Saturday, June 26, 2010

FC Warrior Valga (Estonia)

FC Warrior are an Estonian team who play in the second tier of their still fairly fresh national league. They were formed in 1990 in the town of Valga in the south of the country, right on the border with Latvia. Indeed, up until 1920, Valga and their just-across-the-border neighbours Valka were one-and-the-same place, and still remained closely twinned to this day.

They managed to win the second level of the national league - the Esiliiga - in 2002, under their old name FC Valga, and plied their trade in the top flight Meistriliiga until their relegation back down in 2007. Much like the Scottish Premier League, each division has ten teams, who play each other four times in a championship season, which in Estonia runs from April to November.

Now you'd think being formed in and named after the town of Valga, they'd actually play there. Well despite citing their home as the Valga Kekstaadoin on their official biog, they've actually been playing their home matches at the 500 capacity Sportland Stadium in Tallinn - some 200 miles to the North.

Sportland in itself is a bit of an odd one, as it's actually the training pitch attached to the 10,000 capacity Lilleküla Stadium, home to Flora Tallinn and the Estonian national team. Quite how, and indeed why, they found themselves there, and what the residents of Valga have to say about this is unknown. But what is clear is that you can only love a club with the word Warrior in their name and a pair of crossed swords on their badge!

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