Following elimination from the UEFA Europa League, FK RFS of Latvia are the final hurdle between Hamrun Spartans and their dream of being the first Maltese club to qualifying for the league stage of a UEFA competition.
It will be no easy task for the Spartans considering that although RFS entered UEFA competitions for the first time in 2019, since then they reached the group stage of the UEFA Europa Conference League in 2022/23 and the league stage of the UEFA Europa League last season.
Ironically in 2022, after bowing out of the UEFA Champions League, they met Hibernians in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League and following a 1-1 draw in Riga, they registered a highly controversial 3-1 win after extra time at the Centenary Stadium to reach the play-off round where they eliminated Linfield to qualify for the group stage.
Last season in the league stage of the UEFA Europa League, they earned five points thanks to a 1-0 win over Ajax and home draws with Anderlecht and Galatasaray.
This season, they entered the Champions League where they eliminated Levadia Tallinn with a 2-0 aggregate score but were then eliminated by Malmo with a 1-5 aggregate score dnd were then eliminated by KuPs from the Europa League with a 3-1 aggregate score.
FK RFS are based in Riga, Latvia. Originally, the current club was a team of young players and a coach who formed par of JFK Skonto – the youth club of FK Skonto but when the coach and the players left JFK Skonto in 2003, he founded FSK Daugava, using the same players. The semi-professional club FSK Daugava 90 was established two years later and the name was eventually changed to Rīgas futbola skola. In 2016 when the Latvian Football Federation revoked the league licence of FK Skonto and awarded it to the club which re-branded itself to RFS.
RFS won the Latvian championship three times in 2021, 2023 and 2024, and the Latvian Cup three times – in 2019, 2021 and 2024.
This season, they are currently second in the Latvian Virsliga with 64 points from 26 matches, three behind leaders Riga and twenty ahead of third-placed Liepaja.
The first leg between Hamrun Spartans and RFS is expected to be played at the National Stadium on August 21 with the return match scheduled for August 28 at the LNK Sporta Parks. Both matches will kick-off at 19:00.
Can anyone explain to me how this competition works? Hamrun won only one game and lost five games after three opponents. Now this article says Hamrun still have the opportunity to make it to the group stage if they beat Riga. Wow. The world game as it is best.