- published: 07 Aug 2014
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FK Ventspils is a Latvian football club, based at Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions in Ventspils city and is one of the most popular football clubs in the country. FK Ventspils plays in the Latvian Virsliga. They are the current champions of the tournament.
In total, the club has won four league titles and four Latvian Cups. At the end of the 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2011 seasons, they became Virsliga champions. In 2009, they became the first Latvian club to participate in the group stages of UEFA competitions after beating BATE football club from Belarus.
Jurģis Pučinsks has been the manager of the club since 17 May 2012, replacing Sergei Podpaly, who had been FK Ventspils manager since 2011.
FK Ventspils was founded in 1997 with the merger of two former Ventspils clubs – FK Venta and FK Nafta. Its predecessor Venta was one of the leading clubs in the Latvian league in 1960s.
The next notable success for “Venta” was in 1967, when they won the Latvian Cup. By that time they had quite a fighting fit line-up, and 1969 already was their golden year when Venta became champions. During the tournament they gained 43 points; 20 matches won, 3 matches ended with a draw and only 3 matches lost. Additionally, they lost only in the away matches. They scored 45 goals and 16 conceded. At that time Venta's leader was a player manager, who is well known not only to the admirers of Ventspils, but the whole of Latvian football, Vladimir Chikinov.
Ventspils (pronounced [ˈvæntspils] ( listen); Russian: Виндава; German: Windau; Livonian: Vǟnta) is a city in northwestern Latvia in the Courland historical region of Latvia, the sixth largest city in the country. As of 2012, Ventspils had a population of 41,998. Ventspils is situated on the Venta River and the Baltic Sea, and has an ice-free port. The city's name literally means "Castle on the Venta" referring to the Venta River.
Ventspils developed around the Livonian Order Ventspils Castle, built along the Venta River. It was chartered in 1314 and became an important mercantile city of the Hanseatic League.
As part of the Duchy of Courland, Ventspils blossomed as a shipbuilding center. 44 warships and 79 trading ships were built in the town, and it was from Ventspils that the Duke's fleet set out to colonize Gambia and Tobago. Metal, amber, and wood-working shops also became important to the city's development.
During the Polish-Swedish War and the Great Northern War, Ventspils was destroyed, and in 1711 a plague wiped out most of the remaining inhabitants. Ventspils fell under the control of Imperial Russia and its re-growth was stalled.