DHL Charity Football Tournament Supporting SOS Children’s Villages

On Sunday, 13 September, LNK Sports Park hosted the fifth DHL Charity Football Tournament — a modest anniversary, organised by DHL Express Latvia in cooperation with the Latvian Football Federation. The purpose remains the same: support for SOS Children’s Villages in Latvia.

This year, 25 teams took part. They were split into five groups and spent the day playing matches that were competitive enough to matter and friendly enough not to require a disciplinary committee. The field included sides from DHL, the LFF and SOS Children’s Villages, as well as company teams such as LNK Industries, Madara Cosmetics, Riga Airport, TET, Swedbank, Circle K Latvia, Luminor Bank – and GP Nord.

Together with all participants and supporters, EUR 12,955 was raised for SOS Children’s Villages. Last year the same tournament collected EUR 10,100; in 2024 the figure was EUR 7,500. The tradition is growing. That is the result worth keeping.

The GP Nord team: a historic increase in training

The side was once again organised by Edgars Bružiks, who continues to treat squad logistics with the same seriousness as a temperature-controlled shipment – except the cargo this time had opinions and tired hamstrings.

Preparation reached a new level. Last year the team trained zero times before the tournament. This year it trained once. In percentage terms, that is an infinite improvement. Sports science would call it “the maximum possible leap from a standing start on the sofa”.

Playing coaches Dainis Grūbe and Oskars Smudzis clearly spent that single session well. The defence was tightened to the limit, and goals conceded were cut to a minimum. The plan worked. Unfortunately, the opposition still had a ball, and occasionally an idea.

The attack had a harder afternoon. Illness took several players out of the squad, and it suddenly became obvious that goals do not appear by goodwill alone. Andrejs Zeltiņš was GP Nord’s top scorer and kept the forward line from becoming a rumour. Everyone else contributed as far as fitness – and remaining lung capacity – allowed.

Last in the table. First in the part that mattered

Final standing: last place. No polish, no “we were close”. We were not. We finished exactly where a thinned attack, one training session and a flu-shaped selection policy tend to finish.

And yet the team left the pitch feeling like winners. Not because last place is the new standard, but because cohesion and joy outran the scoreboard. In a field of 25 it is easy to disappear. It is harder to stay a team when the table is unkind.

LNK Industries, for the record, took 3rd place among those 25 teams. Congratulations to them. We have quietly noted that next year’s training load could double – all the way to two sessions.

Why the table was never the point

LFF president Vadims Ļašenko said after the event that in five years the project has grown from a single match broadcast into a 25-team celebration. DHL Express Latvia CEO Artis Dekšenieks thanked every side for coming not only to compete, but to take part in a shared charitable goal. That is what separates this Sunday from an ordinary company kickabout.

GP Nord thanks DHL Express Latvia – for the initiative, the organisation and the invitation. Thanks to the LFF for running the day professionally. Thanks to every player, team, supporter and donor – for sportsmanship and generosity. And thanks to the colleagues who spent the weekend with a thermometer instead of a kit: you were part of the tactics too, if not by choice.

Days like this are a reminder of how much can be done when people show up together. Football, once again, became a way to send support to children who need it most. The table will fade. EUR 12,955 will not.

We look forward to the sixth tournament in 2027. Between now and then – at least one more training session. Possibly two. Ambition is contagious.