Vadims Ulbergs (17 July 1921 – 11 July 2008) was 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 ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and manager, one of the most respected veterans of Latvian football.

Biography

His first choice in sports was

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

but soon he joined the most popular pre-war Latvian football club -

Rīgas FK Riga FK (''Rīgas futbola klubs'', short – RFK) was a Latvian football club which was founded December 14, 1923. It was the strongest and most popular Latvian football club in 1920s and 1930s, it was also the base team for Latvia national foo ...

. First he played with the junior squad but aged just 17 he made his debut in

Virslīga 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 Op ...

. At that time RFK had a very strong squad which included Latvia national football team players

Ēriks Pētersons Ēriks Pētersons (1909 in Riga – 1987 in United States) was Latvian footballer and hockey player. Between 1929 and 1939 he played 63 international matches and scored 21 goals for Latvia national team. He also played in Latvian national i ...

Sergejs Maģers Sergejs Maģers (1912–1989) was a Latvian footballer who played for Latvia national football team in late 1930s. Maģers as a footballer was found by Rīgas FK in Rēzekne and soon he was invited to play in the Latvian national team. Sergejs M ...

, Fricis Kaņeps and others. Thus Ulbergs usually got to play only if some of the main squad players were injured. With Rīgas FK Ulbergs stayed until 1942, then in order not to be called into German army, he took up work on the railroad and joined the newly founded football club Daugavieši. In 1944 Ulbergs was arrested because of a remark that one of his friends had made in a restaurant during

birthday party about

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

. Some time later he managed to escape and awaited the end of the war hiding in the woods. After the war Ulbergs joined the

FK Dinamo Rīga 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 ...

but because of an injury he soon switched from playing to coaching. For many years he worked in the Daugava sports school, but in the 1960s he was offered to work with FK Daugava Rīga senior squad. In different positions (both coaching and managing) Ulbergs worked with Daugava until the collapse of the club in early 1990s. Later he was an assistant of

Jānis Gilis Jānis Gilis (27 April 1943 – 13 September 2000), was the first general manager of Latvia national football team after Latvia regained independence. Playing career His first senior team was ASK Riga. From 1965 to 1968 Gilis played in the s ...

in the Latvia national football team.Miķelis Rubenis. History of football in Latvia, 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ulbergs, Vadims 1921 births 2008 deaths Latvian men's footballers Latvian football managers Men's association football players not categorized by position Soviet men's footballers