Grobiņas SC/LFS, henceforth to be known as FK Grobiņa, announced a change of club name in the run-up to the 2025 season. The South Kurzeme side will also break with the municipal football academy of Liepāja.
Grobiņas SC/LFS announced some major and, potentially, consequential changes to the club’s image and strategy in a post on their social media. The most immediate change is in the name – Grobiņas SC/LFS will be no more, replaced by a simpler FK Grobiņa. The “SC/LFS” in the previous name stood for “Sports Centre/Liepāja Football School”, denoting the status of the organization as, primarily, a football academy. Association with LFS was added to the name for 2024 season as the club got promoted to the Virslīga and sought access to requisite infrastructure as well as a higher level academy system. In replacing SC/LFS with FK, Grobiņa will now seek to make a claim that they are first and foremost a football club.
The minor change of name, however, is not the only way in which Grobiņa demonstrate their intention to grow. The club hinted at aiming for higher goals in the Latvian top tier. While a vague statement, sources close to the club reported that the new FK Grobiņa will attempt to become a fully professional outfit and will enjoy approximately twice the budget of Grobiņas SC/LFS from 2024. Whether this is due to increased solidarity payments from UEFA or in addition to those is not yet clear. The club did confirm that LV Agro – a Latvian manufacturer of fertiliser – will remain the front-of-shirt sponsor for the upcoming season as well.
Finally, FK Grobiņa will sever naming right with Liepāja Football School. Liepāja Football School is a municipal football academy of the city of Liepāja, not formally affiliated with FK Liepāja. Grobiņa has long been part of this academy system, so this relationship is likely to continue. The reason for removal of LFS from the club name, or which side drove this change, is yet to be disclosed.
Last season, Grobiņa finished 9th in the Virslīga and had to play in the relegation play-offs against JDFS Alberts from Riga. Despite losing in the first leg, the Kurzeme side eventually prevailed, securing a spot in the Latvian top division for 2025.
Past season was a debut season for the small club from just outside of Liepāja but the squad, under spirited leadership of local legend, former Liepājas Metalurgs striker and FK Liepāja head coach Viktors Dobrecovs, won many hearts and re-invigorated football passions in the city. Liepāja derby between FK Liepāja and Grobiņas SC/LFS drew highest numbers of spectators in recent years and the Virslīga newcomers looked to be in a comfortable mid-table position half-way through the season but then collapsed, getting eliminated from the Latvian Cup in the Round of 16 by the second tier debutants Leevon PPK and losing all of their last 10 games in the league.
Source: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14uUZD9K39J