Edvīns Johans Bārda (19 April 1900 in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

– 28 September 1947 in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

) was a

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

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 lea ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

, the eldest and most popular of the four football-playing Bārda brothers.

Biography

Edvīns Bārda started his career in 1921 when he joined JKS Riga – the strongest Latvian football club at the time. He played with the side in 1921 and 1922, in 1922 he also took up coaching the team. Later in 1922 he played briefly with ASK Riga until he ended up with the newly founded RFK – the leader in Latvian football in the years to follow, plus he actively participated in the formation of the club in its early years. Along with his brother

Arvīds Arvīds is a Latvian masculine given name and may refer to: * Arvīds Bārda (1901–1940), Latvian footballer *Arvīds Brastiņš Arvīds Brastiņš (13 April 1893 – 15 November 1984) was a Latvian sculptor, writer and Modern Paganism, neopag ...

he was selected to play in the first ever international match for Latvia on 24 September 1922. Just two minutes into the friendly match against the

Estonia national football team The Estonia men's national football team () represents Estonia in international football matches and is controlled by the Estonian Football Association, the governing body for football in Estonia. Estonia's home ground is Lilleküla Stadium ...

, Edvīns Bārda scored the first ever goal for Latvia national football team. In total between 1922 and 1925 Edvīns Bārda played eight international matches for Latvia scoring five goals, including Latvia's participation at the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad () and officially branded as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The opening ceremony was held on 5 July, but some competitions had al ...

. Edvīns Bārda, the goal hungry forward who was always battling for every inch on the pitch, was a fan favourite. With RFK he won two Latvian championships in 1924 and 1925. In 1926 Bārda took up coaching

Hakoah Riga Hakoah () means "The Strength" and may refer to any one of these Jewish sport organizations: * Hakoah Vienna, an athletic club in Austria that is the origin of the Hakoah name * Hakoah Bergen County, an amateur football club in New Jersey * Brookly ...

and a football club in Jelgava, but in 1927 he played again on the field with Amatieris. In later years for some time he was also the coach of SSS Riga. In 1933 Edvīns Bārda participated in a match of club veterans against the RFK youth squad to celebrate the 10th anniversary of RFK. Edvīns Bārda died at the age of 47 in

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barda, Edvins 1900 births 1947 deaths Footballers from Riga People from Riga county Latvian men's footballers Latvia men's international footballers Footballers at the 1924 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Latvia Men's association football forwards