1625 Liepaja

Ground: Stadions Olimpija

Visits: 1

Date: 21st June 2014

Match: 1625 Liepaja - Salaspils 4-1 (1. liga)

Attendance: 100

I woke up in Siauliai, Lithuania, on Friday morning. After two games in the most southern of the Baltic countries it was time to move on. My destination this Friday was Liepaja in Latvia. On Saturday I could then attend two matches in Liepaja before moving on to Ventspils, my final stop on this tour. There are no direct buses (or trains for that matter) from Siauliai to Liepaja and I had to travel via Riga, tha Latvian capital. At 10.30 I boarded the bus in Siauliai and the journey to Riga was suppose to take around 2 h 15 min. As we approached Latvia it started to rain but above all there were road works for almost 30 km. The driving conditions were awful and sometimes we weren´t even on asphalt. Anyway, at 13.30 the bus finally made it to the main bus station in Riga. Heavy rain coming down but I hurried inside. I bought my bus ticket for Liepaja and then went to a cash machine to withdraw some Lats (the currency in Latvia). I was puzzled when the cash machine asked how many Euros I wanted. I went to the bank office at the station and handed over 30 Euros. The lady in the office looked at me and said "We have Euros in Latvia". Somehow I had missed that Latvia, since 1 January, had the Euro as their currency. Poor planning from me. Anyway, I made the bus to Liepaja and around 18.00 I was at the bus station in Liepaja. Liepaja is the third largest city in Latvia (pop. 75 000) and during the Soviet Union era this was a "closed" city due to the naval base. The naval base was closed in 1994 but still ethnic Russians make up 50 % of the population, something I noted as well. Plenty of Russian football shirts visible!

I slept late on Saturday and then, in glorious weather, made the 25-minute walk to Stadion Daugava, the main football ground in Liepaja and the venue for my second match this day. Next to there is a smaller ground, Stadions Daugava maksligas laukums, and according to various websites this was the venue for 1625 Liepaja vs Salaspils in the Latvian second division (1. Liga). After taking pictures of the two grounds I made a short tour of the city centre before having soup for lunch at my hotel. Kick off for 1625 Liepaja vs Salaspils was 14.00. At 13.30 I was at Stadions Daugava maksligas laukums but no-one else was there and the gates were locked. I was quite confused but waited for 10 minutes before I went to the big ground (Stadions Daugava) where I could ask someone where the match was to be played. After a while I found someone who could a) speak English b) knew where the match was being played. Apparently 1625 Liepaja sometimes play at Stadion Olimpija in Liepaja. Normally FK Liepaja reserves play there. I was pleased when the helping local told me the ground was only a 10-15 minute walk away. At 14.08 I was at Stadions Olimpija and the score was already 2-0 to 1625 Liepaja. The ground itself was not too bad for this level. No running tracks and a proper stand with around 1000 seats. For this match around 100 (free entrance) were present. The match was of course not of the best quality but in finished 4-1 to 1625 Liepaja and at least I witnessed more goals than I missed. After the match I once again made my way to Stadions Daugava for the second match of the day, FK Liepaja vs FC Daugava.

liepaja, stadsbild