DFS Jelgava is an ever so slightly facelifted version of a prior FK Jelgava (FS = Football School; FK = Football Club), which, during the Virslīga 2021 licensing process, had to withdraw from Virslīga after 10 continuous seasons due to ongoing financial issues. Until then, FK Jelgava was another club with significant and unique football heritage in Latvia.

Founded in 2004, FK Jelgava could trace its lineage back to the early 1970s as the football team of an automotive manufacturing plant in Jelgava. In 1977, it was officially inaugurated as “Metālists Jelgava” – a football club of the local metallurgy plant – before changing its allegiance back to the automotive plant three years later and becoming “Automobīlists Jelgava”. Whatever the name, the new club struggled at the bottom of the Latvian SSR league, achieving mid-table finish during the best of times. In 1988, the club was about to get relegated, but the league was expanded to 12 teams and so Jelgava managed to stay up. That same year it was taken over by the RAF (Riga Bus Factory) – one of only two producers of vans and minibuses for the entirety of the USSR (other one being UAZ) – and became RAF Jelgava.

RAF Jelgava immediately emerged as a powerhouse of Latvian football under USSR occupation. They won the league in 1988 and 1989, also lifting the Latvian Cup in 1988. Once the independence was reclaimed and the Virslīga reestablished, RAF Jelgava continued as one of the leading teams, finishing second to Skonto Riga thrice between 1992-1995. By that time, the RAF automotive plant was already hovering on the edge of insolvency and could not continue supporting the football club. In 1996, funding was obtained from the University of Latvia and the club relocated to Rīga under the new name – RAF Rīga.

RAF Rīga finished 5th that year but did also managed to win the Latvian Cup once again. The name was changed once again the following year, and by the end of 1997, the club now called “Universitāte Rīga” had finally collapsed and ceased to exist.

RAF Jelgava re-emerged in 2001, entering at the second tier of the Latvian football pyramid. It continued to scrape by just above the relegation zone for three years until merging with another Jelgava-based club from the same division in 2004 – FK Viola Jelgava – to form FK Jelgava.

FK Jelgava won the second division in 2009 and made their Virslīga debut in 2010. They won their first Latvian Cup that same year. During the next 9 seasons, FK Jelgava continued, with rare exceptions in 2014 (#3) and 2016 (#2), as a mid-to-bottom table team. They did win the Latvian Cup three more times – in 2014, 2015 and 2016. On 2 September 2010, FK Jelgava played a friendly match against Blackpool FC (still in Premier League at the time) to mark the opening of Zemgale Olympic Centre in Jelgava. The game was attended by President of Latvia Valdis Zatlers and the British Ambassador in Latvia. FK Jelgava won 2-1.

Despite struggling in Virslīga, FK Jelgava made forays into the European football due to their impressive record of winning the Cup. In 2016-2017 season, they even made it as far the the 3rd Qualifying Round of the UEFA Europa League, losing to Beitar Jerusalem 1-4 on aggregate. Unfortunately, in an all too familiar story, the club struggled financially and failed to qualify for a Virslīga license in 2021. FK Jelgava was then disbanded and rebuilt into FS Jelgava – a club owned by many of the same people and based on the same infrastructure as FK Jelgava, but now with a developmental strategy that focused on developing local football talent. FK Jelgava, in turn, became JFC Jelgava (JFC being “Jelgava Football Centre”) and started anew at the bottom of the pyramid. The club got promoted to the third following a successful 2023 season and, in February 2024, JFC Jelgava changed its name (back) to JFC Viola, thus reclaiming the identity and heritage of the club that merged with RAF Jelgava two decades prior.

FS Jelgava returned to the Virslīga in 2023 to finish 6th but won over a great deal of supporters with their sympathetic, young and primarily local team that caused more than a little headache even to the larger Virslīga sides (including a 3-5 away win over Riga FC in Round 28). Performance the following year left much to be desired and the team finished convincingly last, getting relegated to the second tier. However, due to Valmiera FC being denied license for 2025 due to financial issues and Jelgava meeting all the necessary requirements as a back-up applicant, the club maintained their position in the Latvian top tier.

FS Jelgava is one of the most resilient football clubs in Latvia, benefiting from a large academy system and being one of the very few clubs to own essential infrastructure.