Today, the “Optibet” Latvian football superleague will start with three matches, already in the first match the champions of the previous two seasons, “Valmierai” and RFS, will meet, and in another duel, for the first time in official matches in Latvia, the referee’s video assistant system (VAR) will be able to be used to decide controversial episodes.
The course of the games may be affected by the weather.
The duel between the champions of the previous season “Valmiera” and the bronze medalist RFS will start at 13:00 at the Valmiera Olympic Center stadium. All today’s games will be broadcast live by TV4.
“Valmiera” team has lost its attack leader Raimonds Krolli, as well as such key players as Kamilo Mena, Daisuki Yokota, Roman Jakub and goalkeeper Rihardas Matrevica in the off-season, but several new local and foreign footballers have joined the team. The role of leader could be entrusted to Alvis Jaunzemas.
Roberts Savalnieks returned to the RFS team after the season break, Jānis Ikaunieks will also play again in the capital unit. There are no significant changes in the core of the team, but Tomislav Šarić and Kevin Friesenbichler have left the leading players.
In the second match of the day, “Metta” will compete with “Liepaja” at 15:00 at the Riga Hanza Secondary School football field.
Lukas Vapne and Vladislavs Fyodorovs returned to “Metta” ranks at the beginning of the season. Goalkeeper Jānis Beks, although he has come under the wing of RFS, will remain in his home club on loan.
The Kurzeme club starts the season with a large number of foreign footballers in the team and radical changes in the composition. Among the leading players, Dodo and Gauthier remain in Mankenda, while Mārtiņš Ķigurs will miss a large part of the season due to injury.
In the final match of the day, Ķekava “Auda” will host the Salaspils “Super Nova” team at the “Mežaparks SV” field at 5 p.m., and it is planned that the VAR system will be used in this game.
The “Auda” team has retained the promising goalkeeper Fabrics Ondoa and strengthened this position with Roberta Ozola. Players such as Ivo Minkevich, Daniil Ulimbashev and Aleksej Saveljev have remained in the ranks of the Ķekava club playing in Riga, but Usejnu Njang and the head coach Tomislav Stipić have left for “Riga” and have been replaced by Simo Valakari.
On the eve of the season, “Super Nova” attracted the experienced Denis Rakela, before strengthening the lineup with Oleg Laizanas. The striker Eduards Vishniakovs, who plays a big role, has remained in the team.
At the end of the first round on Sunday, “Tukums 2000″/”Telms” will play against “Daugavpils” at home, while “Riga” will fight against debutant “Jelgavu” in Mežapark.
This season, ten teams will compete in the football superleague – “Valmiera”, “Riga”, RFS, “Liepāja”, “Auda”, “Daugavpils”, “Tukums 2000″/”Telms”, “Metta”, Salaspils “Super Nova” and a newcomer “Jelgava”. In the previous season, for the first time in history, Valmiers became the champions, “Riga” won the silver, and “RFS” won the bronze, while “Auda” won the Latvian Cup.
The champion will be determined after 36 rounds of matches, with each team meeting each other four times. A total of 180 games will be held.
The 2023 season is significant in that the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system is being used for the first time in Latvia.
