The Future League (), currently known as the LVBET League () for commercial purposes, and prior to 2021 as the Latvian First League () is the second tier division of football in Latvia organised by the Latvian Football Federation since 1992. Its winners gain promotion to the Latvian Higher League (Virslīga), while the relegated teams move to the Latvian Second League.
History
Since the beginning of football in modern-day Latvia in the early 1910s, the football league pyramid of Latvia was first fragmented into regional competitions, with the teams from the capital, the Riga Football Cup, dominating over the few regional teams up until the late 1920s. With the formation of a regular Latvian Higher League or Virslīga in 1927, the approximate second level of the football pyramid consisted of the provincial championships of the four Historical Latvian Lands (Provinces meistarsacīkstes) and the Riga First League (Rīgas 1. līga), founded in 1923 and 1922 respectively. The promotion and relegation system often changed or was not used.
During the Soviet occupation of Latvia, the second division of Latvian football league was called the B class of the Latvian SSR (), with the top level being the Higher Football League of the Latvian SSR. In the USSR football league system the B class was the third tier of competitions. Until 1991 the B class was also divided into regional tournaments such as the Riga Region Football Championship, Daugavpils Region Football championship, Liepāja Region Football championship and the Valmiera Region Football Championship.
After the restoration of the independence of Latvia and the accession to UEFA, the current Latvian First League was founded together with the other modern Latvian football competitions in 1992. From 2007 to 2008, the tournament was known as the Traffic 1. līga, due to its first sponsorship deal concluded with the "Traffic auto advert" advertising company. From 2015 to 2020 its name was Komanda.lv First League (Komanda.lv 1. līga) for sponsorship reasons, after the Komanda.lv sporting goods company became the league's main sponsor in 2015.
It was renamed the Future League before the 2021 season. Between 2021 and 2024, the league's general sponsor was the gambling company Optibet, so the league was called Optibet Future League (Optibet Nākotnes līga). From the 2026 season, the league's general sponsor is the sports betting company LVBET and its full name was changed to LVBET League.
Format There are 14 clubs in the First League. During the course of the season each club plays every other club twice, once at home and once away, with a total of 26 games. At the end of the season, the highest placed club is automatically promoted to the Virslīga. The second lowest placed club in the Virslīga and the second placed club in the First League compete in a two-legged tie for the remaining place in the following season's Virslīga. The two clubs finishing at the bottom of the First League are relegated to the Second League, while the third-from-bottom team competes in a two-legged tie with the third-placed team of the Second League for a place in the First League.
Participating clubs (2026) Rēzekne (Rēzekne) Mārupes SC (Mārupe) FK Metta (Rīga) JDFS Alberts (Riga) Leevon PPK (Rīga) FK Smiltene/BJSS (Smiltene) Skanstes SK (Rīga) AFA Olaine (Olaine) JFK Ventspils (Ventspils) Riga FC-2 (Rīga) FK RFS-2 (Rīga) Valmiera FC (Valmiera) FK Tukums 2000-2 (Tukums) Riga Mariners (Rīga)
Past winners
SeasonWinnerTotalwinsRunner-up 1992 Decemviri Rīga 1 Zenta Rīga 1993 Gemma-RFS 1 Baltnet Daugavpils 1994 FK Kvadrāts 1 Starts Brocēni 1995 FK Jūrnieks 1 FK Lokomotīve Daugavpils 1996 Vecrīga Rīga 1 FK Valmiera 1997 Ranto/AVV 1 FK Jūrnieks 1998 PFK Rīga 1 Jaunība Daugavpils 1999 LU-Daugava 1 LBB-Mido 2000 1 Skonto/Metāls Rīga 2001 Auda Rīga 1 RKB-Arma Rīga 2002 RKB-Arma Rīga 2a Ditton Daugavpils 2003 FK Jūrmala 1 Multibanka Rīga 2004 FK Ventspils-2 1 Ditton-2 Daugavpils 2005 Skonto-2 Rīga 1 Skonto-2 Rīga 2006 JFK Olimps Rīga 1 Ditton-2 Daugavpils 2007 FK Vindava Ventspils 1 FK Blāzma Rēzekne 2008 FK Daugava 1 FC Tranzīts 2009 FK Jelgava 1 FK Jaunība Rīga 2010 FB Gulbene 2005 1 FC Jūrmala 2011 FS METTA/LU 1 FK Liepājas Metalurgs-2 2012 FK Liepājas Metalurgs-2 1 Ilūkstes NSS 2013 BFC Daugavpils 1 FB Gulbene 2005 2014 FB Gulbene 2005 2 Rēzeknes BJSS 2015 Riga FC 1 Valmiera Glass FK/BSS 2016 SK Babīte 1 Olaine/Super Nova2017FK Valmiera Glass/ViA1FK Progress/AFA Olaine2018BFC Daugavpils/Progress2SK Super Nova2019FK Tukums 20001SK Super Nova2020FC Lokomotiv DaugavpilsTransformed into FC Noah Jūrmala after the season120212FK Tukums 20002022FS Jelgava1Grobiņas SC2023Grobiņas SC1Riga FC-22024SK Super Nova1RFS-22025Ogre United1JDFS Alberts a Previously won as Ranto/AVV.
References
External links The First League on the Latvian Football Federation website (in Latvian) (Archive) The page of the league on the Latvian Football Federation website (in English) League321.com - Latvian football league tables, records & statistics database.