Skonto FK - last updated on 26 December 2007
(Courtesy of Johnny Beaufays)
Club name: Skonto Futbola Klubs
Foundation: 1991
City: Riga
Colours: Red and white
Website: www.skontofc.lv
Honours:
Virsliga - 14 (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)
Latvian Cup - 7 (1992, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002)
Livonia Cup - 3 (2003, 2004, 2005)
A bit of history:
Football club Skonto FK was founded in 1991, 14 years in a row it won the Latvian champion title and only in the season 2005 it finished second after FHK Liepājas Metalurgs, exchanging the gold medal against the silver one. In 2006 Skonto FK finished third in close contest between FHK Liepājas Metalurgs and FK Ventspils. Skonto FK players are among sevenfold Latvia’s Cup winners, the last time acquiring the Cup in 2002.
Skonto FK was by no means among the favourites in the first years after its establishment and the champion’s title had to be won in a fierce competition both with Olimpija from Liepāja and RAF from Jelgava – then even additional game was required since the regular championship in 1992 was insufficient to determine the winner of the season. In the same 1992 season Skonto FK made his debut in the Champion’s League by winning the best Faroe Islands team Klaksvíkar Ítróttarfelag. After the season, the coach replacement was made and Aleksandrs Starkovs took the post instead of Marks Zahodins.
For the following 10 years in local championships none of the rivals were able to offer considerable resistance to FK Skonto. Two seasons in turn the team did not lose a single match, surpassing the closest rivals by more than 20 points in the final standings, ensuring the regular award long before the end of the championship.
During the 1998 season Skonto FK reached the victory with the biggest gap in goals in its history by crashing FK Valmiera with the score 15:2. During these years Skonto FK rightfully became the basic player source for national team. Māris Verpakovskis, Marians Pahars, Aleksandrs Koļinko, Vitālijs Astafjevs, Igors Stepanovs, Imants Bleidelis, Juris Laizāns, Mihails Zemļinskis, Valentīns Lobaņovs, Andrejs Rubins and many others grew up in Skonto FK.
Exciting battle for the Latvian championship’s title saw its manifestation again in season 2001 when Skonto FK players had two point deficit before the final round to the leader team FK Ventspils and they had to face a tough game in Liepāja against FHK Liepājas Metalurgs – the team which also was cherishing hopes of becoming the champions. FK Ventspils players didn’t withstand the strain then, whereas Skonto FK showed the spirit of champions.
Over the last seasons FHK Liepājas Metalurgs and FK Ventspils has been in close pursuit of Skonto FK players, their attempts in last two years proved to be successful. It has to be noted that in 2004, the head coach, Aleksandrs Starkovs – one of the essential pillars left Skonto FK by accepting the proposal to work in FK Spartak Moscow nine-fold champion team of Russia. The leadership of the team was entrusted to Jurijs Andrejevs, his long-term assistant, but after the loss against Rabotnicki, of the [Republic of [Macedonia]], Skopje in the Champions League qualification tournament, he resigned from the post. Jurijs Andrejevs was replaced by Paul Ashworth, who had previously worked with FK Ventspils, FK Rīga and the Russia’s Premier League club FK Rostov.
The first major victory of Skonto FK players in Euro Cups was gained in 1994, when considering the outcome of two matches they defeated the Scotland’s club Aberdeen, the former European Supercup winner. Not less significant for Skonto FK was 1999 when it managed to take away the first point in a fixture with prominent London Chelsea FK, in its home field with draw 0:0. Skonto FK also played with Spanish FK Barcelona and Milan Internazionale.
The defender Mihails Zemļinskis has made 252 appearances, the largest number of matches played in the ranks of Skonto FK during the Latvian championships. His 52 games played in Eurocups are also the highest number within the team. Mihails Miholaps has been the best scorer in Skonto FK at all of the times. He has scored 155 goals in 216 Latvia’s championships games, but 18 goals in 38 Eurocup competitions.
In the last two seasons Skonto FK is becoming younger – experienced players are exchanged by Youth Football centre Skonto trainees - Aleksandrs Cauņa, Ivans Lukjanovs, Raivis Hščanovičs, Deniss Petrenko, Sergejs Kožans, Oļegs Laizāns and others are the names which will appear in this seasons club protocols.
Club crests: (roll on the crest to get more informations)
Skonto FK
