1990 Baltic League (Russian: Чемпионат Прибалтики по футболу 1990) was an international football competition organized in 1990 between three Baltic states with the ongoing dissolution of the Soviet Union. The league consisting of 18 clubs from the Lithuania SSR, Estonian SSR, the Latvian SSR and a special invitee FC Progress Cherniakhovsk from Kaliningrad Oblast. For Lithuanian teams the league also served as a preliminary (first stage) tournament for the first post-Soviet Lithuanian football championship.

Baltic League
Season1990
ChampionsŽalgiris Vilnius
Lithuanian ChampionshipŽalgiris Vilnius
Sirijus Klaipėda
Ekranas Panevėžys
Jovaras Mažeikiai
Top goalscorerV. Baranauskas
(Sakalas Šiauliai)
18 goals

With the ongoing revolutions of 1989, in 1990 the Baltic republics declared reinstatement of their independence and exit out of the Soviet Union. Lithuania declared its independence on March 11, on March 30 the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic announced that its existence is not legal by recognizing itself as a territory under the Soviet occupation since 1940, Latvia simply repeated the feat of Lithuania on May 4.

The Lithuanian club Žalgiris, a member of the Soviet Top League after losing its first game in Odesa 0–1 to Chornomorets Odesa, withdrew from the 1990 Soviet Top League and joined the Baltic League. The club that in previous season qualified for the 1990–91 UEFA Cup was denied entrance to the European competitions.

History edit

The four best Lithuanian teams from Baltic League and the 1 Lyga qualified for the National Championship play-off. Also all Lithuanian clubs from the Baltic League qualified for the next season of A Lyga. Most of Latvian clubs also joined the championship of Latvia (Latvian SSR), while some continued their participation in the Soviet championship. The Soviet Estonian clubs after the fall of the Soviet Union were dissolved, while Progress Chernyakhovsk continued to participate in lower leagues of the Russian championship.

Note that Pardaugava also this season competed in the 1990 Soviet Second League (as Daugava Riga), while Zalgiris just pulled out of the Soviet competitions after playing the first game of the 1990 Soviet Top League, losing it away in Odessa. Also both Chernyakovsk and Yelgava clubs competed in the 1990 Soviet Second League B, Zone 6.

Teams edit

All-Union competition edit

Team/Club 1990 season's tournament
Žalgiris Vilnius Soviet Top League, 4th place
Sport Tallinn Soviet Second League, 20th place
Inkaras Kaunas Soviet Second League, 22nd place

Football championship of the Lithuanian SSR edit

Team/Club Place
Banga Kaunas 1st place
Ekranas Panevezys 2nd place
Sirijus Klaipeda 3rd place
Jovaras Mazeikiaj 6th place
Sakalas Siauliaj 10th place
Neris Vilnius 13th place
Suduva Marijampole 14th place

Football championship of the Latvian SSR edit

Team/Club Place
RAF Jelgava 1st place
Torpedo Riga 2nd place
Stroitel Daugavpils 3rd place
Daugava-LGIFK Riga 4th place
Metalurgs Liepaja 7th place
Pardaugava-RShVSM Riga students

Notes:

  • RAF Jelgava was the second team of RAF Jelgava that was playing in the 1990 Soviet Second League B (Group 6).
  • Daugava-LGIFK Riga was a reserve team of FC Daugava Riga that played in the 1990 Soviet First League. LGIFK stands for the Latvian State Institute of Physical Culture.
  • RShVSM stands for the Republican School of Higher Sports Mastery.

Football championship of the Estonian SSR edit

Team/Club Place
Fosforit Tallinn 1st place

Notes:

  • Last season Fosforit Tallinn was known as Zvezda Tallinn representing the Soviet Army sports club

Football championship of the Russian SFSR (among KFK) edit

Team/Club Place
Progress Cherniakhovsk

Withdrew edit

Baltic League edit

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Žalgiris Vilnius 32 27 4 1 104 11 +93 58 Qualification to Lithuanian championship play-off and founding of A Lyga
2   Sirijus Klaipėda 32 19 9 4 47 19 +28 47
3   Ekranas Panevėžys 32 19 8 5 62 24 +38 46
4   Progress Cherniakhovsk 32 19 4 9 46 33 +13 42 Moved to the Soviet Second League B
5   Jovaras Mažeikiai 32 16 8 8 40 25 +15 40 Qualification to Lithuanian championship play-off and founding of A Lyga
6   Inkaras Kaunas 32 15 9 8 54 25 +29 39 The A Lyga founding teams
7   Banga Kaunas 32 13 11 8 45 30 +15 37
8   RAF Jelgava 32 13 10 9 44 37 +7 36 Relegation to regional competitions
9   Sakalas Šiauliai 32 11 12 9 41 32 +9 34 The A Lyga founding teams
10   Sport Tallinn 32 11 11 10 43 39 +4 33 Defunct after end of season
11   Neris Vilnius 32 10 8 14 27 47 −20 28 The A Lyga founding teams
12   Celtnieks Daugavpils 32 8 7 17 29 45 −16 23 Relegation to the Latvian SSR Higher League
13   Torpedo Rīga 32 6 10 16 29 49 −20 22
14   KKI Daugava Riga 32 4 13 15 16 49 −33 21
15   Pārdaugava Riga 32 5 8 19 24 53 −29 18
16   Metalurgs Liepāja 32 4 5 23 20 97 −77 13
17   FK Sūduva Marijampolė 32 1 5 26 13 69 −56 7 The A Lyga founding teams
Source: rsssf.com
  • ASK Fosforit Tallinn quit the competition after 14 games

Top scorers edit

  • 18 V.Baranauskas (Sakalas Šiauliai)
  • 16 A.Narbekovas (Zalgiris Vilnius)
  • 14 V.Ivanauskas (Zalgiris Vilnius)
  • 14 K.Dranginis (Inkaras Kaunas)

See also edit

References edit

External links edit