In an absorbing final round of the season, Ogre United weathered the pressure in Jaunmārupe, holding on to a 1–0 win — and then awaited the much-desired news from the RTU stadium. After earning silver medals in the 3rd and 2nd divisions and numerous silvers in other sports over their history, the Ogre finally achieved gold — along with the chance to make their debut in the Virslīga next year, thus becoming, at the time of this article, the only new club to debut in the Baltics top flight next year. Sportacentrs.com spoke to the club’s founders and ongoing key figures, Juris Skābardis and Emīls Latkovskis, and also to captain Krišs Kārkliņš (17 caps for the Latvian national team) who took over the armband after Kristers Gulbis’s serious knee injury in May.
“After the match there was a huge relief that everything has been done,” said 29-year-old Kārkliņš. “It was tough, especially the finale, but the most important thing was to win ourselves – thereafter, if the stars align, great; if not, then not. At the start of the second game we weren’t especially focused either; nobody asked anybody anything, the main thing was to score at least one, and keep the defence to zero.”
After a nine-win streak in October, the side went three matches without a win and lost its leading position, but the season was ended with two wins. “Physically we were ready for the decisive part of the season, but psychologically we weren’t – next time we will know that psychologists must also be involved,” joked Skābardis, the de facto head coach of Ogre.
“Why were we better than the others? I think our player profiles were better – older, more experienced,” said Skābardis. “That played a large role. Yet at season-start it was hard to gel as a team because practically every position had a new player. Then Kristers was injured very early and in the transfer market we again had to look for new central defenders, which unsettled things a bit. But in summer, once we got to the Ogre stadium, the football really took off and we began collecting points. Then we stopped changing the lineup, we played with the same eleven constantly, which was also a considerable plus.”
“Budget is very difficult to quantify, because there is infrastructure and also administration savings, because many people worked voluntarily on the basis of emotion and enthusiasm,” said Latkovskis. “That’s certainly not a long-term solution, but exactly this year many people worked purely for the dream of bringing the club and city to the Virslīga — sacrificing free time, families, work. One could call this ‘invisible budget’ our greatest resource. Many think we had a cosmic budget, but I believe we remained firmly under 200 000 €, depending on how you count — but I think we did not have the largest budget in the league; rather only the third.”
Defence overhaul, clean sheet run and a competitor’s youth talent
Ogre’s defensive quartet underwent many changes due to injury, positional changes and summer newcomers: from the start of the season only Japanese player Kaito Kumakura remained. During the summer, the left flank featured Kumakura and Koki Hayashi (the previous year in Estonia as vice-champion with Ivan Patrikejevs), the right flank included Rūdolfs Ziemelis from Liepāja, and Kārkliņš himself began the season as a central midfielder. Ogre United achieved an impressive run of eight consecutive clean sheets. “After Kristers’ injury we sorted out the defence, supplemented well and found our style: we can counter-attack well, and the rest found it quite difficult against our game,” said Kārkliņš.
While many defensive positions changed during the season, the first-choice goalkeeper from the start was 18-year-old Kristers Biščuhis from JDFS Alberts, playing his first full season in the Nākotnes līga. “Kristers Putniņš [Alberts’ goalkeeper coach] is a very good friend of mine – together with him at Metta in 2011 we won the 1st league,” Skābardis told of Biščuhis’s recruitment. Interestingly, Biščuhis finished above JDFS Alberts, but the attacking midfielder Ričards Penka, who transferred from Ogre United to JDFS Alberts in summer, finished below Ogre.
Where and under whom will they play?
Reconstruction work was planned this year at both venues, so in the title year Ogre United played only four of their thirteen home matches at the main stadium — the remainder were in Salaspils, 16 km away. Outside the main stadium with natural grass the roadworks had been ongoing for years, yet the professional venue only saw brief renovation: at summer’s end the athletics track was renewed. The club plans to play in the large stadium again next summer. “Definitely! Returning to the big stadium was very cool, truly wonderful, and that gave the team very good motivation, because in Salaspils we often had to train only on half-pitches, very early in the evenings or days,” said Skābardis.
The situation is more complicated with the artificial turf pitch at Ogre Primary School: although replacement was discussed in spring, the worn out surface was removed only in autumn – it had been used for the 3rd league, but not 1st. “The whole project is approved, now it must be carried out,” said Latkovskis. “If only the surface needed replacing it would probably have been done this year, but the foundation was built incorrectly originally, the drainage [after rains one side of the pitch tends to flood] is wrong. The foundation will be prepared this year – I believe the contractor’s deadline is the end of November. The field will be laid next year, as soon as possible, but according to the manufacturer’s recommendations there must be at least seven days in a row above +10°C. We’ll see how spring is, how the weather is, but it could well be March or April. Salaspils might be one of the options, but I cannot say yet if it would be the best – although in Riga there is big usage congestion.” Lighting that meets Virslīga standards is also planned.
In terms of coaching, Ogre United has a similar structure to cup-winners Audas, where the official head coach is Mihails Koņevs but in reality the team is guided by Frenchman Didier Zanetti. For Ogre the head-coach is UEFA A-Licence holder and leading youth trainer in Ogre, Raivis Rubīns (former club player whose pupils include Virslīga keeper Raivo Stūriņš, cup final referee Kristaps Ratnieks and Audas administrator Artūrs Smetanovs), yet the de-facto main coach is Juris Skābardis, who is soon to obtain his UEFA B licence. For the Virslīga role a UEFA Pro licence is required, so the current model cannot continue and a new coach must be found. “Ideas are already in place – Latvian direction, but I won’t name any names yet,” said Skābardis. In the Nākotnes līga registration, Skābardis and Latkovskis are listed as directors, and the founders’ status plus their deep Metta links inevitably prompts comparisons with Andris Riherts and Ģirts Mihelsons. “We ourselves often joke about this topic – if it were not for Metta, neither I nor Emīls would be here, because Emīls entered big football through Metta and I only got drawn into football then,” said Skābardis, who played as a left-back for the green-whites.
Squad must be strengthened
Only the two centre-forwards, Haralds Silagailis and Mark Pačepko, have valid contracts for next season, and it is clear that to compete in the top tier the squad will need reinforcement. “With this squad it would be very, very hard, but that’s what the off-season is for – and there are four months in which we can achieve a lot,” said Kārkliņš, who himself works at HGK Scuderia and has moved football slightly down his priorities but did not dismiss the idea of staying in the Virslīga – if the management shows interest and if he lines up the conditions himself. Former Virslīga player Gulbis is also willing to return; having recovered from a serious injury, he has resumed running and is preparing for spring.
Latkovskis highlighted the difference between the leagues: “Many previously said: don’t hang your heads, because through playoffs you could still reach the Virslīga, but I believe the difference between the leagues is very large, even huge. The reality is this year we played against Olaines and Augšdaugavas, while top-tier bottom-end teams played against Riga and RFS. Football starts at 0–0 and at the end of the season anything can happen, but I believe that through playoffs entering Virslīga is very difficult. We, as a team, precisely at this moment are still far from being competitive at that level. Now we have a few weeks to think and build a plan, then we have a few months to work carefully so that in spring we are ready.”
The season began with a record of 6-1-0, but after the May 10 win over Riga Mariners (3-2) skipper and defensive mainstay Gulbis suffered a severe injury. After that followed a defeat in Smiltene (1-3) and a 1-1-3 run; audible shouts came from the technical area and conflicts even on the field. “That’s how it was – everyone was walking on coals and through such wins and such hardships a collective also forms. In early summer [May/June] we had a bad period – at that time you could have quietly thrown half the team out. Everything gradually calmed down, we started winning, started hanging on, and look, in the end we are champions,” concluded Kārkliņš.
Ogre United secured the promotion ticket to the Virslīga. JDFS Alberts will go into playoffs against Virslīga’s 9-th place team, and from the Nākotnes līga, Augšdaugavas NSS and AFA Olaine have been relegated to the 2nd league — there will be no playoffs for staying in the Nākotnes līga this year. In the 2nd league the promotion spots went to Valmiera and Super Nova-2, although their future depends also on their parent clubs’ success at season end.
The article was originally published in Latvian here: https://sportacentrs.com/futbols/1_liga/09112025-ogre_united_triumfs_nakotnes_liga_stadion
