Roberts Savaļnieks (born 4 February 1993 in Valmiera) is 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 ...

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 le ...

, who currently plays for

FK RFS FK RFS is a professional Latvian football club based in Riga, Latvia. It competes in the Virslīga, the top flight of Latvian football. History RFS were promoted to the Virsliga for 2016 when Skonto FC failed to obtain a license. In 2018, RFS ...

in the Latvian Higher League.

Club career

Originally, from Valmiera, Savaļnieks moved to Liepāja at an early age to train and play for the youth teams of Liepājas Metalurgs. He was taken to the first team in 2009, and with the playing time gradually growing, Savaļnieks became a first eleven player in 2012. Over the period of five consecutive seasons with the club he participated in 80 league matches and scored 5 goals, as well as played in the

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 competit ...

and

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. It ...

. In January 2014 Savaļnieks went on trial with the Polish Ekstraklasa club Jagiellonia Białystok and signed a contract with them for half-a-year with an option to extend it for two more years. He made his debut for the club on 16 February 2014, coming on as a substitute in a 1-0 league defeat to

Ruch Chorzów Ruch Chorzów () is a Polish association football club based in Chorzów, Upper Silesia. It is one of the most successful football teams in Poland: fourteen-time national champions, and three-time winners of the Polish Cup. Currently the team play ...

. In June 2014 it was revealed that Jagiellonia would not extend Savaļnieks' contract and after its expiry he shall look for a new club. Having played 3 league and 1 cup match, Savaļnieks left the club in July 2014 to return to the Latvian Higher League and join the newly established

FK Liepāja FK Liepāja/Mogo is a Latvian football club, founded in 2014. The club is based at the Daugava Stadium in Liepāja. FK Liepāja plays in the Latvian Higher League. In their first season they finished 4th in the 2014 Latvian Higher League. Hi ...

. With 11 appearances and 2 goals in the remaining part of the season he helped the club finish the league in the top four. After winning the Virsliga with FK Liepāja in 2015 Roberts Savaļnieks joined Riga FC.

International career

Savaļnieks was a member of Latvia U-18, Latvia U-19 and Latvia U-21 football teams. On 25 February 2014 Savaļnieks was firstly called-up to Latvia national football team for the following friendly match against Republic of Macedonia on 5 March 2014. He remained an unused substitute throughout the match.

International goals

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

Honours

Club

* Latvian Higher League champion:

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

* Latvian Cup winner:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

National team

* Baltic Cup winner:

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Savalnieks, Roberts 1993 births Living people People from Valmiera Latvian footballers Latvia international footballers Association football midfielders FK Liepājas Metalurgs players Jagiellonia Białystok players Expatriate footballers in Poland Ekstraklasa players Latvian expatriate footballers Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Poland FK Liepāja players Riga FC players FK RFS players