Starts Brocēni is a

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club. Currently it plays in the 2nd Latvian league under the name Saldus FK/Brocēni. It was one of the leading Latvian clubs in the 1960s and 1970s.

History

CSK Brocēni

The club was founded in 1961 in the small Latvian town of

Brocēni Brocēni (; ) is a town in Saldus Municipality (2021–present), Saldus Municipality in the Courland region of Latvia. The town is situated along the river Ciecere, near lake Cieceres, which contains a large deposit of limestone that is used in t ...

as CSK Brocēni. In its first year the club won the

Latvian Cup The Latvian Football Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Latvian football. Since 2021, its full name is Responsible Gaming Latvian Football Cup (''Atbildīgas spēles Latvijas kauss'') due to the sponsorship by sports betting company ...

and finished 4th in the league. The following years were less successful for the club. In 1965–1967 it got three tenth-place finishes in a row.

Starts Brocēni

In 1980 Starts finished last in the Latvian league and was relegated. In 1982, they were back but faced another relegation as they earned 11 points over 24 matches. The 1980s were a bad decade for the club from Brocēni which played in lower Latvian leagues. Only in 1991 Starts again played in the top Latvian league and after finishing 9th among 20 clubs it earned a place in the first season of the newly independent

Virslīga 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 Football F ...

. The first Virslīga season was not a big success for Brocēni - only 11th place among 12th teams and relegation to 1. līga. In 1994 Starts finished second in the first league and together with Kvadrāts Rīga returned to Virslīga. The return proved quite successful as Starts finished in 4th place, in 1996 they were 6th (as FC Starts Brocēni) but the club couldn't fulfill the financial requirements for the 1997 Virslīga season, so it was relegated to 1. liga.

FK Saldus

In 1997 when Brocēni had lost its place in Virslīga it relocated to the nearby city of

Saldus Saldus (; , ) is a Latvian town located in Courland () region of Latvia, and the largest town in Saldus Municipality. The name Saldus has been noted in historical sources as far back as the mid-13th century, but the founding year for the establis ...

and changed the club name to FK Saldus. From 1997 to 2000 Saldus played in the first league but before the 2001 it withdrew from the league and moved to the 2nd league, where the club plays until now.

FK Saldus/Brocēni

In 2004, the club changed its name again by adding Brocēni to its name, thus proving the connection with the formerly popular name of Starts Brocēni. In 2005, the club earned a promotion to 1. liga but decline it because of its financial limitations.

Honours

Honours * Latvian top league: ** Winners: 1 (1968) ** Runners-up: 1 (1973) * Latvian Cup: ** Winners: 2 (1961, 1968) ** Runners-up: 1 (1973)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Starts Saldus Football clubs in Latvia 1961 establishments in Latvia