Ģirts Karlsons (born 7 June 1981) is a

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, who most recently played for the

Latvian Higher League Latvian Higher League or Virslīga is a professional football league and the top tier of association football in Latvia. Organised by the Latvian Football Federation, the Higher League is contested by 10 clubs. The full name of the league is Op ...

club

FK Liepāja FK Liepāja/Mogo is a Latvian football club, founded in 2014. The club is based at the Daugava Stadium in Liepāja. FK Liepāja plays in the Latvian Higher League. In their first season they finished 4th in the 2014 Latvian Higher League. Hi ...

Club career

As a youth player Karlsons played for his local club

FK Liepājas Metalurgs FK Liepājas Metalurgs ( lv, Futbola klubs "Liepājas metalurgs") was a Latvian football club in the city of Liepāja and playing in the Virslīga. They played at the Daugava Stadium (capacity 5,083). In 2005 Liepājas Metalurgs became the fir ...

, being taken to the first team in 1998, at the age of 17. He spent the next six seasons with the club, becoming the second top scorer of the

in 2003 with 26 goals, completing two hat-tricks during the season. All in all he played 96 matches for his local club, scoring 40 goals. After these bright appearances he had impressed clubs abroad, and in January 2004 Karlsons went on a month-long trial with the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

club

Shinnik Yaroslavl FC Shinnik Yaroslavl (russian: Футбольный клуб «Шинник» Ярославль) is a Russian football club, based in Yaroslavl. From 1957 to 1960 the team was called Khimik (russian: Химик - "the chemist"). In the USSR ...

. Afterwards he signed a three-year contract with them. However, his spell there wasn't as successful as expected and was very short. After just one season, during which he played only 8 league matches without scoring goals, Karlsons returned to the

, signing with the newly promoted, ambitious club Venta Kuldiga in 2005. However, the club struggled financially and after just five matches had to let some of their players go, including Karlsons, who returned to his hometown club, Liepājas Metalurgs later that year. He spent the next three seasons there, once again showing great performance. He scored a hat-trick in the 2005 season, and he also scored in the

Latvian Cup The Latvian Football Cup () is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Latvian Football (soccer), football. Since 2021, its full name is Responsible Game Latvian Football Cup (''Atbildīgas spēles Latvijas kauss'') due ...

final on 25 September 2005, which Metalurgs lost 2–1 to Venta Kuldīga. Another hat-trick came in the 2006 season, which Karlsons finished as the second top scorer with 14 goals. In the

he scored a hat-trick in the 6–1 semi-final victory over Dižvanagi Rēzekne and then scored in the final, which the club won 2–1 over

Skonto Riga Skonto FC was a Latvian football club, active from 1991 until 2016. The club played at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Skonto won the Virsliga in the first 14 seasons of the league's resumption (15 in total), and often provided the core of the Lat ...

. In December 2006 Karlsons was named the runner-up of the Latvian Player of the Year Award by the

Latvian Football Federation The Latvian Football Federation (LFF) ( lv, Latvijas Futbola federācija) is the governing body of football in Latvia with its headquarters located in the capital Rimi Sports Centre in Riga. Its activities include the organizing of the Latvian ...

behind the winner

Aleksandrs Koļinko Aleksandrs is a Latvian masculine given name. It is a cognate of the name Alexander and may refer to: *Aleksandrs Ābrams (1904-????), Latvian football forward *Aleksandrs Beļavskis (born 1964) Latvian ice hockey player and team captain *Aleksa ...

, who that time was the first-choice keeper for

Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (russian: Футбо́льный клуб Руби́н Каза́нь, ''Futbolny klub Rubin Kazan'' , Tatar: Рубин Казан) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the second-tier ...

in the

. His contract with Metalurgs expired in July 2007 and it was not renewed. Player was then linked with the English

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

, before going on trial with

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. In January 2008 he had a two-day trial with

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

. Karlsons then had trials in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

with

Zwolle Zwolle () is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Overijssel and the province's second-largest municipality after Enschede with a population of 130,592 as of 1 December 2021. Zwolle is o ...

and

De Graafschap VBV De Graafschap () is a professional football club from Doetinchem, Netherlands, playing in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football. It was formed on 1 February 1954 and they play their home games at the De Vijverberg stadium. ...

, and on 8 February 2008 he signed for

, which that time competed in the Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

. Karlsons returned to Liepājas Metalurgs in the middle of 2008, because of limited game time. After some impressive matches there he attracted interest from several European clubs, but finally settled down in Azerbaijan, signing a contract with

Inter Baku Shamakhi FK ( az, Şamaxı Futbol Klubu, ) is an Azerbaijani professional football club based in Shamakhi, that currently competes in the Azerbaijan Premier League. The club has won the Premier League title twice. History Early years (1997– ...

in the summer of 2009. The next season, he became the champion of Azerbaijan. He scored 8 goals in 19 matches for Inter in his first season there, but the next two weren't that successful anymore and in July 2012 he was released. In August 2012 Karlsons once again returned to Liepājas Metalurgs. The 2012 season saw Karlsons scoring 9 goals in 19 league matches. Even though Metalurgs expressed their interest to keep him at the club, Karlsons chose to continue his career abroad, joining the

Indonesian Premier League Indonesian Premier League (IPL; Indonesian: ''Liga Prima Indonesia'') was the highest level competition for football clubs in Indonesia from 2011 to 2013. This competition was managed by ''PT Liga Prima Indonesia Sportindo'', under supervision o ...

club Pro Duta in March 2013. On 14 April 2013 he scored his first two goals in a 3-0 league victory over

Bontang Bontang is a city on the eastern coast of the island of Borneo in Indonesia, in the province of East Kalimantan. It occupies an area of , and the population was 140,787 at the 2010 census, and 178,917 at the 2020 census. It is also the third m ...

. Throughout the season Karlsons scored 15 league goals for the club, completing two hat-tricks. He left Pro Duta at the end of his contract in November 2013. In February 2014 Karlsons went on trial with the

Belarusian Premier League The Belarusian Premier League or the Vyšejšaja Liha or the Vysheyshaya Liga ( be, Вышэйшая ліга, russian: Высшая лига, "Top League") is the top division of professional football in Belarus, and is organized by the Belarusi ...

club Neman Grodno alongside his international fellow Igors Tarasovs and signed a contract with the club on 26 February 2014. He scored his first Belarusian Premier League goal in a 3–2 victory over

Dnepr Mogilev FC Dnepr Mogilev ( be, ФК Дняпро Магілёў, ''FK Dniapro Mahilyow''; russian: ФК Днепр Могилёв) is a Belarusian association football, football team, playing in the city of Mogilev. Their home stadium is Spartak Stadium ...

on 19 April 2014. Karlsons left Neman on 9 June 2014 due to family reasons and returned to Latvia. On 3 July 2014 Karlsons signed a contract with the Latvian Higher League title holders

FK Ventspils FK Ventspils is a Latvian football club, based at Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions in Ventspils city and is one of the most popular football clubs in the country. The club played in the Latvian Virsliga since 1997. It was abolished in 2020, but h ...

. He helped the club retain the title for the second year in a row. Karlsons left

at the end of 2018.

International career

Karlsons played for the Latvia-U21. Karlsons made his first appearance for Latvia national team on 20 December 2003 as a second-half substitute against

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

, which Latvia lost 2–0. On 28 December 2005 he scored in Latvia's 2–1 win over

Oman national football team The Oman national football team ( ar, منتخب عُمان لكرة القدم) represents Oman in men's international football and is controlled by the Oman Football Association. Although the team was officially founded in 1978, the squad was ...

to reach the final of the

King's Cup __NOTOC__ King's Cup (incl. translations), may refer to: Sports Football * Copa del Rey, Spanish for "King's Cup," the main national knockout tournament in men's football * King Cup (sometimes named King's Cup), Saudi Arabian men's football nati ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. Latvia won the cup, beating

Korea DPR North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

2–1 in the final on 30 December with Karlsons again scoring. Currently Karlsons has 50 international caps under his belt, having scored 9 goals. He played in an international game on 9 February 2011, a 2–1 victory in a friendly match against

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

, coming on as a late substitute, which would be his last match for the national team until late 2016. Karlsons was recalled to the national team in the autumn of 2016, earning his 50th cap on 7 October 2016 after coming on as a substitute in the 0:2 home loss against the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

in a

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

qualifier.

Honours

Team

*FK Liepājas Metalurgs **

Virslīga Latvian Higher League or Virslīga is a professional football league and the top tier of association football in Latvia. Organised by the Latvian Football Federation, the Higher League is contested by 10 clubs. The full name of the league is Op ...

champion (2): 2005, 2009 **

runner-up (5): 1998, 1999, 2003, 2006, 2007 **

winner (1): 2006 **

Baltic League The Baltic League (officially known as the Triobet Baltic League) was a Baltic men's football club tournament held four times between the top club sides from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Launched in 2007 inspired by the now defunct Scandinav ...

winner (1):

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

*FC Inter Baku **

Azerbaijan Premier League The Azerbaijan Premier League ( az, Azərbaycan Premyer Liqası) is a professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Azerbaijan football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is conteste ...

champion (1): 2010 **

CIS Cup The Commonwealth of Independent States Cup (russian: Кубок чемпионов Содружества, Кубок Содружества, Кубок чемпионов содружества стран СНГ и Балтии) is a defunct ann ...

winner (1): 2011 *FK Ventspils **

champion (1): 2014 *Latvia **

winner (1): 2005 ** Baltic Cup winner (1): 2008

Individual

top scorer (1): 2011 **

best forward (1): 2006 **

top scorer (1): 2007

Career statistics

International goals

References

External links

*
Ģirts Karlsons profile
at the

website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Karlsons, Girts 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from Liepāja Latvian footballers Association football forwards Latvia international footballers Latvian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Russia Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Azerbaijan Expatriate footballers in Indonesia Expatriate footballers in Belarus Latvian Higher League players Russian Premier League players Eredivisie players Indonesian Premier League players Azerbaijan Premier League players Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Latvian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Indonesia FK Liepājas Metalurgs players FC Shinnik Yaroslavl players FK Venta players De Graafschap players Keşla FK players Pro Duta FC players FC Neman Grodno players FK Ventspils players FK Liepāja players