As yet another season of association football in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia draws to a close, 2025 will be remembered not only for its Champions, but for the cracks exposed in legacy structures, the emergence of new stars, and the eternal back-and-forth between domestic giants.
To draw the line under 2025, Baltic Football News team embarked on a tour de force of regional football to identify the best, the worst, and the most surprising of this year’s season of football.
When Expectations Collide with Reality: Disappointment at the Top
In Lithuania, FK Žalgiris, one of the region’s historically dominant clubs found itself awarded “Disappointment of the Season.” The season’s outcome underscored that pedigree and history provide no guarantee against managerial missteps, under-investment, or misaligned squad strategy. For fans and pundits alike, the club’s 2025 crash served as a warning: even within established hierarchies, football in the Baltics remains fragile and contingent.
This is not just a story of fallen prestige — it points to systemic issues too. As smaller clubs rise and competition intensifies, the former heavyweights must adapt, ensure sounds governance mechanisms or risk being pushed back or, worse yet, out. Between the terrible results, suitcase protests, allegations of fraud and a revelation of near-bankruptcy, Žalgiris delivered well, well below expectations of being defending Champions.
Breakout Stories: From Obscurity to Recognition
If the season had a breakout star, it was the Latvian Ingars Pūlis of FK Tukums 2000, who clinched “Surprise of the Season.” Rising from relative obscurity, his performance disrupted expectations and earned him national-level attention, a call-up to the National Team and a 2026 contract with one of the large clubs – FK Liepāja.
Cast off as a bench-warmer at Valmiera and overlooked in the post-Valmiera player diaspora to Riga, Auda and Liepāja, Pūlis was picked up quietly by Tukums. There, he went on to score 18 goals in 32 appearances, turning heads like no other!
Best XIs as Barometer: Who’s Leading Each League
Across Estonia’s Premium Liiga, Lithuania’s A Lyga, and Latvia’s Virslīga, the 2025 “Best XI” lineups sketch a map of where quality currently resides — and where it is shifting.
In Estonia, several clubs beyond the traditional giants managed to field players whose consistency demanded recognition. That underscores a slow but discernible diffusion of quality beyond power centres, even in a tight league structure. At the heart of Estonia’s standout performers were three defining figures: Marten-Chris Paalberg, who began the season at just 16 and still produced 15 goals while earning his senior national-team debut; Rauno Sappinen, whose 21-goal haul in his third stint with Flora reaffirmed his status as one of the league’s most reliable finishers; and Markus Poom, who delivered a rare double-double season with 10 goals and 10 assists across 30 matches, underscoring both his creative and scoring influence in Flora’s midfield.
In the ‘eternal battle’ between Flora and Levadia, it was Flora who finally prevailed after a dramatic, final week finish, taking back the title they let go of in 2024.
Our Premium Liiga Best XI is: Pavlov (Kalju) – Larsen (Levadia), Tougjas (Flora), Podholjuzin (Kalju), Mashchenko (Kalju) – Smith (Kalju), Pajo (Vaprus), Poom (Flora), Maksimkin (Narva) – Paalberg (Vaprus), Sappinen (Flora).
Lithuania’s Best XI illuminated the shift of power toward the two Kaunas clubs – Kauno Žalgiris and Hegelmann. A Lyga’s defining performers emerged across a season marked by volatility, with Eligijus Jankauskas leading the way after scoring 18 – nearly half of Šiauliai’s total goals – turning an otherwise modest side into a credible attacking threat; Liviu Antal delivering a remarkable rescue act for Vilnius Žalgiris, returning mid-season to score 13 goals in 20 matches and stabilise a collapsing giant; and Benchaib, who proved indispensable for champions Kauno Žalgiris with 15 goals and a dominant creative influence that shaped the club’s first-ever title-winning campaign.
Our A Lyga Best XI is: Bertašius (Banga) – Edokpolor (Kauno Žalgiris), Hernandez (Kauno Žalgiris), Armalas (Hegelmann), Upstas (Hegelmann) – Benchaib (Kauno Žalgiris), Romanovskij (Šiauliai), Sirgedas (Kauno Žalgiris), Ribeiro (Hegelmann) – Jankauskas (Šiauliai), Antal (Žalgiris).
Meanwhile, in Latvian Virslīga, Riga FC wrestled the title away from their city arch-rivals RFS to lift the league trophy for the first time since 2020. This season was another characterised by the titanic struggle between the two big Riga clubs, with the Championship decided by a single point, same as it was back in 2023. Aside from Riga FC finally winning the league again, the loudest news came from the bottom of the table, where FK Metta suffered relegation to the second tier following 14 years in the top flight – the longest tenure in modern Latvian football history.
Virslīga’s defining performers showcased a blend of experience and explosive output, with Darko Lemajić leading the charge through a 29-goal season that reasserted his dominance as the league’s most prolific striker; Mārcis Ošs anchoring Super Nova’s defence with veteran composure, proving indispensable despite the club’s struggles; and goalkeeper Adam Dvorak elevating Jelgava’s campaign through a series of standout performances that not only kept his side competitive but also earned him a call-up to the Czech U21 national team, marking one of the league’s most notable individual leaps.
Our Virslīga Best XI is: Dvorak (Jelgava) – Jurkovskis (Riga FC), Ošs (Super Nova), Ngom (Riga FC), Dusalijevs (Tukums 2000) – Grimaldo (Riga FC), Panič (RFS), Ankrah (Riga FC), Ikaunieks (RFS) – Pūlis (Tukums 2000), Lemajič (RFS).
Future Generation: U-21 Spotlight
The Best U-21 award is, possibly, one of the most exciting categories given that the three Baltic leagues are reliable some of the youngest professional top-flights in Europe. Every year, we observe some outstanding talents, many of whom go on to develop exciting careers on larger stages elsewhere in Europe or further afield.
This year was no different. One of the season’s clearest statements of emerging talent, led emphatically by young Estonian Marten-Chris Paalberg, who — starting the year at just 16 — powered Vaprus with 15 goals and earned a senior Estonia squad debut. Paalberg, who is Pärnu through and through, having come up from the Vaprus academy system, spared no one as soon as the spring weather lifted and Premium liiga transitioned into the Baltic summer. Scoring his first goal of the season against Tammeka in mid-May, he would put 5 more past the Tartu side before the season finally ended. Paalberg’s ‘hot streak’ came in August, where he scored five goals in four consecutive games, including against clubs nominally stronger than Vaprus – Kalju and Levadia. In September, he got his first (and only) hattrick of the season against Tammeka and signed off on 2025 with a goal against Levadia in late October. While sources close to the player confirmed that he will be leaving Vaprus during winter, it is not yet known where to, despite various rumours placing the prospective youngsters anywhere between Scotland, Belgium and Scandinavia.
Close behind him stood Junior Taty Tchibinda (20) – on loan to Daugavpils from RFS, he became a defensive cornerstone for the club despite playing out of position, forming a crucial partnership with Williams and driving the club to its best-ever campaign. His consistent performance earned him a debut with the Congo National Team in mid-October in a 1-0 loss against Morocco.
Lithuania’s Vaidas Magdušauskas (21) completed the trio with a season of steady maturity at Banga, where he became a cornerstone starting XI player, highlighted by a full national-team debut against the Netherlands.
Baltic Best XI: A Cross-League Spectacle
Our most difficult and ambitious award category this year was, perhaps, assembling the Baltic Best XI which was, granted, an exercise in fiction more than in analysis, but an interesting exercise nonetheless.
To do this, the Baltic Football News panel of experts went beyond simple stat-counting, weighing individual performances within the wider context of each league’s competitive level and each club’s relative strength. Players from lower-ranked teams were evaluated with upward adjustment if their influence significantly exceeded the quality of their club, while standout contributors at top clubs were judged on consistency, impact in decisive matches and their role within tactical structures. The panel also incorporated direct reference points from inter-Baltic fixtures—both official qualifiers such as RFS vs. Levadia in the Champions League QR1 and numerous preseason and mid-season friendlies—to establish real competitive benchmarks across leagues. By combining statistical output, positional importance, team dependence, and demonstrated ability against Baltic opponents, the selectors aimed to produce an XI that reflects true regional excellence rather than three separate domestic all-star teams merged together.
With this in mind, the Baltic Best XI brought together the region’s highest-impact performers into a single, uncompromising lineup, anchored by Bertašius (Banga) in goal after a season in which his consistency often kept Banga competitive. The back line combined the overlapping drive of Edokpolor (Kauno Žalgiris), the defensive authority of Podholjuzin (Kalju), the athletic ball-winning of Ngom (Riga FC), and the creativity of Dusalijevs (Tukums 2000), whose form at Tukums made him one of Latvia’s most effective full-backs. In midfield, Romanovskij’s (Šiauliai) control and Poom’s (Flora) two-way output offered a balance of structure and creativity, while the wings were defined by Benchaib’s (Kauno Žalgiris) goal-scoring playmaking from Kaunas and Ikaunieks’ (RFS) direct attacking threat. Up front, the XI featured the region’s two most decisive forwards: Lemajić (RFS), whose 29 goals powered Virslīga, and Sappinen (Flora), Estonia’s 21-goal finisher whose influence was central to Flora’s title run. Together, the XI captured the strongest individual seasons across all three leagues—four players from Lithuania, four from Latvia, and three from Estonia.
Taken together, the 2025 season across the Baltics offered a portrait of a region in transition—one where traditional powers faltered, emerging clubs seized momentum, and individual brilliance routinely reshaped expectations. From the dramatic collapse of Vilnius Žalgiris to the rise of Ingars Pūlis and emergence of Marten-Chris Paalberg, and the renewed centre of football gravity in Kaunas, the year produced a spectrum of stories that reveal a football landscape far more dynamic than its reputation suggests.
Our awards—culminating in the Baltic Best XI—serve not just as recognition of excellence but as a snapshot of forces currently reshaping the region: shifting hierarchies, accelerating youth development, and increasing competitive balance between the leagues, with Estonia rising, Latvia spinning wheels, and Lithuania falling behind.
Still, some concerns remain – while Lithuania demonstrated something of a competitive ‘wild west’ this season, Latvian trends might be drawing the league closer towards Estonian model, where only two clubs – Flora and Levadia – dominate. In many ways, Latvia is in focus here because, up until recently, it could boast the title of the most competitive of the three Baltic leagues, with 3 new Champions – Riga FC (2018-2020), RFS (2021, 2023-2024), Valmiera (2022), contesting the title in the space of 7 years. With Riga FC regaining the Latvian gold and no credible third club to challenge the two Riga giants (Riga FC and RFS) in sight, concerns over a 2-club league appear more credible than ever. With Estonian football landscape well and truly calcified for the near future following yet another FA elections win by Aivar Pohlak, and Lithuanian league historically going through Championship dynasties, the 2026 season could either confirm prevailing trends or open up a new chapter for one or more of the Baltic leagues!
