In 1942 under

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

occupation most pre-war

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

clubs were restored (with the exception of ethnic minorities' sides like RKSB Riga,

Hakoah Riga Hakoah () means "The Strength" and may refer to any one of these Jewish sport organizations: * Hakoah Vienna, an athletic club in Austria that is the origin of the Hakoah name * Hakoah Bergen County, an amateur football club in New Jersey * Brookly ...

etc.). The championship was divided in two phases - the preliminary phase to determine the four strongest sides in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

and two in the province, and the main phase where these six teams would settle among them positions in the

Latvian Higher League Latvian Higher League or Virslīga, also known as TonyBet Virslīga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Latvia and the highest level of the Latvian football league system. Organised by the Latvian Footbal ...

. The four clubs to finish at the top of the Riga tournament were (from first to fourth) Daugavieši, RSK Riga (later in the year renamed back to ASK Riga), LDzB Riga and RFK. From the province an automatic qualification was granted to

Olimpija Liepāja Olimpija Liepāja was a Latvian football club. It was based in Liepāja and founded in 1922. It won the Latvian Top League on seven occasions between 1927 and 1939, becoming the first non-Riga team to win the title. Otto Fischer moved in 1936 ...

, whilst Jelgavas Sporta biedrība took the second spot. Three sides were considered main contenders for the league title - Daugavieši, ASK and Olimpija, whilst RFK had an outside chance for it. After the first two match days results corresponded to the pre-season predictions: Daugavieši and ASK were on top of the table with 3 points, thus showing their ambitions to win the league. However, in the following three match days their results went in opposite directions - ASK got 3 victories, meanwhile Daugavieši suffered three defeats. The collapse of the Riga qualification tournament winners was mainly connected with loss of several key players during the season and before it. Alfons Jēgers, one of the most talented Latvian forwards of the 1940s, was arrested by the German officials and sent to a

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

, another key forward Ludvigs Putniņš decided to return to his previous club - ASK, several players suffered injuries and a result of it all Daugavieši finished last in the league and had to participate in a play-off match against

Rīgas Vilki Riga Vanderer (sometimes written as Wanderer, in later years – Rīgas Vilki, also – RV) was a Latvian football (soccer), football club that was founded in 1927, disbanded in 1940, restored a year later and disbanded again in 1944. History F ...

for the right to play in the higher league in the following season. By losing that game also, Daugavieši faced relegation. Meanwhile, in the title race there was no competition for

ASK Riga ASK Rīga is a former professional basketball club that was based in Riga, Latvia. "ASK" stood for "Armijas Sporta Klubs" (in English: Army Sports Club). History BK Rīga was then founded in 2004 as an attempt to revive the defunct club ...

which won four out of five league games.

Final classification

Top goalscorers

;6 goals *

Eduards Freimanis Eduards Freimanis (22 February 1919, in Liepāja - 1993) was a former Latvian football forward, the first Latvian footballer to play with a professional club in England. Playing career Freimanis started playing football in the early 1930s with t ...

( Daugavieši) ;5 goals * Arnolds Puriņš ( ASK) ;4 goals * Riekstiņš ( ASK) *

Aleksandrs Vanags Aleksandrs Vanags (21 March 1919 – 1986), also known as Alexandre Vanags, was a Latvian football and basketball player. At international level, he represented the Latvia national football team, after World War II he played football in France. ...

( ASK) * Roberts Heiblihs (

) ;3 goals * Ansons ( Jelgavas Sporta biedrība) * Vaclavs Borduško ( ASK) *

Ēriks Koņeckis Ēriks Koņeckis (9 February 1920 – 2 February 2006) was a Latvian ice hockey player. He played the World Championships for Latvia in 1939. After World War II and occupation of Latvia, Koņeckis played in Germany for Augsburg, Krefeld and Mann ...

( ASK)

References and sources

* ''Sporta pasaule'' sports magazine, Rīga, 1942 {{1942–43 in European football (UEFA)

1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...

Higher League