Igors Stepanovs (born 21 January 1976) is a Latvian former 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, rugb ...

, who played as a defender, and the manager of the Latvia under-17 national team. Stepanovs played 100 international matches and scored four goals for the Latvia national team. He made his debut in 1995, and played at

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

Club career

Skonto

Born in

Ogre An ogre (feminine: ogress) is a legendary monster depicted as a large, hideous, man-like being that eats ordinary human beings, especially infants and children. Ogres frequently feature in mythology, folklore, and fiction throughout the world ...

, Stepanovs started his club career at Skonto-Metāls (later Skonto Riga). He made his debut in senior football at an early age, being just 16 years old. Together with Skonto Riga he won seven national titles. In 1995, he made his debut for Latvia national team and soon he became a regular member of the side. While playing with Skonto, Stepanovs played against teams like

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, and

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. In these games, Skonto and Stepanovs performed well. In 2000, he attracted interest from many European teams.

Arsenal

In 2000,

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostl ...

captain

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was injured, prompting

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to sign Stepanovs for a transfer fee of £1.35 million. He started the season well, scoring a goal for Arsenal in a 2–1

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defeat against

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on his debut. His playing time grew until a match against

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, when both sides were battling for the

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title. Arsenal lost this game 6–1 and their chances of winning the title were hit. After this disappointing performance, Stepanovs played only once again that season in a game against

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

. He recovered to make six Premier League appearances the following season as Arsenal won the 2001–02 FA Premier League. Six would not normally be enough to earn a medal but he was an unused substitute on the day Arsenal clinched the title against Manchester United at

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, the scene of his lowest point the season before. Arsenal also won the FA Cup in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and

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but Stepanovs was left out of both matchday squads. He contributed to their 2002 triumph when featuring in a game against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

during their run. Overall, he played just 17 times in the league for Arsenal, all of them starts, and 31 times in all competitions.

Later years

After unsuccessful years with Arsenal, Stepanovs was moved to K.S.K. Beveren, which had a co-operation agreement with the English club. There he gained back some confidence and he was again in good shape. Stepanovs played well in the Latvia national team, helping it to qualify for

where he played in all of Latvia's three games. After Euro 2004, Stepanovs joined

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zürich, commonly referred to as simply GC, GCZ, or Grasshoppers, is a multisports club based in Zürich, Switzerland. The oldest and best known department of the club is its football team. With 27 titles, Grasshopper holds the ...

. There he played for two seasons, but was released. In 2006, he returned to Latvia and played some games for

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. On 26 January 2007, he moved to Danish Premier League side

Esbjerg fB Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber (; commonly known as Esbjerg fB or EfB in short) is a Danish professional football club based in Esbjerg, West Jutland, that plays in the 2nd division, the third-tier of the Danish football league system. Found ...

on a free transfer, but after just a year he moved to the Russian

FC Shinnik Yaroslavl FC Shinnik Yaroslavl (russian: Футбольный клуб «Шинник» Ярославль) is a Russian football club, based in Yaroslavl. From 1957 to 1960 the team was called Khimik (russian: Химик - "the chemist"). In the USSR ...

. He was released by Shinnik on 9 July 2008 and in April 2009 he signed for Latvian side RFS/Olimps, but a year later re-joined his previous team

. He played there for two seasons, making 25 league appearances, scoring a solitary goal. In August 2011, the player announced his retirement from professional football. On 10 August 2011, Stepanovs was called up to the Latvia national team for a friendly match against

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 ...

. He played his 100th and last match for Latvia then, and was honoured during the match for his long-term commitment to the national squad.

Coaching career

During his time at

, Stepanovs worked as a player-coach assisting the club's manager Vladimirs Babičevs. In March 2012, Stepanovs was appointed as the manager of Latvia under-17 national team.

Honours

Arsenal *

: 2001–02 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

: 2001–02, 2002–03 Individual *

Latvian Footballer of the Year Latvian Footballer of the Year is an association football award for Latvia. It is held by the Latvian Football Federation. Since 2005, there has also been an award for the top female player. Winners Women * 2005: Sintija Grāviņa-Grēve * 20 ...

: 2005

References

External links

*
Stepanovs International Appearances

Voetbal International

Latvian Football FederationStepanov at "legioner"
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stepanovs, Igors 1976 births Living people Latvian people of Russian descent People from Ogre, Latvia Latvian footballers Association football defenders Latvia international footballers FIFA Century Club UEFA Euro 2004 players Latvian Higher League players Premier League players Russian Premier League players Swiss Super League players Belgian First Division A players Danish Superliga players Skonto FC players Arsenal F.C. players K.S.K. Beveren players Grasshopper Club Zürich players FK Daugava (2003) players Esbjerg fB players FC Shinnik Yaroslavl players JFK Olimps players Latvian expatriate footballers Latvian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate footballers in Russia Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Latvian expatriates in Denmark Expatriate footballers in Denmark