1990 Baltic League

See also: Baltic League

1990 Baltic League (Russian: Чемпионат Прибалтики по футболу 1990) was an international football competition organized in 1990 between three Baltic states with the ongoing dissolution of the Soviet Union. The league consisting of 18 clubs from the Lithuania SSR, Estonian SSR, the Latvian SSR and a special invitee FC Progress Cherniakhovsk from Kaliningrad Oblast. For Lithuanian teams the league also served as a preliminary (first stage) tournament for the first post-Soviet Lithuanian football championship.

Baltic League

Season	1990
Champions	Žalgiris Vilnius
Lithuanian Championship	Žalgiris Vilnius Sirijus Klaipėda Ekranas Panevėžys Jovaras Mažeikiai
Top goalscorer	V. Baranauskas (Sakalas Šiauliai) 18 goals

With the ongoing revolutions of 1989, in 1990 the Baltic republics declared reinstatement of their independence and exit out of the Soviet Union. Lithuania declared its independence on March 11, on March 30 the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic announced that its existence is not legal by recognizing itself as a territory under the Soviet occupation since 1940, Latvia simply repeated the feat of Lithuania on May 4.

The Lithuanian club Žalgiris, a member of the Soviet Top League after losing its first game in Odesa 0–1 to Chornomorets Odesa, withdrew from the 1990 Soviet Top League and joined the Baltic League. The club that in previous season qualified for the 1990–91 UEFA Cup was denied entrance to the European competitions.

History

The four best Lithuanian teams from Baltic League and the 1 Lyga qualified for the National Championship play-off. Also all Lithuanian clubs from the Baltic League qualified for the next season of A Lyga. Most of Latvian clubs also joined the championship of Latvia (Latvian SSR), while some continued their participation in the Soviet championship. The Soviet Estonian clubs after the fall of the Soviet Union were dissolved, while Progress Chernyakhovsk continued to participate in lower leagues of the Russian championship.

Note that Pardaugava also this season competed in the 1990 Soviet Second League (as Daugava Riga), while Zalgiris just pulled out of the Soviet competitions after playing the first game of the 1990 Soviet Top League, losing it away in Odessa. Also both Chernyakovsk and Yelgava clubs competed in the 1990 Soviet Second League B, Zone 6.

Teams

All-Union competition

Team/Club	1990 season's tournament
Žalgiris Vilnius	Soviet Top League, 4th place
Sport Tallinn	Soviet Second League, 20th place
Inkaras Kaunas	Soviet Second League, 22nd place

Football championship of the Lithuanian SSR

Further information: 1989 LFF Lyga

Team/Club	Place
Banga Kaunas	1st place
Ekranas Panevezys	2nd place
Sirijus Klaipeda	3rd place
Jovaras Mazeikiaj	6th place
Sakalas Siauliaj	10th place
Neris Vilnius	13th place
Suduva Marijampole	14th place

Football championship of the Latvian SSR

See also: 1989 Latvian SSR Higher League

Team/Club	Place
RAF Jelgava	1st place
Torpedo Riga	2nd place
Stroitel Daugavpils	3rd place
Daugava-LGIFK Riga	4th place
Metalurgs Liepaja	7th place
Pardaugava-RShVSM Riga	students

Notes:

• RAF Jelgava was the second team of RAF Jelgava that was playing in the 1990 Soviet Second League B (Group 6).
• Daugava-LGIFK Riga was a reserve team of FC Daugava Riga that played in the 1990 Soviet First League. LGIFK stands for the Latvian State Institute of Physical Culture.
• RShVSM stands for the Republican School of Higher Sports Mastery.

Football championship of the Estonian SSR

See also: 1989 Estonian SSR Football Championship

Team/Club	Place
Fosforit Tallinn	1st place

Notes:

• Last season Fosforit Tallinn was known as Zvezda Tallinn representing the Soviet Army sports club

Football championship of the Russian SFSR (among KFK)

Team/Club	Place
Progress Cherniakhovsk

Withdrew

• Atlantas Klaipeda Soviet Second League, 8th place

Baltic League

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Žalgiris Vilnius	32	27	4	1	104	11	+93	58	Qualification to Lithuanian championship play-off and founding of A Lyga
2	Sirijus Klaipėda	32	19	9	4	47	19	+28	47
3	Ekranas Panevėžys	32	19	8	5	62	24	+38	46
4	Progress Cherniakhovsk	32	19	4	9	46	33	+13	42	Moved to the Soviet Second League B
5	Jovaras Mažeikiai	32	16	8	8	40	25	+15	40	Qualification to Lithuanian championship play-off and founding of A Lyga
6	Inkaras Kaunas	32	15	9	8	54	25	+29	39	The A Lyga founding teams
7	Banga Kaunas	32	13	11	8	45	30	+15	37
8	RAF Jelgava	32	13	10	9	44	37	+7	36	Relegation to regional competitions
9	Sakalas Šiauliai	32	11	12	9	41	32	+9	34	The A Lyga founding teams
10	Sport Tallinn	32	11	11	10	43	39	+4	33	Defunct after end of season
11	Neris Vilnius	32	10	8	14	27	47	−20	28	The A Lyga founding teams
12	Celtnieks Daugavpils	32	8	7	17	29	45	−16	23	Relegation to the Latvian SSR Higher League
13	Torpedo Rīga	32	6	10	16	29	49	−20	22
14	KKI Daugava Riga	32	4	13	15	16	49	−33	21
15	Pārdaugava Riga	32	5	8	19	24	53	−29	18
16	Metalurgs Liepāja	32	4	5	23	20	97	−77	13
17	FK Sūduva Marijampolė	32	1	5	26	13	69	−56	7	The A Lyga founding teams

Source: rsssf.com

• ASK Fosforit Tallinn quit the competition after 14 games

Top scorers

• 18 V.Baranauskas (Sakalas Šiauliai)
• 16 A.Narbekovas (Zalgiris Vilnius)
• 14 V.Ivanauskas (Zalgiris Vilnius)
• 14 K.Dranginis (Inkaras Kaunas)

See also

• 1990 Estonian SSR Football Championship
• 1990 Latvian SSR Higher League
• 1990 Lithuanian Top League

References

• united Baltic League
• Lithuanian League

External links

• В 1990-м клуб из Калининградской области играл в Балтийской лиге – с литовцами, латвийцами и эстонцами. Как так вышло?. www.sports.ru.
• БАЛТИЙСКАЯ ЛИГА В ФУТБОЛЕ. ЗА И ПРОТИВ. betsafepribaltika.com. 1 October 2021