Founded 1928 Number of teams 3 Most successful team(s) Latvia (13 titles) | Region Baltic (UEFA) Current champions Latvia | |
The Baltic Cup (Estonian: Balti turniir, Latvian: Baltijas kauss, Lithuanian: Baltijos taurė) is a football competition contested between the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania every two years. During the Soviet era, when all the nations were part of the Soviet Union, Belarus also took part in some of the competitions.
Originally the competition was annual, but after the states regained their independence, it became biennial. Since 2008 the tournament runs on even-numbered years. In 2012, Finland took part in the competition for the first time. In 2016, after Finland dropped out, it was agreed to host the tournament on a new format, with each country hosting a match each on the same week.
It is the oldest football tournament for national teams in Europe after the British Home Championship and the oldest still organized.
Soviet-era results
Similar competition was also played 20 times between 1940 and 1976 during the Soviet-time. Latvian SSR won the most titles with nine followed by Lithuanian SSR with six and Estonian SSR with five. Byelorussian SSR also participated in the tournament in later years.
Between 1950 and 1976 every tournament was contested by national 'B' teams as only players from the 'national leagues' represented the occupied national sides. However, the A side of the Estonian SSR returned to compete in the competition between 1969 and 1976, the period which saw them win three of their five titles.