Football Club "Riga" Drawn Against Atalanta and Lithuania's Žalgiris in Conference League
Latvian champions Riga FC have learned their opponents in the UEFA Conference League league phase, including Italy's Atalanta and Lithuania's Kaunas Žalgiris. The league phase kicks off on October 15.
On Thursday, August 28, the draw for the UEFA Conference League league phase determined the opponents of Latvian champions Riga FC for this autumn's campaign.
The Riga-based club will host three teams at home — Atalanta of Bergamo, drawn from pot one, Czech side Jablonec from pot four, and Kazakhstan's Kairat Almaty from pot five. Riga will travel away to face Cypriot club Pafos, Bosnia and Herzegovina's Borac Banja Luka, and Lithuanian champions Kaunas Žalgiris.
Format of the competition
The league phase begins on October 15, with each of the 36 participating clubs playing six matches against different opponents, results counted in a single combined table. The top eight teams advance directly to the round of 16, while clubs finishing 9th through 24th will contest the first knockout round. For the remaining teams, the European campaign will end after the league phase. This format is being used for the third season in the Conference League.
Riga is only the third Latvian club to reach the group/league phase of a UEFA club competition, following Ventspils in the 2009/2010 season and RFS in 2022/2023.
The road to the league phase
Riga began its European campaign in UEFA Champions League qualifying, losing 3:4 to Armenian champions Ararat-Armenia Yerevan in the first round. The club then continued in Conference League qualifying, defeating North Macedonia's Vardar 8:4, Hungary's Győri ETO 2:1, and Faroese club KÍ Klaksvík 2:1 in the play-off round.
The UEFA Conference League final will be held on June 2 in Istanbul.
