW	LVA	Bruno Melnis
11	FW	LVA	Artjoms Puzirevskis
12	GK	LVA	Toms Tolmanis
13	MF	LVA	Tomass Zants
14	DF	LVA	Hugo Jesse
15	MF	LVA	Daņiils Čiņajevs

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
16	DF	LVA	Ivo Minkevičs
17	FW	LVA	Markuss Ivulāns
18	DF	LVA	Mikus Vasilevskis
19	MF	LVA	Ralfs Pakulis
20	MF	LVA	Emils Aizpurietis
21	MF	LVA	Kristofers Rēķis
22	DF	ITA	Gianluca Scremin
23	FW	GHA	Mahamud Karimu
24	GK	LVA	Ņikita Parfjonovs
25	MF	UKR	Yevhen Stadnik
26	MF	UKR	Oleksandr Kurtsev
28	MF	LVA	Daniils Ulimbaševs
33	DF	LVA	Jegors Novikovs (on loan from FK Auda)

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	DF	LTU	Kristupas Keršys (at FA Šiauliai until 30 November 2024)

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	LVA	Lūkass Vapne (at Valmiera until 31 December 2024)

Player of the year

Season	Player
2006	Jānis Kauss
2007	Vladimirs Cīmanis
2008	Ivars Gailis
2009	Marsels Vapne
2010	Juris Skābardis
2011	Rūdolfs Puķītis
2012	Mārtiņš Milašēvičs
2013	Gatis Kalniņš
2014	Edgars Vardanjans
2015	Eduards Emsis
2016	Roberts Uldriķis
2017	Dāvis Indrāns
2019	Dāvis Ošs
2019	Kgotso Masangane
2020	Raimonds Krollis
2021	Lūkass Vapne
2022	Jānis Beks

Club officials

Board of directors

• General secretary: Ģirts Mihelsons
• Executive Director: Maira Mihelsone

Coaching staff

• Manager: Andris Riherts
• Coach: Kristaps Niemans
• Coach: Jurģis Rosenbergs
• Fitness Coach: Filips Grojsmans
• Second team coach: Aleksejs Berezins
• Goalkeeping Coach: Vsevolods Popkovs

Medical staff

• Physiotherapist: Rajmonds Hegels
• Physiotherapist: Aleksandrs Volodins

Staff

• Press Officer: Māris Gerhards
• PR manager: Vladimirs Morozovs
• Technical manager: Ivans Rebrovs

Shirt sponsors and manufacturers

Period	Kit manufacturer	Shirt Sponsor
2007	Nike	Deac
2008		Elko
2009		Deac
2010
2011
2012		SMScredit.lv
2013
2014		none
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021

External links

• (in Latvian) Official website
• (in Latvian) FS Metta University of Latvia (archived)
• (in Latvian and English) Official Latvian Football Federation website