BC VEF Rīga
| VEF Rīga | |||
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| Nickname | Vefiņš | ||
| Leagues |
LBL VTB |
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| Founded | 2007 (1958) | ||
| History |
VEF Rīga (1958–1992) (2007–present) |
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| Arena | Arena Riga | ||
| Capacity | 12,500 | ||
| Location | Riga, Latvia | ||
| Team colors | Black and White |
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| President | Edgars Jaunups | ||
| Head coach | Jānis Gailītis | ||
| Championships |
4 Latvian Championship 1 Stepas Butautas Cup |
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| Website | vefriga.com | ||
| Uniforms | |||
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VEF Rīga is a Latvian professional basketball team that is based in Riga, Latvia. VEF Rīga is a four-time Latvian Basketball League champions.
The club name VEF came from the radio manufacturing company VEF which created the basketball club in 1958. VEF Rīga has been home to some of the best Latvian players for more than five decades. At the beginning with legendary Alfrēds Krauklis as head coach and players like Cezars Ozers, Oļģerts Jurgensons, Bruno Drake, Juris Kalnins, Edmunds Dobelis, Juris Merksons, Visvaldis Eglitis and others, VEF soon started to compete in the Soviet Union League. Back in those days, Latvia was a reference in Soviet and European basketball, as ASK Rīga was the best team in the continent, winning three consecutive European Cup titles from 1958 and 1960 with stars like Jānis Krūmiņš, Maigonis Valdmanis and head coach Aleksander Gomelskiy. ASK's tremendous success overshadowed VEF's achievements such as finishing third in the very competitive USSR championship in 1960. VEF's star player Cezars Ozers made it to the Soviet Union national team that reached the Olympics title game against the United States in Rome 1960.
VEF Rīga confirmed its status as a Soviet Union League regular, keeping its name in the first division and becoming a hard-to-beat team at any level. The lack of a second continental club competition, however, prevented VEF from proving its value against teams all around Europe. VEF had its first golden age throughout the 1960s, with Merksons, Kalnins, Jurgensons Ozers, Eglitis and Drake as its core players. A major addition had taken place, too, as Krumins, the most dominant player in Europe for many years, decided to finish his legendary career at VEF, joining the club in 1964. Olgerts Altbergs replaced Krauklis as head coach and had a sudden impact, helping VEF to finish fourth in 1965. Kalnins won a silver Olympic medal with the Soviet Union in 1964, becoming the second VEF player to do so. The team did even better in 1966, finishing third in its domestic competition for the second time in club history. In 1969 team went down to the second division of Soviet league and it took some time to rebuild as the team got back into the Soviet Union elite in 1977 led by legendary player Valdis Valters.
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Wikipedia