Deniss Ivanovs (born 11 January 1984) is a retired Latvian

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 played as a defender.

Club career

Born in

Liepāja Liepāja (; liv, Līepõ; see #Names and toponymy, other names) is a state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest-city in the Kurzeme Planning Region, Kurzeme Region and the third-largest city in the country after R ...

, Ivanovs played in the youth team of local club Liepājas Metalurgs. Making his senior team debut in 2001, he played 9 seasons for Metalurgs, appearing in 187 league matches, scoring 9 goals, and eventually serving as captain. In July 2009 Ivanovs went on trial with 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 ...

club,

Ajax Amsterdam Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the l ...

. He did not make the team but a month later, on 26 August 2009, he signed a three-year contract with their farm-club

Ajax Cape Town Cape Town Spurs F.C. (formerly known as Ajax Cape Town) is a South African professional football club based in Parow in the city of Cape Town that plays in the National First Division. Dutch Eredivisie club AFC Ajax was their parent club and m ...

of the South African

Premier Soccer League Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

. He played there for one season, making 21 appearances. In July 2010 Ivanovs moved to Turkey, signing a two-year contract with the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

club

Sivasspor Sivasspor Kulübü, known as Demir Grup Sivasspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish sports club based in Sivas. The primary department of the club is men's football. Formed in 1967, its football department competes in Süper Lig, as of 201 ...

. His debut came in a league match against

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

which Sivasspor won 2–1. Ivanovs played all 90 minutes and received a yellow card. He appeared in 16 league matches but lost his place in the starting eleven in mid-season due to an injury. With his playing time limited, Ivanovs left Sivasspor at the end of the season. In July 2011 Ivanovs joined the

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 ...

club,

FK Baku FC Baku ( az, "Bakı" Futbol Klubu) is an Azerbaijani football club based in Baku that has been an amateur club since 2016. Prior to that, Baku played 18 seasons in the Azerbaijan Premier League, winning the championship twice and earning the Nat ...

, with his national team teammate

Māris Verpakovskis Māris Verpakovskis (born 15 October 1979), is a Latvian retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He represented the Latvia national team at UEFA Euro 2004 and is the only Latvian player to score at the end stage of a major int ...

and manager

Aleksandrs Starkovs Aleksandrs Starkovs (born 26 July 1955) is a Latvian football coach and a former player. Most recently he coached FK Liepāja. Starkovs has managed clubs such as Spartak Moscow in Russia, FK Baku in Azerbaijan and Skonto FC in Latvia. He had th ...

. He played there for two seasons, winning the

Azerbaijan Cup The Azerbaijan Cup is a major association football competition in Azerbaijan. In its original form, it started in 1936, when Azerbaijan was a republic of the Soviet Union and it was not disputed by Azerbaijani teams in the Soviet league pyramid. ...

in 2012. Ivanovs was released by Baku at the end of the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season. In February 2014 Ivanovs joined the Romanian

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

side

FC Botoșani Fotbal Club Botoșani (), commonly known as FC Botoșani or simply Botoșani, is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Botoșani, Botoșani County, that competes in the Liga I. In 2013, twelve years after being established, ...

, appearing on 8 matches before leaving in mid-summer. In August 2014, after a five-year absence, Ivanovs returned to the Latvian Higher League, joining newly established

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 ...

. After a brief spell in the winter of 2015 with

Nyíregyháza Spartacus Nyíregyháza (, sk, Níreďháza) is a City with county rights, city with county rights in northeastern Hungary and the county capital of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg. With a population of 118,001, it is the Cities of Hungary#Largest cities in ...

in the

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, "National Championship"), also known as NB I, is the top level of the Hungarian football league system. The league is officially named OTP Bank Liga after its title sponsor OTP Bank. UEFA currently ranks the league 28th ...

, he went back to FK Liepāja where he was the captain of the team for the 2020 Latvian Higher League season. Ivanovs is individually sponsored by the company ''NPK Expert''. Ivanovs retired in November 2020, playing his last game for FK Liepāja.

International career

Ivanovs made his debut 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 ...

at the age of 21, on 24 December 2005, in a

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 ...

match against

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 ...

. He became a first eleven player in 2007. Ivanovs scored his first international goal on 26 March 2008 in a friendly match against

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

. On 19 June 2010, for a Baltic Cup match 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 ...

, Ivanovs was named captain of the team. As of 2015, he has collected 60 international caps and scored 2 goals.

Career statistics

Honours

Club *

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 ...

: 2005, 2009, 2015; runner-up 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2017 *

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 ...

: 2006, 2017, 2020 *

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 ...

: 2007 *

: 2011–12 International * Baltic Cup: 2008

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ivanovs, Deniss 1984 births Living people Sportspeople from Liepāja Association football defenders Latvian people of Russian descent Latvian footballers FK Liepājas Metalurgs players Cape Town Spurs F.C. players Sivasspor footballers FC Baku players FC Botoșani players FK Liepāja players Latvia international footballers Latvian expatriate footballers Süper Lig players Liga I players Latvian Higher League players Azerbaijan Premier League players Expatriate soccer players in South Africa Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Azerbaijan Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan Expatriate footballers in Romania Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Romania