Both Baltic Women's Football League semi-finals took place in Riga on Saturday. In one of them, multiple Lithuanian champions Gintra of Šiauliai faced regular-season winners Riga FC Women.
Reduced to ten players early in the second half, Artūr Sikorskij's side lost 0:3 (0–0 at half-time) to the Riga team and will contest Baltic League bronze for the third consecutive year.
Šiauliai's women's team won bronze in each of the previous two seasons, 2024 and 2025. The yellow and blacks last won the competition in 2023.
The Lithuanian and Latvian champions could meet again next week at the UEFA Women's Champions League qualifying tournament in Denmark. They will not face one another in the semi-finals, but a meeting is possible in the final or third-place match.
Starting lineup: A. Herasymchuk, T. Romanovskaja, M. Yancey, L. Kubiliūtė (A. Hakasalo 55'), S. Amorim, A. Mikutaitė, M. Galkina, T. Brown (M. Proscevičiūtė 72'), L. Ribeiro (E. M. Lwangu 55'), V. Lavreniuk (J. Blaževičiūtė 22'), K. Pereviznyk (sent off 54').
Riga FC Women: K. Brima (75', 88'), two; S. Kato (90'), one.
The teams began cautiously and created few clear chances in the first half-hour. The hosts had more set pieces, but Gintra goalkeeper Alla Herasymchuk dealt with them confidently.
Gintra needed a substitution in the 21st minute when Ukrainian striker Viktoriia Lavreniuk, making her debut in the starting lineup, felt pain and could not continue. Justina Blaževičiūtė replaced her.
The Latvian champions controlled possession for much of the first half, but neither side established a clear advantage over the opening 45 minutes.
The Šiauliai side started the second half more actively, but Kristina Pereviznyk was shown a red card for unsporting conduct in the 54th minute, leaving the team with ten players.
Riga took the initiative with their numerical advantage. In the 63rd minute, the hosts hit the crossbar with a long-range shot.
The first goal arrived in the 75th minute, scored by Riga Women striker Kumba Brima: 0–1.
Despite Gintra's efforts, they could not equalise. Their exposed defence conceded a second late on as K. Brima completed her brace: 0–2.
Shiori Kato had the final word, scoring Riga's third goal for 0–3.
The UEFA Women's Champions League qualifying tournament in Køge, Denmark, takes place on 5–8 August. The draw placed Šiauliai's women's team with Scottish champions Hearts of Edinburgh, Danish champions HB Køge and the team progressing from Group 3 of the first qualifying round. Four teams are competing for that place, including Latvian champions Riga FC, who have already reached their first-round qualifying final.
Gintra face Hearts in the qualifying semi-final, while HB Køge meet the team progressing from the first qualifying round in the other semi-final.