From Fiji to Latvia – are cross-border football leagues the future?

Maksims Krivunecs begins with a disclaimer – he’s not the biggest fan of cross-border tournaments, although he’s the guy who tries to pioneer them.

“I feel it is necessary,” says Krivonikis, president of the Latvian club Versliga, which is proposing the creation of a “Baltic League” that it hopes will also include Estonia and Lithuania.

Independent analysis backed Krivunecs’ “deeply worrying” assessment that the league is struggling to keep up with Europe’s top 30 leagues.

He says: “The local broadcast deal is the main fuel for any league in the world to develop the clubs and the league and interest in the competition, and unfortunately we do not have any broadcast deal.”

“Our resources are very limited. We don’t have a large sponsorship market.”

Since football in Latvia also competes with ice hockey and basketball for fans’ attention, clubs rely largely on smart transfers and keen investors – which is why many of them have only been formed or reformed in the past ten to fifteen years.

“In this kind of environment, you can’t even plan several years ahead,” Krivonikis says. “Because if something happens in the core business for investors, the first thing that will disappear is the support of the clubs.

“We all want to build clubs with communities that have heritage and history, because that’s how you make the product.”

Krivunecs had to get innovative in trying to develop this ‘product’ and generate interest – fantasy football, stats, competitions, predictions, and a full Football Manager license. He looked into streaming games on YouTube and collaborating with influencers on Twitch and TikTok.

But his biggest fixture is the cross-border Baltic League, a league he believes will generate revenue, develop players and help clubs grow on the European scene.

It’s not exactly an original possibility, as there have been iterations before including between 2007 and 2011, but never in this format.

“Crossing the border will allow us to create more competitive matches,” says Krivonikis, highlighting the difference in power between higher and lower league clubs. In fact, RFS beat Ajax in the Europa League last year.

“We have established the roadmap – common structure, common product, common distribution and marketing.”