Oskars Kļava (born 8 August 1983) is a Latvian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and a former defender who currently is an assistant manager at FK Grobiņa. He was the general manager of Spartaks Jūrmala in 2022 and director of Liepāja Football School (Liepājas FS).

Career

Club

Kļava was born in

Liepāja Liepāja () (formerly: Libau) is a Administrative divisions of Latvia, state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest city in the Courland region and the third-largest in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an ...

. As a youth player he played for his local club Liepājas Metalurgs, making his first-team debut in 2002. That year he also made his Euro competitions' debut and was sent off against the

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n club

FC Kärnten FC Kärnten was an Football in Austria, Austrian association football club based in Klagenfurt, Carinthia (state), Carinthia. It was founded in 1920 under the name of KSK Klagenfurt. History Austria Klagenfurt Austria Klagenfurt played success ...

in a

2002–03 UEFA Cup The 2002–03 UEFA Cup was the 32nd edition of the UEFA Cup, the second-tier European club football tournament organised by UEFA. The final was played between Portuguese side Porto and Scottish side Celtic at the Estadio Olímpico de Sevilla, Sev ...

qualifying round match, which Kärnten won 2–0 on 15 August 2002. With the number of appearances growing each season, Kļava played in Liepāja for 9 seasons. He became a first eleven player in 2005. In January 2008 Kļava went on trial with

Football League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

side

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

in England. He left Metalurgs in 2010, having played 189 league matches, scoring 7 goals. In June 2010 Kļava went on trial with the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

club Anzhi Makhachkala and signed a three-year contract with them in August the same year. He was given the nr. 83 jersey at the club and, despite his surname being ''Kļava'', he had his name ''Oskars'' written on it. He made his Premier League debut in the 17th round match against

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

, coming on as a substitute on 15 August 2010. In his first season in

Makhachkala Makhachkala, previously known as Petrovskoye (1844–1857) and Port-Petrovsk (1857–1921), or by the local Kumyk language, Kumyk name of Anji, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Dagestan, Russia. ...

Kļava appeared in 11 Premier League matches, as well as 12 reserve team games, scoring 1 goal. He lost his place in the starting line-up after the arrival of the Brazilian legend

Roberto Carlos Roberto Carlos da Silva Rocha (born 10 April 1973), often known as Roberto Carlos and sometimes ''RC3'', is a Brazilian former professional association football, footballer. He has been described as the "most offensive-minded left-back in the ...

. In August 2011 Kļava was given to the

Russian First Division The Russian First League (, Pervaya liga), formerly called Russian First Division () and Russian Football National League (FNL) () is the second level of the Russian football league system. The Russian Professional Football League (PFL) used to ...

club FK Khimki on a half-year loan. Having played 11 matches there, he returned to Anzhi at the end of 2011. Before the start of the 2012 season Kļava rejoined his home-town club Liepājas Metalurgs playing in the Latvian Higher League. He scored 2 goals in 14 league matches. In July 2012 Kļava signed a contract with the

Azerbaijan Premier League The Azerbaijan Premier League (), also known as Misli Premyer Liqası for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Azerbaijan and the highest level of the Azerbaijani football league system. It is contested by twelve ...

club

AZAL Azerbaijan Airlines (), also known as AZAL, is the national flag carrier and largest airline of Azerbaijan. Based in Baku, adjacent to Heydar Aliyev International Airport, the carrier operates to destinations across Asia, the Commonwealth of Ind ...

. In his first two seasons with the club Kļava appeared in 57 league matches and scored 2 goals.

International

Kļava was a member of Latvian U-21 team. He made his international debut for the senior side in 2005 in a 1–1 draw against

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

under that time national team's manager Jurijs Andrejevs, who had picked him up for a tournament in

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

. Kļava scored his first international goal in October 2007 against

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:Source:

International goals

:''Scores and results list Latvia's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club * Virsliga: 2005, 2009; runner-up 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 *

Latvian Cup The Latvian Football Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Latvian football. Since 2021, its full name is Responsible Gaming Latvian Football Cup (''Atbildīgas spēles Latvijas kauss'') due to the sponsorship by sports betting company ...

2006 *

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 Scandinavi ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Latvia * Baltic Cup: 2008, 2012

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Klava, Oskars 1983 births Living people Footballers from Liepāja Men's association football defenders Latvian men's footballers FK Liepājas Metalurgs players Latvia men's international footballers Latvian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Latvian Higher League players Russian Premier League players Azerbaijan Premier League players FC Anzhi Makhachkala players FC Khimki players Shuvalan FK players FK Liepāja players Expatriate men's footballers in Azerbaijan Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan Latvian football managers