Artis Lazdiņš (born 3 May 1986) is a Latvian 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 plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for German club Greifswalder FC.

Club career

Early career

Artis Lazdiņš started playing football in his early childhood being taken to trainings to his local team ''FK Limbaži'' (coach: Valdis Matīss) by his father. In 2000 his family decided to move to the USA. He then continued playing football in an American-Ukrainian football (soccer) academy ''Chornomorets-USA'' in NYC. In 2004, after graduating from the Julia Richman High School, he returned to Latvia and played for

FK Auda Futbola klubs Auda is a Latvian football club, playing in the highest division of Latvian football (Latvian Higher League). They are based in Ķekava, near the capital, Riga. Auda won their first ever major trophy in 2022, beating RFS 1–0 in ...

in Riga until the end of 2005.

FK Ventspils

In 2006 Lazdiņš was signed by FK Ventspils. In his first season in Ventspils Lazdiņš played for the reserve team and did not take part in the first-team action. In 2007 Lazdiņš had three appearances, not finding the net. In the next two years the number of appearances grew to 12 and 18, respectively. Lazdiņš became the champion of Latvia with FK Ventspils three times in a row - from 2006 to 2008. He also participated in the

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 ...

group stages in 2009. However, in 2009 the team's managers changed and Lazdiņš was no more needed within the squad, with his contract being terminated by a mutual agreement.

FK Jelgava

After leaving Ventspils Lazdiņš started looking for a club abroad but was then handed an offer by the Latvian Virsliga newcomers FK Jelgava. He signed a contract for one season and soon after joining became a first eleven player. In his first season there he played 24 matches and also managed to win the Latvian Cup. In January 2011 Lazdiņš extended his contract with FK Jelgava for another season. In August 2011 he went on trial with the Danish team Randers but did not stay with them, returning to Jelgava. All in all, Lazdiņš played 24 matches, scoring two goals in the 2011 season. The 2012 season started badly for Jelgava and having played 15 matches, Lazdiņš used the release clause of his contract in July 2012.

Piast Gliwice

In August 2012 Lazdiņš went on trial with the Polish Ekstraklasa club

Piast Gliwice Gliwicki Klub Sportowy Piast Gliwice () is a Polish football club based in Gliwice. In the 2018–19 season, Piast won its first Polish championship. As of 2022–23, it competes in the Ekstraklasa, Poland's top division. History The club wa ...

and signed a contract with them in September 2012. He scored his first goal for the club on 30 March 2013 in a 1–1 league match draw against Jagiellonia Białystok. The 2012-13 season, which was the debut season for Piast since the return to the Ekstraklasa, saw the club finish the league in the 4th position of the table, qualifying for the

for the first time in the club's history. Lazdiņš participated in the second leg of the second qualifying round, when Piast played a 2–2 draw against the Azerbaijani club Qarabağ. In his second season with Piast Lazdiņš gradually lost his place in the starting line-up, playing just seven league and two cup matches for the club.

Return to FK Jelgava

On 26 March 2014, the return of Lazdiņš was officially confirmed by his former club FK Jelgava. Despite suffering from a long-term injury in the second half of the season, Lazdiņš participated in 18 league matches as well as the UEFA Europa League qualifiers, ceding to the Norwegian side Rosenborg over two legs in the first qualifying round of the tournament. He helped Jelgava win the Latvian Cup and reach bronze medals in the domestic championship for the first time in the club's history.

Saldus SS/Leevon

On 19 March 2020, Lazdiņš joined Latvin club Saldus SS/Leevon.

Greifswalder FC

In February 2022, Lazdiņš moved to German club Greifswalder FC of the fifth-tier NOFV-Oberliga Nord.

International career

Lazdiņš was a member of Latvia U-19 and Latvia U-21 football teams, being called up to the senior side for the Baltic Cup matches in 2010. He made his international debut in the second match of the tournament 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 19 June 2010. He then came on as a substitute, replacing

Juris Laizāns Juris Laizāns (born 6 January 1979) is a Latvian former professional footballer. A midfielder, he spent a large part of his playing career abroad in Russia. He made 113 appearances for the Latvia national team scoring 15 goals. Club career Bo ...

. In 2012 Lazdiņš helped Latvia win the Baltic Cup, beating

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

in the final. Latvia won the Baltic Cup for the second time in a row in May 2014, beating

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

in the final. As of March 2015, Lazdiņš had played 21 matches for

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 ...

Personal life

According to ''fkjelgava.lv'', Lazdiņš loves cinema and also has a

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account. His native language is Latvian, but he also speaks English fluently, Russian well and German at a basic level. His aim in football is to improve and reach career heights.

Honours

FK Ventspils * Latvian league: 2006, 2007, 2008 * Latvian Cup: 2007 FK Jelgava * Latvian Cup: 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016 Latvia * Baltic Cup: 2012, 2014

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lazdins, Artis 1986 births Living people People from Limbaži Latvian footballers Association football midfielders Latvia international footballers Ekstraklasa players FK Auda players FK Ventspils players FK Jelgava players Piast Gliwice players Julia Richman Education Complex alumni Latvian expatriate footballers Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate footballers in Poland Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany