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.

Baltic League
Founded2007
Folded2011
Country Estonia
 Latvia
 Lithuania
Number of teams12 (2007–2008)
16 (2009–2011)
Last championsLatvia Skonto
(2010–11)
Most championshipsLatvia Metalurgs
Lithuania Kaunas
Latvia Ventspils
Latvia Skonto (1 title)
TV partnersViasat Sport Baltic

History

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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

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Season Winner Score Runner-up Venue(s) Referee
2007   Metalurgs 8 – 2 (aggregate)
3 – 1, 5 – 1
  Ventspils Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions, Ventspils
Daugava Stadium, Liepāja
  Kristo Tohver
  Audrius Žuta
2008   Kaunas 2 – 1
  Skonto Skonto Stadions, Riga   Hannes Kaasik
2009–10   Ventspils 3 – 3 (a.e.t.)
5 – 3 (pen.)
  Sūduva Sūduva Stadium, Marijampolė   Sten Kaldma
2010–11   Skonto 1 – 1 (a.e.t.)
5 – 4 (pen.)
  Ventspils Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions, Ventspils   Nerijus Dunauskas

Statistics

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Performances by club

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Club 1st 2nd Seasons Seasons Won
  Ventspils 1 2 4  2009–10
  Skonto 1 1 4  2010–11
  Metalurgs 1 0 4  2007
  Kaunas 1 0 2  2008
  Sūduva 0 1 3  
  Ekranas 0 0 4  
  Flora 0 0 4  
  Levadia 0 0 4  
  Trans 0 0 4  
  Dinaburg 0 0 2  
  Žalgiris 0 0 2  
  TVMK 0 0 2  
  Vėtra 0 0 2  
  Banga 0 0 2  
  Jūrmala 0 0 2  
  Kalju 0 0 2  
  Sillamäe Kalev 0 0 2  
  Šiauliai 0 0 2  
  Tauras 0 0 2  
  Rīga 0 0 1  
  Olimps 0 0 1  
  Blāzma 0 0 1  

By country

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Country 1st 2nd Seasons Won
  Latvia 3 3  2007, 2009–10, 2010–11
  Lithuania 1 1  2008
  Estonia 0 0  

All-time top goalscorers

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# Player Goals
1   Aleksandrs Cauņa 10
  Ģirts Karlsons 10
3   Ričardas Beniušis 8
4   Rafael Gaúcho 7
5   Genādijs Soloņicins 6
  Egidijus Varnas 6
7   Mindaugas Kalonas 5
  Mihails Miholaps 5
  Andrejs Perepļotkins 5
10   Viktors Dobrecovs 4
  Aleksandr Dubõkin 4
  Vladimir Dvalishvili 4
  Oļegs Laizāns 4
  Vīts Rimkus 4
  Serhij Sernecki 4
  Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko 4
  Aleksejs Višņakovs 4

References

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  1. ^ "Baltic Club Competitions – Overview". RSSSF. Retrieved 18 January 2022.