In this episode, we catch up on the Baltics leagues to see What's Hot and What's Not in Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian football before delving into the hype and opportunities of Artificial Intelligence in football - from how it's been used elsewhere to what are the potential use cases in the context of the Baltics.(00:02:00) Riga FC are Hot(00:04:22) Riga FC Women are HOT!!(00:08:00) FS Jelgava are Hot(00:09:52) FK Suduva are Hot(00:14:00) Kauno Zalgiris are Hot (and Vilnius Zalgiris are Not hot)(00:15:40) Flora are Hot(00:17:37) Standout moments thus far(00:19:07) Looking ahead to Europe(00:23:05) Dainava are ICE Cold(00:26:05) Riteriai are Not hot (again)(00:28:27) Metta's attitude is Not hot(00:32:26) Artificial Intelligence in football(00:55:01) Frank's and Dmitrijs's suggestions for trying AI#football #ai #artificialintelligence #soccer #latvia #lithuania #estonia #virsliga #alyga #premiumliiga

Recent weeks kicked up some alarming news about the President of the Estonian FA allegedly blacklisting referees he doesn't like and the owners of FK Riteriai allegedly embezzling funds intended for running of the club. As we unpack all of this and catch up on the football side of things across the A Lyga, Virslīga and the Premium liiga, these developments also promted us to take a closer look at the quality of governance in football in the Baltics. Hence, the 'Dodgy Governance Index' was born, ranking the governance structures of all 30 clubs from 'most dodgy' to 'not dodgy'. Where does your club fall on this spectrum?

(00:01:05) Premium liiga update

(00:06:06) Virslīga update

(00:13:17) A Lyga update

(00:23:55) Does Frank know what "Žalgiris" means?

(00:24:55) Referee blacklisting in Estonia

(00:34:28) Embezzlement scandal at Riteriai

(00:41:20) The Dodgy Governance Index

For latest and most up to date news from the world of Baltic football in English, follow balticfootballnews.com

#latvia #lithuania #estonia #football #soccer #governance #finance #alyga #virsliga #premiumliiga #news #footballnews

Baltic football is now underway, so we catch-up on what’s been happening before the first international break of 2025 – whether it’s the surprising results in Estonia, edge-of-your seat friction in Latvia, and absolute mayhem in Lithuania, the start of the season in the region is exceeding all expectations.

For the second part of the episode, Frank sits down with the President of the Latvian Football Federation, Vadims Ļašenko, to find out about the plans and activities around developing professional men’s and women’s football in Latvia.

(00:01:23) Premium liiga update

(00:04:28) Virsliga update

(00:05:43) A Lyga update

(00:11:00) What is the impact of the increased foreign player registration fee?

(00:20:56) The new LFF/Virsliga working group

(00:24:07) Why is Latvia losing so many Champion clubs?

(00:33:14) What is LFF doing to raise the level of lower divisions?

(00:35:05) Why is Latvia the only European country without a Cat IV stadium?

(00:42:45) Goals for the National Teams in this cycle

(00:54:56) Latvians in Scotland

(00:56:16) Working with the Latvian diaspora

(01:01:13) Futsal EURO 2026 in Latvia and Lithuania - what to expect?

(01:06:04) Draw for the RFS goodie bag winner!

For latest in Baltic football, go to balticfootballnews.com and follow us on social media!

#latvia #lithuania #estonia #football #soccer #virsliga#alyga #premiumliiga #futbols #jalgpall #futbolas #baltics #futsal