Latvia’s ice hockey players claimed the 5 Star Cup at the Riga Football Festival after beating the Ghetto Games team on penalties, providing an unlikely conclusion to a weekend which brought together neighbourhood football, athletes, musicians, influencers and politicians as part of the capital’s 825th anniversary celebrations.
The second edition of the festival was staged outside the Riga Congress Centre on 15th and 16th of August, with free entry and a programme organised by Ghetto Games together with Riga City Municipality.
Saturday was largely devoted to youth and neighbourhood football, beginning with the U10 Riga Football Schools Cup before 13 district teams competed for the city title. Sunday brought the 5 Star Cup, a celebrity tournament built around teams representing different parts of Latvian sporting and public life.
The Latvian Hockey Federation arrived with perhaps the strongest collection of recognised sporting names. NHL defenceman Uvis Jānis Balinskis was joined by Eduards Tralmaks, Mārtiņš Laviņš and Lauris Dārziņš, alongside several other players from Latvia’s hockey community.
They were joined by teams representing politicians, rappers, influencers, musicians, the Bourzma movement and the Bazara 0 Fight Club wrestling community, as well as a Ghetto Games side led by movement founder Raimonds Elbakyan.
The format gave the tournament much of its appeal, placing people normally associated with very different stages and arenas on the same small football pitch. The Politicians’ Team brought together figures from across Latvian public life, while the Rappers’ and Influencers’ teams featured several familiar names from music and social media. Sudden Lights guitarist Kārlis Matīss Zitmanis was among those involved, while the Ghetto Games squad included Baltic Football News colleagues Frank Marr and Gregors Spricis.
One group was noticeably less prominent, however. Despite this being a football festival, there were few recognisable representatives from Latvia’s professional football community among the headline participants, with no substantial presence from either the Virslīga or the Latvian Football Federation. That contrast became more pronounced as the tournament developed. Hockey had brought some of its most recognisable names to the event and ultimately won it, while football’s professional establishment was largely peripheral to a weekend built around its own sport.
The decisive matches did at least have one prominent Latvian football figure involved, with international referee Andris Treimanis taking charge. Treimanis has officiated in European club competitions and international football, giving the celebrity tournament an unusually experienced referee for an event of its kind.
The final brought the Hockey Federation side up against Ghetto Games, whose team had progressed through its own tournament to reach the deciding match. Neither side could settle it in normal play, leaving the trophy to be decided from the penalty spot. It was the hockey players who prevailed, completing a tournament in which their competitiveness translated rather effectively from ice to football.
The two-day programme also included performances, competitions and opportunities for spectators to meet athletes and performers, with Lūcija, Amanda and Jaunā Revija appearing on Saturday before rapper Ods closed the event on Sunday.
Sunday also began with Elbakyan leading the Run For Fun and mass gymnastics before the football programme took over the square.
For Latvian football, there was perhaps also a useful reminder in the response. A free city-centre event capable of attracting athletes, musicians, politicians and younger audiences is precisely the kind of setting in which football can reach beyond its regular supporters.
On this occasion, however, it was hockey that made the strongest impression and eventually took the trophy home.
