Festive football will take place today in Tallinn as Estonia celebrates Independence Day, with the Livonian Cup set to be contested between Estonian champions FC Flora Tallinn and Latvian champions Riga FC. The match will kick off at 17:00 at the EJL Football Hall.
Originally scheduled to be played outdoors at Sportland Arena, winter conditions forced the fixture to be moved indoors.
Flora enter the clash with history within reach. The Estonian champions are three-time Livonian Cup winners and could become the first club in the competition’s history to lift the trophy four times. That would surpass the Latvia’s Skonto Riga, who have also won the cup three times – in consecutive years between 2003 and 2005.
For Riga FC, this will be the club’s first appearance in the Livonian Cup. The Latvian champions are approaching the fixture seriously, travelling to Tallinn by air on Monday ahead of the match. Riga will be aiming to become the fourth Latvian club to win the trophy. In the most recent edition in 2024, their domestic rivals FC RFS defeated Flora to claim their first Livonian Cup title. Previously, Skonto Riga and FK Ventspils – who won it in 2008 – have also brought the trophy to Latvia.
The Livonian Cup was introduced at the end of 2002 following an initiative by the Estonian Football Association. The trophy itself is a restored pre-Second World War cup of unknown origin, renovated by goldsmith Jaak Tammist. The idea behind the competition is to stage a match between champions of countries that historically formed part of Livonia.
The match will be streamed live on Soccernet.ee’s YouTube channel.
