The Baltic Cup (, , ) is an international football competition contested by the national teams of the Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Sometimes guests from the Northern Europe subregion are also invited: Finland and the Faroe Islands have participated in the event twice, Iceland's inaugural participation in 2022 culminated in a victory. The reigning champions are Estonia, who won two consecutive editions in 2024 and 2026.
It is one of the earliest national teams football tournaments in Europe after the British Home Championship, and the oldest one that is still organized. Though originally held annually, the competition has been biennial since 2008.
History
As Estonia had unofficially declared itself the Baltic football champion in 1925, 1926 and 1927 based on matches played with Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland it was decided in 1928 to organize an official tournament. Though Poland and Finland were invited to join, the tournament took place between the three Baltic nations.
The tournament was intended to improve relations between the nations, but intrigues around the organization and budget questions worked against this goal. The hosts always did everything to wear out their competitors. In 1933 Lithuanian hosts surprised the officials with a tour to a local brewery in Kaunas in the morning before the Lithuania–Latvia match. The Estonian newspaper Päevaleht reported that the Finnish referee for the match was really jolly, but did a horrible job, mostly favouring the Lithuanian hosts. The rules demanded that at least two wins were necessary to win the championship. Both the Lithuania–Estonia and Lithuania–Latvia matches had been drawn, but stopped due to darkness and a lack of artificial lighting.
In the team meeting Latvia demanded that the Lithuania–Estonia match should be re-played first. Latvia was hoping for an advantage against a tired Lithuanian team in their match. Lithuania and Estonia disagreed, noting that Latvia had won their match against Estonia, so a Latvian win against Lithuania would grant the Latvians the championship and end the tournament. Consensus was not reached and the Latvian team left the same day. The championship was not awarded.
The feud led to the cancellation of the 1934 tournament, but the championship returned for the 1935. The rules were changed so that extra matches were now only held between leading teams if they were necessary for deciding on the championship.
During the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states, the Baltic Cup took place in 1940 and from 1948 to 1976 (with cancelled editions in 1951, 1953 to 1956 and 1963 to 1968) as a minor regional tournament between the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian SSRs, with occasional appearances by the Belarusian SSR. In 1991, the tournament was fully restored to the format as it was in the 1930s.
The 2020 tournament was postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic, and took place in 2021, similarly to UEFA Euro 2020. In 2021, for the 2020 Baltic Cup, Estonia won the Cup after a wait of 83 years.
The trophy The original silver trophy of the Baltic Cup was seized by the Soviets in 1940 and subsequently lost after reportedly being taken to Moscow. A new replica trophy was created in 1991 by Latvian sculptor Indulis Urbāns. It depicts three footballers, representing the three Baltic nations, holding a football on their shoulders akin to Atlas. After the 2010 edition, the Lithuanian FA commissioned third iteration of the trophy. The trophy, reproducing the original's design, was created by Lithuanian sculptor Džiugas Jurkūnas, who had previously produced the "Lithuanian Footballer" statue by the National Football Academy of Lithuania.
Results YearHost citiesChampionsRunners-upThird placeFourth place 1928 Tallinn rowspan=26 1929 Riga 1930 Kaunas 1931 Tallinn (2) 1932 Riga (2) 1933 Kaunas Champion undecided due to disagreements over match times. 1934 Not held due to disagreements over the 1933 competition. 1935 Tallinn (2) 1936 Riga (3) 1937 Kaunas (4) 1938 Tallinn (3) 1939 Not held due to strained sporting relations between Latvia and Lithuania after EuroBasket 1939. 1940–1990 Not held, similar tournament occasionally held during Soviet occupation/annexation of the Baltic states 1991 Klaipėda Kretinga (3) 1992 Liepāja (4) 1993 Pärnu (5) 1994 Vilnius (5) 1995 Riga (6) 1996 Narva (6) 1997 Vilnius (7) 1998 Liepāja Valga Viljandi (8) 2001 Riga (7) 2003 Valga Tallinn (8) 2005 Kaunas (9) 2008 Riga Jūrmala (9) 2010 Kaunas 2012 Võru Tartu (10) 2014 Liepāja (11) 2016 Klaipėda Liepāja Tallinn (12) rowspan=3 2018 Rakvere Riga Vilnius (13) 2020 Vilnius Riga Tallinn (4) 2022 Riga Kaunas Tallinn (1) 2024 Liepāja Tallinn Kaunas (5) 2026 Kaunas Pärnu Riga Tallinn (6)
Medal summary As of 2026, excluding 1933.
Statistics As of 2026. Including the 1933 tournament, but excluding the replay match played on 5 September 1933. RankTeam1 31 61 30 21 10 93 54 +39 1112 31 60 21 14 26 80 97 −17 753 30 60 16 15 29 67 87 −20 634 2 4 2 1 1 5 3 +2 75 2 4 1 0 3 2 6 −4 36 1 2 0 2 0 1 1 0 2
Top scorers per tournament TournamentNameTeamGoals1928Arnold Pihlak31929Voldemārs Plade3Eugen EinmanEduard Ellman-Eelma1930Ēriks Pētersons41931Friedrich Karm2Eduard Ellman-Eelma1932Alberts Šeibelis21933Ēriks Pētersons21935Iļja Vestermans2Antanas Lingis1936Alberts Šeibelis21937Iļja Vestermans31938Ralf Veidemann219919 different players–11992Virginijus Baltušnikas319935 different players–11994Valdas Ivanauskas2199511 different players–119967 different players–119977 different players–119984 different players–12001Marians Pahars2Vladimirs Koļesņičenko20039 different players–12005Igoris Morinas220084 different players–12010Mantas Savėnas1Artūras Rimkevičius2012Edgars Gauračs320144 different players–12016Fiodor Černych220185 different players–12020Mattias Käit22022Sergei Zenjov2202410 different players–120265 different players–1
All-time top goalscorers
RankNameTeamGoalsTournament(s)1Ēriks Pētersons91930(4), 1931(1), 1932(1), 1933(2) and 1935(1)2Antanas Lingis61930(2), 1932(1), 1933(1) and 1935(2)Eduard Ellman-Eelma1929(3), 1931(2) and 1935(1)Iļja Vestermans1935(2), 1936(1) and 1937(3)5Alberts Šeibelis51932(2), 1933(1) and 1936(2)6Arnold Pihlak41928(3) and 1929(1)Eugen Einman1929(3) and 1930(1)Friedrich Karm1930(2) and 1931(2)Jaroslavas Citavičius1930(2), 1932 (1) and 1933(1)Virginijus Baltušnikas1992(3) and 1995(1)Marians Pahars1997(1), 1998(1) and 2001(2)Igoris Morinas1997(1), 2003(1) and 2005(2)13Voldemārs Plade31929(3)Stepas Chmelevskis1928(2) and 1930(1)Georg Siimenson1936(1) and 1937(2)Richard Kuremaa1933(1), 1936(1) and 1937(1)Voldemaras Jaškevičius1935(1), 1936(1) and 1938(1)Vitālijs Astafjevs1993(1), 1994(1) and 1995(1)Edgars Gauračs2012(3)Mattias Käit2018(1) and 2020(2)
Hat-tricks Since the first official tournament in 1928, 4 hat-tricks have been scored in over 50 matches of the 28 editions of the tournament. The first hat-trick was scored by Arnold Pihlak of the Estonia, playing against Lithuania on 26 July 1928; and the last was by Virginijus Baltušnikas of Lithuania, playing against Latvia on 12 July 1992. No player has ever scored two hat-tricks in the Baltic Cup and no player has ever scored more than 3 goals in a single Baltic Cup match.
List +Baltic Cup hat-tricks # Player Time of goals For Result Against Tournament Date FIFAreport .Arnold Pihlak 3 ', 21', 57' 6–01928 Baltic CupReport .Voldemārs Plade 3 ', 68', 86' 3–11929 Baltic CupReport .Ēriks Pētersons 3 ', 61', 64' 3–31930 Baltic CupReport .Virginijus Baltušnikas 3 ', 31', 79' 3–21992 Baltic CupReport
Other competitions Competition Edition Champions Runners-up Next editionNational teams (Men's) Baltic Cup 2026 2028 Under-21 Baltic Cup Under-19 Baltic Cup 2026 Under-17 Baltic Cup 2026 Baltic Futsal Cup 2021 TBD Baltic–Nordic Futsal Cup 2023 National teams (Women's) Women's Baltic Cup 2025 2026 Women's Under-19 Baltic Cup 2026 Women's Under-17 Baltic Cup 2026 Women's Under-15 Baltic Cup 2026
See also Livonia Cup: An active Supercup competition between the men's champion clubs of the Latvian and Estonian leagues. Baltic Champions Cup: An inactive spinoff Supercup competition featuring the men's champion clubs from all three Baltic countries. Women's Baltic Football League: An active competition between the top-performing women's football clubs in the Baltic region. Baltic League: An inactive competition between the top-performing men's football clubs in the Baltic region.
References
External links Baltic Cup jalgpall.ee koondis Baltic Cup overview on RSSSF