Renārs Rode (born 6 April 1989 in Riga) is a retired Latvian 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, rugby ...

who played as a centre-back. He has also been capped by the

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 ...

Club career

Skonto Riga

As a youth player Renārs Rode played for the

Skonto Riga Skonto FC was a Latvian football club, active from 1991 until 2016. The club played at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Skonto won the Virsliga in the first 14 seasons of the league's resumption (15 in total), and often provided the core of the Lat ...

academy. In 2008, he joined 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 ...

club

JFK Olimps JFK Olimps was a Latvian football club, playing in the top division of Latvian football. The club was from the city of Riga. According to a study from January 2011, the club was the youngest team in Europe, with an average age of 19.02 years. ...

, and played 15 matches, scoring his first league goal in a 7–0 victory over

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 ...

on 8 July 2009. In 2010 Rode moved to Skonto Rīga. During his first season at the club, he scored 3 goals in 16 league matches and under the manager

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 t ...

became the champion of the Latvian Higher League. In 2011, he helped the club win the

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 ...

and in 2012 won his first

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

with Skonto. In January 2012 it was announced that Rode would go on trial with the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottis ...

club Heart of Midlothian alongside his teammate Armandrs Pētersons, but the potential move fell through. After the

2013 Latvian Higher League The 2013 Latvian Higher League was the 22nd season of top-tier football in Latvia. FC Daugava were the defending champions. The season started on 29 March 2013. The league comprised ten teams. The champions of this season were FK Ventspils, follo ...

season Rode was included in the ''sportacentrs.com'' and ''Sporta Avīze'' teams of the tournament, having appeared in 25 league matches and scored 3 goals, with Skonto suffering only one loss throughout the season. All in all, during his four seasons with the club Rode played 90 league matches, scoring 10 goals, and appeared in two

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

and eight

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

matches.

FK Teplice

On 10 December 2013 it was announced that Rode had signed a two-year contract with the Czech

Gambrinus Liga The Czech First League, known as the Fortuna liga for sponsorship reasons, is a Czech professional league for football clubs. At the top of the Czech football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Seasons typically ...

club

FK Teplice FK Teplice is a Czech football club based in the city of Teplice. The club currently plays in the Czech First League. The club was founded after World War II in 1945. The club advanced to the Czechoslovak First League in just three years after ...

after a successful trial period. Rode left the club in March 2014 having been given a notice of contract termination after the arrival of the newly appointed manager. Following the release Rode went on trial with the Norwegian

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

side

Sarpsborg 08 Sarpsborg 08 Fotballforening, commonly known as Sarpsborg 08 or simply Sarpsborg (), is a Norwegian football club based in Sarpsborg, playing in Eliteserien. Sarpsborg 08 and its predecessors played in 1. divisjon from 2005 to 2010. In 2010, the ...

, but did not stay with the club.

FK Ventspils

On 17 July 2014 Rode returned to the Latvian Higher League, signing a contract with the title holders

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 ...

. He helped the club retain the title for the second year in a row.

Return to Skonto

Prior to the 2015 Latvian Higher League season Rode moved to his former club Skonto Riga. He participated in the

qualifying stages helping his club beat the Irish club St Patrick's Athletic. Rode scored a goal in the next qualifying round which saw Skonto losing hopelessly against the Hungarian side Debreceni VSC.

SK Sigma Olomouc

Following the 2015 season Rode went on trial with the

Premier Soccer League Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

club

Mpumalanga Black Aces Black Aces were a South African football club that played in the Premier Soccer League. Aces usually played their home games in the Mpumalanga province but were based and trained in Johannesburg. History The original club was founded in 1937 by ...

. However, it was later announced that he would not be joining the team at that particular time and that the coach considered a potential move for Rode during the next transfer period. In February 2016 Rode joined the

Czech First League The Czech First League, known as the Fortuna liga for sponsorship reasons, is a Czech professional league for football clubs. At the top of the Czech football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Seasons typically r ...

club

SK Sigma Olomouc SK Sigma Olomouc is a Czech football club from the city of Olomouc. The club currently plays in the Czech First League, the first tier of Czech football. The club played in the first tier league for 30 years between 1984 and 2014, winning the Cz ...

signing a half-year contract with an option to extend it for another year.

FK Jelgava

On 16 December 2018, Rode signed with

FK Jelgava FK Jelgava is a Latvian football club that is based in Jelgava. The club plays its home-matches at the Zemgales Olimpiskais Sporta Centrs stadium with capacity of 1,560 people. Early years Until 2004 two Jelgava football clubs FK Viola and RAF ...

for one year.

Later career

In the beginning of 2020, Rode joined

JDFS Alberts Jura Docenko Futbola Skola Alberts, commonly referred to as JDFS Alberts, is a Latvian football club based in Riga, that plays in Latvian First League (1. līga), the second-highest division of Latvian football. The club was founded as a football ...

. In June 2020, Rode announced his retirement from professional football and a few days later,

confirmed that Rode had been appointed assistant coach of the club.

International career

Rode was a member 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, he ...

. He received his first full international call-up under that time manager

on 22 January 2010 for a friendly match against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

. His next call-up came just 3 years later, when he was included in the national squad for a friendly match against

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

on 14 August 2013 by the newly appointed

Marians Pahars Marians Pahars (born 5 August 1976) is a Latvian professional football manager and a former player. As a player, he spent the majority of his career operating as a striker for English club Southampton, where he played in the Premier League an ...

. Rode made his full international debut for Latvia on 6 September 2013 in a 2–1 2014 World Cup qualifying victory over Lithuania. He scored his first international goal on 15 October 2013 in a WC qualifying match against

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

, securing Latvia a point with a late goal in a 2–2 draw.

International goals

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

Honours

*Skonto FC **

champion (1): 2010 **

champion (1): 2011 **

winner (1): 2012 *FK Ventspils **

champion (1): 2014

References

http://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/PSL/sim-rode-set-to-depart-cape-town-city-20161230

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rode, Renars 1989 births Living people Footballers from Riga Latvian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Latvia men's international footballers JFK Olimps players Skonto FC players FK Teplice players Latvian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Czech Republic Latvian expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Czech First League players FK Ventspils players SK Sigma Olomouc players FK RFS players FK Jelgava players