Andrejs Butriks (born 20 December 1982 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 ...

) is a former

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 ...

, currently the sporting director of

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 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 career

Butriks played for FK Avots at youth level before signing for FK Ventspils in 2001. In 2002, he scored 14 goals in 24 games for the club, becoming a vital first eleven player in the next few years. Butriks played for

, until 2011, scoring more than 50 goals in 212 matches. While playing for

Ventspils Ventspils (; german: Windau, ; see other names) is a state city in northwestern Latvia in the historical Courland region of Latvia, and is the sixth largest city in the country. At the beginning of 2020, Ventspils had a population of 33,906. It ...

, in January 2008 Butriks had a trial period with

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

club

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

in England, but didn't stay with the club. Seeking for a new club abroad after

UEFA 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 ...

matches he joined

FC Ceahlăul Piatra Neamţ FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Paki ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

on loan from

in February 2010. As this was a very unsuccessful period, Butriks didn't play even a match for the club and returned to

in June 2010. This being away period in Romania had left Butriks out of the team's starting eleven and he found it difficult to fit into the squad, mostly being a late game substitute. Unhappy with that time situation Andrejs left the club in April 2011, signing a contract with another

Virsliga 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 Jūrmala-VV FK Daugava Rīga was a Latvian football club, based at the Daugava Stadium in Riga. They played in the Latvian Higher League. The last manager of the team was Armands Zeiberliņš. From the club's foundation in 2003 till 2009 the club was kno ...

. Due to the club's unstable financial situation and poor results Butriks played only 9 league matches and managed to score twice. In July 2011 he left the team, signing a contract abroad in August 2011. This time a one-year contract in

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 ...

with the newly promoted Anagennisi Epanomi, playing in the Greek Second League. Andrejs got himself injured against PAOK, playing just one league game and being released after the season. Following his release Butriks decided to retire from football. In June 2012 he accepted an offer to become the sporting director of his former club

International career

In October 2007 Butriks was called up to the

squad for their

UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group F Standings and results for Group F of the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying tournament. Spain secured qualification to the tournament proper on 17 November 2007 following a 3–0 win against Sweden, becoming the tenth team in the whole of the qualification ...

match against

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on 13 October, but he did not play in the match. He made his debut for Latvia on 17 October in their

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

qualifying match against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, when he came on as a substitute in the 63rd minute. All in all, he collected 4 international appearances for

Honours

Team

FK Ventspils *

Champion (3): 2006, 2007, 2008 *

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 ...

winner (4): 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007

Personal life

Butriks is married and has a son. His wife's name is Jūlija, while the son's name is Artjoms.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Butriks, Andrejs 1982 births Living people Footballers from Riga Latvian footballers Latvia international footballers FK Ventspils players CSM Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț players Liga I players Expatriate footballers in Romania Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Latvian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Greece Association football forwards