Genādijs Šitiks (18 June 1958 – 20 August 2009) was a

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 ...

manager and a former footballer, one of Latvia's best footballers of the 1980s.

Playing and coaching career

Šitiks learned the basics of football at the

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 ...

football school, but his first serious team was VEF Rīga where he played under Georgijs Smirnovs. In 1978 Šitiks was named the best midfielder of the Latvian league and the 1979 season he started as a player of

Daugava Rīga 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 k ...

. With Daugava he played until 1991, making more than 400 appearances and scoring 108 goals. His best seasons came in 1981 - 21 goal in 41 matches and 1986 - 18 goals in 43 matches (and he was a midfielder, not a forward). In 1986 Šitiks was the third best scorer in the

Soviet First League The Soviet First League in football (russian: Первая лига СССР по футболу) was the second highest division of Soviet football,Evgeni Kazakov. The Soviet First Football League (Первая лига СССР по футбо ...

, together with

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 was one of the most important players in the 1980s Daugava team. In 1986 Šitiks was invited to training with the Soviet Olympic football team, but Daugava head coach

Jānis Skredelis Jānis Skredelis (29 December 1939 – 27 June 2019) was a Latvian football coach. Career Skredelis managed Soviet First League side FC Daugava Riga during the 1980s. References External links Interview of Janis Skredelisto Sport Express ''Sp ...

decided not to inform Šitiks about that fact. When the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

collapsed Šitiks went first to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, then to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

but soon he retired from football. Still he played for

Latvia national football team The Latvia national football team ( lv, Latvijas futbola izlase) represents Latvia in international football and is controlled by the Latvian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Latvia. They have never qualified for the FIF ...

in its first four matches. In 1996 Šitiks as a playing coach led FK Vecrīga to victory in the Latvia 1. līga tournament, earning promotion to

Virslīga 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 ...

, however because of limited finances the club declined to play in Virslīga and became disfunct. Šitiks founded a football school in

, Šitika FS, and devoted his life to coaching young football talents. He was also appointed the head coach of

Latvia national under-21 football team The Latvia national under-21 football team represents the under-21s of Latvia and is controlled by the Latvian Football Federation, the governing body of football in Latvia. The team competes in the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, h ...

Death

On 20 August 2009,

Latvian Football Federation The Latvian Football Federation (LFF) ( lv, Latvijas Futbola federācija) is the governing body of football in Latvia with its headquarters located in the capital Rimi Sports Centre in Riga. Its activities include the organizing of the Latvian ...

reported that Šitiks had died of unknown causes.http://www.lff.lv/lv/news/2009/aug/90/ (Latvian)

Honours

* Baltic Cup **

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sitiks, Genadijs 1958 births Soviet men's footballers Latvian men's footballers Latvian football managers Latvia men's international footballers FC Daugava Riga players Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Footballers from Riga 2009 deaths Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Latvian sports coaches Latvian expatriate men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden