Aleksandrs Koliņko (born 18 June 1975) is a Latvian retired professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who works as assistant manager and goalkeeping coach of

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 RFS FK RFS is a professional Latvian football club based in Riga, Latvia. It competes in the Virslīga, the top flight of Latvian football. History RFS were promoted to the Virsliga for 2016 when Skonto FC failed to obtain a license. In 2018, RFS ...

Club career

Koliņko was born in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

and started his career in 1994, playing for

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 ...

reserve team Interskonto, which was renamed Skonto-Metāls in 1995. After two seasons in the reserve team Koliņko broke through to

first team in 1996. In 1997, Koliņko participated in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

qualification match against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

, but eventually he became a first eleven player just in 1999, after the retirement of

Oļegs Karavajevs Oļegs Karavajevs (13 February 1961 – 6 October 2020) was a Latvian professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was the goalkeeper who made the most appearances for Latvia national team during the 1990s. Club career Born in Barnau ...

. Koliņko made his name in the football world during a spell at English club

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

, where his appearances were limited due to his inconsistent form. He joined the club in 2000 alongside his international teammate

Andrejs Rubins Andrejs Rubins (26 November 1978 – 1 August 2022) was a Latvian professional footballer who played as a left midfielder. He was a member of the Latvia national team. Rubins worked as a football manager. Club career Born in Riga, Rubins start ...

. He could make brilliant saves one moment, but terrible blunders the next. Reportedly, he was disciplined by the club after, while on the substitutes' bench, he was accused of laughing at a goal his own team had conceded and punched in the face by manager

Trevor Francis Trevor John Francis (born 19 April 1954) is an English former footballer who played as a forward for a number of clubs in England, the United States, Italy, Scotland and Australia. In 1979 he became Britain's first £1 million player follo ...

. Francis was later fined by the club and

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

for his actions. In 2003, Koliņko was released by Crystal Palace and he joined 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

FC Rostov FC Rostov (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб Ростов) is a Russian professional football club based in Rostov-on-Don, Rostov Oblast. The club are members of the Russian Premier League, and play at the Rostov Arena. After the 20 ...

. Playing there for two seasons, Koliņko showed good performance and transferred to

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 January 2005. At that time he was certainly one of the best goalkeepers in the

. In 2006, Koliņko was named

Latvian Footballer of the Year Latvian Footballer of the Year is an association football award for Latvia. It is held by the Latvian Football Federation. Since 2005, there has also been an award for the top female player. Winners Women * 2005: Sintija Grāviņa-Grēve * 20 ...

. He was dismissed from Kazan for an unexplained reason before the 2008 season, playing there for two years. After his release, Koliņko joined the

club

JFK Olimps JFK Olimps was a Latvian football club, playing in the top division of Latvian football. The club was from the city of Riga. According to a study from January 2011, the club was the youngest team in Europe, with an average age of 19.02 years. ...

, but after just playing six matches he left the club, following the interest from several clubs abroad. In May 2009, he signed a contract for 30 days with

Dinamo București A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterinbu ...

. At the end of the season the board announced he would not be offered a new contract. In August 2008, he went on trial with

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

in England, but didn't stay with the club. In the summer transfer period he signed a contract with the

club

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 ...

. In December 2009, he extended his contract with Ventspils for another year. Despite this fact, he was linked with a move to the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n club

FC Sibir Novosibirsk FC Sibir Novosibirsk (russian: ФК «Сибирь» Новосибирск) was a Russian association football club based in Novosibirsk, playing at the Spartak Stadium. They played their first-ever season in the Russian Premier League in 2010 ...

but just after a few days it was announced that he would not go on trial with the team. In August 2010, Koliņko joined the

club

PFC Spartak Nalchik PFC Spartak Nalchik (russian: Профессиональный футбольный клуб "Спартак Нальчик") is a Russian association football club based in Nalchik that plays in the third-tier FNL 2. They played in the Russian ...

on trial and signed a one-year contract with them on 26 August 2010. He played eight matches there battling with Otto Fredrikson for the first keeper's role. Despite earning the number 1 role and playing some really good matches, after the season he was released. In February 2011 Koliņko joined the

Russian National Football League The Russian First League (russian: Первая лига, Pervaya liga), formerly called Russian First Division (russian: Первый дивизион) and Russian Football National League (FNL) (russian: Первенство Футбольн� ...

club

Baltika Kaliningrad FC Baltika is an association football club based in Kaliningrad, Russia. Currently the club plays in the Russian First League, the second tier of the Russian football pyramid. History The club was founded on 22 December 1954 as ''Pishchevik Kalin ...

, signing a contract for one and a half season. His contract was then extended till the end of the 2014–15 Russian National Football League season. In June 2015, Koliņko returned to the

, joining Spartaks Jūrmala prior to their

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

debut. He made his debut as Spartaks beat

Mladost Podgorica OFK Titograd (Montenegrin Cyrillic: ОФК Титоград) is a professional football club based in Podgorica, Montenegro. Founded in 1951, they play in the Third League of Montenegro. The team has one league trophy and two Montenegrin Cup tr ...

3–1 in the first round of the tournament. Koliņko made his Latvian Higher League comeback on 12 July 2015 in a 2–1 loss to

Skonto FC 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 Latvia ...

International career

Koliņko earned 94 caps for the Latvia national team, having made his international debut against

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

on 9 July 1997 at the age of 22. He became the first-choice keeper in 1999 after the retirement of

. Koliņko was Latvia's first-choice keeper for almost ten years. He was the starting goalkeeper for Latvia at

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

, playing 90 minutes in all matches and keeping a clean sheet against Germany in the second match of the group stages. From 2011 to 2013 Koliņko was temporarily excluded from the national squad with

Andris Vaņins Andris Vaņins (born 30 April 1980) is a Latvian former professional footballer who works as a goalkeeping coach for Swiss club FC Sion. A goalkeeper, he most notably played for Sion, making over 200 league appearances. At international level, h ...

filling the first keeper's spot and

Deniss Romanovs Deniss Romanovs (born 2 September 1978) is a retired Latvian football goalkeeper. Club career His early career was spent with Latvian sides Skonto-Metāls, Valmiera, Ventspils and Ditton. During the 2008/09 season he joined Slavia Praha. I ...

Pāvels Doroševs Pāvels Doroševs (born 9 October 1980) is a Latvian Association football, football Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper, currently playing for SV Victoria Seelow in the German Brandenburg-Liga. He is also a former member of Latvia nati ...

Germans Māliņš Germans Māliņš (born 12 October 1987) is a Latvian professional footballer, currently playing for JDFS Alberts. Club career Skonto Riga Born in Riga, as a youth player Māliņš played for his local club FK Auda, before moving to JFC Sko ...

serving as the back-up choice. On 10 September 2013, at the age of 38, Koliņko made his national team comeback, playing a full match away in the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

qualifiers against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. He made a handful of great saves, conceding one goal to the locals. Koļinko played his second international match since returning to the national team on 15 October 2013, helping Latvia secure a point in the last match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, playing a 2–2 draw against

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. All in all, Koliņko played 94 international matches for Latvia over the period from 1997 to 2015. He played his last international match on 31 March 2015, as Latvia drew 1–1 against

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

in a friendly match.

Coaching career

In July 2015, Koliņko was appointed as the manager of Spartaks Jūrmala after the departure of

Roman Pylypchuk Roman Pylypchuk ( ua, Роман Михайлович Пилипчук; born 27 April 1967) is a Ukrainian professional football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of Slovenian PrvaLiga club Celje. Career As a player, Pylypc ...

. Failing to impress, he was replaced by

Oleg Kubarev Oleg Kubarev ( be, Алег Кубареў; russian: Олег Кубарев; born 8 February 1966) is a Belarusian football manager and former footballer (midfielder). Career From September 2013 to December 2014 he was head coach of Zimbru Chi ...

in December 2015. Koliņko remained at the club, working as the assistant manager and goalkeeping coach of the first team. In 2017, Koliņko became the goalkeeping coach of 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 Shakhtyor Soligorsk. Before the start of the

2018 Latvian Higher League The 2018 Latvian Higher League was the 27th season of top-tier football in Latvia. Spartaks Jūrmala were the defending champions, having won their second title in the previous season. Teams At the end of the 2017 season, Babīte were exc ...

season he returned to Latvia, becoming the goalkeeping coach and assistant manager of

Honours

Player

Skonto Riga *

: 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 *

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 ...

: 1997, 1998, 2000 FK Ventspils *

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 ...

: 2009–10 Individual *

best goalkeeper: 1997, 1999, 2000 *

: 2006, 2014

Manager

Spartaks Jūrmala *

: 2016

References

External links

Aleksandrs Koļinko
at Dinamovisti.RO
Aleksandrs Koļinko
at Eurosport.com
Aleksandrs Koļinko
at Zanziball * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kolinko, Aleksandrs 1975 births Living people Footballers from Riga Latvian footballers Latvian people of Ukrainian descent Latvia international footballers UEFA Euro 2004 players Latvian expatriate footballers Association football goalkeepers Skonto FC players Latvian Higher League players Crystal Palace F.C. players FC Rostov players FC Rubin Kazan players Russian Premier League players JFK Olimps players FC Dinamo București players Liga I players FK Ventspils players PFC Spartak Nalchik players FC Baltika Kaliningrad players FK Spartaks Jūrmala players Expatriate footballers in Russia Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate footballers in England Latvian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in Romania Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Romania