Valdis Pultraks

Valdis Pultraks (1922–1972) 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 ...

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

, one of the most known Latvian footballers of the early post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

era. At the age of just 14 Pultraks already played for FK Ausma from

Auce Auce (; lt, Aukė; german: Alt-Autz) is a town in southern Latvia, Dobele Municipality near the Lithuanian border. History Before 13th century the territory of Auce was a part of a Semigallian Spārnene county. After the partition of Semigal ...

in the

Latvian Cup The Latvian Football Cup () is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Latvian Football (soccer), football. Since 2021, its full name is Responsible Game Latvian Football Cup (''Atbildīgas spēles Latvijas kauss'') due ...

quarterfinals. Until the mid-1940s in addition to football Pultraks actively participated in

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

events - even in 1947 when he already played for

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 ...

he won the bronze medal at the Latvian athletics championship in 100 meter run. His first professional football team was Daugava Liepāja in 1946 from which he moved to Dinamo Rīga and when Dinamo was merged with

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 ...

- Pultraks became goalkeeper with the best football club in

. In the Soviet elite league Pultraks had a strong competition for the number one goalkeeper position in Daugava, but he succeeded at that, however when in 1952 Daugava was relegated from the top league, Pultraks left the club. Pultraks later played with Sarkanais metalurgs Liepāja and he also played for Daugava in its first serious international match against

IK Sture IK or Ik may refer to: Businesses and organizations * IK Investment Partners, a European private equity firm * Imair Airlines (IATA code IK) * Iparretarrak, a Basque nationalist organization Languages * Ik language (ISO 639 alpha-3 ikx), spoken ...

from

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. Valdis Pultraks died at the age of 50. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pultraks, Valdis 1922 births 1972 deaths Latvian footballers Daugava Rīga players Association football goalkeepers Soviet footballers