Māris Smirnovs (born 2 June 1976, in Daugavpils) is a former Latvian

football defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, currently the assistant manager of

FK Ventspils FK Ventspils is a Latvian football club, based at Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions in Ventspils city and is one of the most popular football clubs in the country. The club played in the Latvian Virsliga since 1997. It was abolished in 2020, but has ...

, playing in the

Latvian Higher League 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 O ...

. Smirnovs has played 22 international matches 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 ...

. He debuted in 2002, and played at the

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 ...

. Māris Smirnovs played for Dinaburg FC, FK Valmiera,

Amica Wronki Amica Wronki was a Polish football club based in Wronki, Poland. The club was invariably linked to Amica, a manufacturer of white goods, predominantly stoves, which gave the club its nickname. The company's increasing profits gave the new te ...

, FC Ditton,

Dinamo București A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterin ...

Górnik Zabrze Górnik Zabrze Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Górnik Zabrze S.A. or simply Górnik Zabrze (), is a Polish football club from Zabrze. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning the second-most Po ...

FK Jūrmala FK or fk may refer to: In arts and entertainment: * Flyer Killer, fictional automated robots in the ''Terminator'' film franchise. * Fox Kids, a former American children's television programming block. * Funky Kong, a video game character. Place: ...

and FC Tranzit. After the 2010 Latvian Higher League season Smirnovs retired from professional football. Before the start of the 2012

Latvian First League The Latvian First League ( lv, Latvijas Pirmā līga, 1. līga) is the second tier of football in Latvia and is organised by the Latvian Football Federation. History The league was founded together with other Latvian football competitions in 19 ...

season Smirnovs was appointed as the assistant manager of FK Ventspils-2. In 2013, he became the assistant manager of FK Ventspils first team.

External links

Latvian Football Federation
(in Latvian) 1976 births Living people Latvian men's footballers Latvia men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2004 players FC Dinamo București players Amica Wronki players FK Ventspils players Dinaburg FC players Górnik Zabrze players FC Tranzit players Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Liga I players Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Sportspeople from Daugavpils Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Latvian expatriate men's footballers Men's association football defenders Latvian people of Russian descent {{Latvia-footy-bio-stub