Riga FC fined €6,822 and docked three points. That’s the bill for the boycott.
Next season starts in the red. The Latvian Football Federation (LFF) Disciplinary Committee has handed the club a €6,822 fine, a 0–3 technical defeat and a three-point deduction for the 2027 Virslīga, after it refused to play champions RFS on 8 November.
The committee published its ruling on Friday evening. The vote was unanimous, and Riga FC can still appeal to the LFF Appeals Committee.
Key facts
- Result: a 0–3 technical defeat for Riga FC in the cancelled round-36 derby, and a 3–0 win for RFS
- Fine: €6,822, made up of a €3,000 penalty (double the €1,500 minimum) plus €3,822 to cover the league’s direct costs for TV, match data and streaming
- Points: minus three in the 2027 Virslīga table from round one, if Riga FC take part
- Table: no change at the top. RFS are champions, Riga FC second, Auda third
- Next: Riga FC can appeal to the LFF Appeals Committee
Why was Riga FC punished for skipping the RFS derby?
Because, in the committee’s view, a club doesn’t get to pick which league games count. The Virslīga rules do allow a last-round game that can’t change the table to be moved, but only on a joint request from both clubs. One side walking away isn’t on the list.
Riga FC called off the derby blaming what it called a season of systematic refereeing errors. The committee says it only judged whether the club had a valid reason not to play, not whether referees got calls wrong, and that even wrong calls wouldn’t give a club the right to skip a fixture (our paraphrase, translated from Latvian).
It also pushed back on the club’s claim that the federation had ignored it. According to the ruling, the LFF answered in writing both a 25 May Riga FC complaint about stoppage time and a 6 July joint complaint from Riga FC, Liepāja and Auda about refereeing.
The hearing record has the sharpest line. A Riga FC representative confirmed the club would definitely have played if the result could have changed its place or points, the ruling says, and that announcing the boycott on social media before telling the LFF and the league was a conscious choice.
In written explanations on 11 November, the club accepted that what it did formally counts as a violation and said it was ready to take responsibility. It called the boycott a last resort to draw attention to refereeing, the use of loan players and what it sees as LFF inaction, according to the ruling.
Why take the points next season?
The committee’s reasoning: a 0–3 loss in a finished season barely stings, and a fine on its own risks turning a no-show into a price you can pay in advance. Throwing a club out or relegating it would go too far. So it went for three points, the value of one win, taken off at the start of 2027.
It pointed to an English precedent. Dover Athletic refused to play four National League games in 2020/21, and were fined £40,000 and docked 12 points for the following season. The FA’s appeal board upheld that in June 2021.
RFS get something out of it too. The technical win lifts them to 92 points, a club record, Baltic Football News reports.
What has Riga FC said?
By Saturday morning Riga FC hadn’t posted a response to the ruling on its website, where the latest news is still its 7 November boycott statement. Its side of the case is what it told the committee above.
The season isn’t over yet. Riga FC face Auda in the Latvian Cup final on Friday 20 November at 7:30 PM at Skonto Stadium, and entry is free, the LFF says. It’s a ground that’s changing hands to Estonian developer Invego.
This time, Riga FC, just show up.
Photo: Skonto Stadium, Riga, during FK Auda v FK Liepāja, 20 October 2025, Bendžamins / Wikimedia Commons, CC0
