It’s not often Derry faces a side younger than every member of the squad but Riga FC was founded on April 2014 after a merger between FC Caramba Riga and Dinamo Riga.
They have no shortage of European experience, however, having reached the play-offs for the Europa League group stages where they were knocked out by Copenhagen in 2019.
Celtic needed a stoppage time winner to see off the Latvians in a one-legged third round qualifier in 2020. Of course Dundalk put Riga out of the Champions League qualifiers in 2019 after a penalty shootout following two scoreless draws.
Riga coach Kristaps Blanks, who played for Skonto Riga against Derry City when the Candy Stripes put them out of the Uefa Cup qualifiers in 2009, told the Journal this week how it’s the club’s mission to reach the group stages of the competition.
Sitting in third place in the Latvian Virsloga table nine points behind leaders Valmieras, Riga come into tonight’s match following a goalless draw with FK Liepaja.
That followed a 2-0 home defeat against Valmieras, which saw their seven-game winning streak come to an end - a game City boss Ruaidhri Higgins watched from the stands in the Skonto Stadium.
The Riga team has Brazilians, Portuguese, Greeks, Senegalese, Ukranians, French, Finnish, Ghanaians and Congolese players amongst their ranks as well as several Latvian internationals including Latvia skipper Antonijs Černomordijs.
While there are several familiar faces among the Riga team, they are very much an unknown quantity but we’ve taken a look at some of the Latvian’s dangermen ahead of tonight’s clash.
5. Oleksandr Filippov
The Ukrainian striker has been a bit-part player in recent games with just 59 minutes in the last four games but he’s certainly got quality and won the golden boot award in the Ukrainian top flight in 2019/20. Following a move to Belgium which didn’t exactly go to plan with limited gametime, he found his way to Riga. Filippov started the 2022 season strongly with a goal against current league leader Valmieras in a 2-1 win but has found the net just twice in total so far.
6. Vladlen Yurchenko
It appears Riga FC are blessed with attacking midfield talents and Ukrainian Yurchenko has a rich CV with Shakhtar Donetsk and Bayern Leverkusen among his previous clubs. After leaving Germany he had spells back in Ukraine and in Denmark before arriving at Riga at the start of the season and has found the net once so far.
7. Joselpho Barnes
The 20 year-old German-born Ghanaian attacking midfielder has also been amongst the goals this season for Riga, notching up six league goals in 16 top flight appearances. The former Ghana U20 international is a former Schalke 04 youth player and has also played professionally in Belgium.
8. Raivis Jurkovskis
The full-back will be familiar to Derry City fans having spent a season with Dundalk before returning to his native Latvia at the start of the season. He’s a regular in the Latvian senior international side and technically excellent. His former Dundalk teammates Patrick McEleney, Michael Duffy and Cameron Dummigan will be well aware of his threat.