Sportin Latvia includes basketball, football, ice hockey, athletics (track), rugby, tennis, cycling, and others. Ice hockey is the most popular of the Latvian sports and is closely followed by basketball. Some of Latvia’s most notable athletes include hockey player Sandis Ozoliņš, football player Māris Verpakovskis, olympic javelin thrower Jānis Lūsis, two-time Olympic BMX champion Maris Strombergs, and basketball player Kristaps Porziņģis. The national sport of Latvia is ice hockey.
Latvian Higher League or Virslīga, known for sponsorship reasons as Optibet Virslīga since 2019, is a professional football league and the top tier of association football in Latvia. Organised by the Latvian Football Federation, the Higher League is contested by 10 clubs.
ASK Rīga is a former professional basketball club that was based in Riga, Latvia. "ASK" stood for "Armijas Sporta Klubs".
The Latvia men's national basketball team represents Latvia in international basketball. They are organized and run by the Latvian Basketball Association. Latvia has reached the European Basketball Championship 15 times, with their ultimate success occurring during the inter-war period, when they became the first team to win the tournament in 1935. Four years later, they had another impressive run to come away with the silver in 1939. Although after 1939, Latvia were forced to suspend their national team operations, due to the Occupation of the Baltic states during World War II. Latvia regained independence in 1991, with their national team taking part in international competition once again a year later.
Vitālijs Astafjevs is a Latvian professional football coach and a former midfielder. He is an assistant manager of Cypriot club Aris Limassol having previously held the role for the Latvia national team.
Dzintars Zirnis is a Latvian former football defender. He last played for Latvian First League club FK 1625 Liepāja. For almost his entire career, Zirnis played for FK Liepājas Metalurgs in the Latvian Higher League, making his debut in 1997 and playing there until 2013. He was also a member of Latvia national football team.
Sport in Albania revolves mostly around team sports, such as football, basketball, volleyball and handball. Other sports includes boxing, weightlifting, tennis, swimming, judo, karate, athletics, table tennis, rugby, cricket, and chess. Football in particular has seen a rapid transformation, with the Albania national football team making its debut at the 1964 UEFA European Football Championship. The national football team also qualified for the 2016 UEFA European Football Championship. Many Albanian athletes have also achieved significant success and have won European and Mediterranean titles in numerous sports during the years, such as wrestling, football, athletics and weightlifting. Albanian athletes have won a total 49 medals for Albania in 8 different Mediterranean sports. Albania has had some success in others sport such as volleyball and basketball as well.
Sport in Serbia includes football, basketball, handball, tennis, volleyball, and water polo. Professional sports in Serbia are organized by sporting federations and leagues. Serbian professional sports includes multi-sport clubs, biggest and most successful of which are Crvena Zvezda, Partizan, Radnički and Beograd in Belgrade, Vojvodina in Novi Sad, Radnički in Kragujevac, Spartak in Subotica. Serbia had successes in basketball, winning the Olympic silver medal and Nikola Jokic winning 2 NBA MVPs, as well as the 2023 NBA Championship and Finals MVP, Novak Djokovic winning a record setting 24th Grand Slam, and in handball, volleyball and water polo as well.
Football is the number one sport based on participation, but the third sport in Latvia after ice hockey and basketball based on popularity. Many other sports are also more popular than football in Latvia, but in recent years it has gained more popularity. The Latvian Football Federation is the sport's national governing body. There is a league system, with the Higher League and First League serving as the top leagues in Latvia. The Latvian Second League is composed mostly of amateur teams.
Maigonis Valdmanis was a Soviet and Latvian basketball player and coach. He was born in Riga.
This page refers to sports broadcasting contracts in Belgium. For other countries broadcast rights, see Sports television broadcast contracts.
These are the sports broadcasting contracts in the Philippines. There are four primary local producers of sport programs in the country: Solar Sports, TAP Sports, GMA Network, and TV5/Cignal TV.
The Olympic Sports Centre, from 2016 until 2020: ElektrumOlympic Centre, ElektrumOlimpiskais centrs, from 2021 until now RimiOlympic Centre, Rimi Olimpiskais centrs) is an indoor multi-functional sports facility in Rīga, Latvia, which was opened in 2005 at the former location of the Riga hippodrome by the Latvian Olympic Committee as part of a nationwide network of Olympic centres designed to improve the training and competition facilities of Latvian athletes.
The CSIT – International Workers and Amateurs in Sports Confederation is an international multi-sports organization. It was established as the successor to Socialist Workers' Sport International and as such celebrated its centenary in 2013. The core principles of contributing to physical activity and sports have stayed in its action policy: it is a right of men and women to do sports no matter what are their professionalism levels. The key concept of the CSIT's sport policy has always been "Sports for all". The policy stems from the historic ideas of the international worker sport movement.
Vladislavs Gabovs is Latvian football right-back who plays for Salaspils and the Latvia national football team.
The Latvian Basketball Association, also known as LBS, is the national governing body of basketball in Latvia. It was founded in 1923 and was one of the FIBA Europe co-founders, but due to the Soviet and Nazi occupations, the federation disappeared from FIBA from 1940 to 1991. Its headquarters are located in Riga.
Maik-Kalev Kotsar is an Estonian professional basketball player for Saski Baskonia of the Spanish Liga ACB and the EuroLeague. He played college basketball for South Carolina Gamecocks. Kotsar also has played for the Estonia men's national basketball team as well as the Estonia men's national 3x3 team. Listed at 6 feet 11 inches (2.11 m) and 270 pounds (122 kg), he plays the center position.
Olga Ševcova is a Latvian footballer who plays as a forward for ÍBV of the Úrvalsdeild kvenna and the Latvia women's national team. She has been named the Latvian Footballer of the Year on six occasions. Ševcova has played for clubs based in Lithuania, Estonia and Iceland, as well as in her native Latvia.
Raimonds Feldmanis is a Latvian former professional basketball player and professional basketball coach who helped Latvian 3x3 national team win gold medals in 2020 Summer Olympics.
Raimonds Elbakjans is a former Latvian basketball player who founded an international youth movement Ghetto Games. He is the leader and the main fundraiser in the non-government organization of multi-sport events Ghetto Games.
