Vitālijs Astafjevs (born 3 April 1971) is a Latvian former professional football

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, and current assistant manager of

Aris Limassol Aris Limassol (Greek: ''Άρης Λεμεσού'') is a Cypriot football club based in Limassol and one of the founder members of Cyprus Football Association. The club's colours are green, black and white, and their home is the Tsirion Stadiu ...

having previously held the role for the Latvia national team. Astafjevs won nine Latvian championships with Skonto Riga. He also played abroad for clubs in Austria, England and Russia. At international level, Astaefjevs captained Latvia at

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

. With 167

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for his country Astafjevs held the European record for the most international matches played, until being overtaken by

Gianluigi Buffon Gianluigi Buffon (; born 28 January 1978) is an Italian professional footballer who captains and plays as a goalkeeper for the club Parma. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time. He is one of the few recorded pl ...

in 2017. He is currently the joint sixteenth- most capped male footballer in history, alongside Iker Casillas.

Club career

Early career

Born in Riga, Astafjevs started his professional career with Skonto Riga in 1992, shortly after Latvia had regained its independence from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. He played there for five seasons, until 1996, becoming a vital first eleven player. They won the league in each of his first four seasons. Twice, in 1995 and 1996, Astafjevs was named the Latvian footballer of the year. In 1995, atypically for a midfielder, he became the top scorer of the league with 19 goals in 28 matches. In 1996, he moved abroad for the first time in his career and joined

Austria Vienna Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (; known in English as Austria Vienna, and usually shortened to Austria (German: Österreich) in German-speaking countries, is an Austrian association football club from the capital city of Vienna. It has won the mos ...

in Austria. He played there just for a season and then, in 1997, returned to Skonto. He played there for three seasons, and won three more league titles. He went abroad again in 2000, this time joining Football League Division Two side

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...

in England.

Bristol Rovers

Astafjevs was signed for Rovers by

Ian Holloway Ian Scott Holloway (born 12 March 1963) is an English professional football manager, former player, media personality and television pundit who was most recently the manager of Grimsby Town. A midfielder, he notably played in the Premier League ...

, who then managed to persuade authorities to issue him with a work permit. He arrived in the second half of the 1999-2000 season when the club were in second place. His fifth match was away to

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

and saw him score and set up two more in an eventual 4–1 win, despite being stretchered off. Rovers fell to seventh by the end of the season, missing the play-offs. The following season had them relegated to the fourth tier for the first time in their history. He scored only twice during the 2001–02 season, but in the following campaign he scored four in the last six league matches to avoid a further relegation. He was then released by manager Ray Graydon.

Later career

In 2003, after being released, he returned to Austria and joined Admira Wacker Mödling. In 2004, after the European Championship, having spent one season in Austria, Astafjevs joined the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

club

Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (russian: Футбо́льный клуб Руби́н Каза́нь, ''Futbolny klub Rubin Kazan'' , Tatar: Рубин Казан) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the second-tier ...

. Once again he was one of the team's leaders there. Finishing the 2005 season, Astafjevs decided to join Skonto Riga again, where he became the Latvian champion 8 times (previous years of playing also included). In 2007, at the age of 36, he was once again named Latvian footballer of the year. On 9 September 2008, alongside his teammate

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 ...

, Astafjevs announced his retirement from professional football. After a few days Astafjevs declined this fact, stating he could play for a different club. After the new year it was announced that Astafjevs would play for

Olimps/RFS 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 he would also be the assistant manager alongside Andrejs Štolcers and Mihails Koņevs, whilst the manager of the club would be the Dutch coach Anton Joore.

then hadn't secured themselves a place in the higher league yet, but there was a possibility if the club merged with another team from Riga. After a half season spent there he joined last season's champions

Ventspils Ventspils (; german: Windau, ; see other names) is a state city in northwestern Latvia in the historical Courland region of Latvia, and is the sixth largest city in the country. At the beginning of 2020, Ventspils had a population of 33,906. It ...

, who were completing their squad for the upcoming

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. Appearing in the tournament's group stages, Astafjevs played only 5 matches there and was released in November 2009. In 2010 Astafjevs returned to Skonto Riga once again and became the Latvian champion with them. After the 2010 season Astafjevs retired from professional football.

International career

Astafjevs debuted for Latvia at the age of 21 on 26 August 1992, against then-European champions

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in qualification for the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

. From that time he was a vital player in the national team, playing there for 18 years. Astafjevs scored his first international goal on 2 July 1993 on his 14th cap, a friendly 2–0 win over

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 ...

. In 1999, after the retirement of Vladimirs Babičevs, Astafjevs became the captain of the team. His first match as captain was his 58th in total, against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

on 31 March in qualification for

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

. On 31 March 2004, he became the first ever Latvian player to play 100 internationals, as they beat

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

in an away friendly. As the team's captain, he participated in the

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

championship in Portugal, playing in all three of Latvia's games. His last international appearance was a friendly match against China on 17 November 2010. There was a special ceremony after the game to honour him. After his retirement, defender

Kaspars Gorkšs Kaspars Gorkšs (born 6 November 1981) is a Latvian former professional footballer who played as a defender. Gorkšs was also the captain of the Latvian national team. From 2018 to 2019 Gorkšs served as president of the Latvian Football Feder ...

was elected to be the next captain of the team.

Record

On 14 October 2009, in a

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

qualification match against

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...

, Astafjevs equalled the European record for the most matches in a national team; Astafjevs went level with the then-record holder Estonian

Martin Reim Martin Reim (born 14 May 1971) is an Estonian football manager and former professional player. Reim played as a central midfielder for Lõvid, Sport Tallinn, Norma, Flora, KTP and the Estonia national team. He is Estonia's most capped player ...

on 157 caps. On 15 November 2009, in a friendly match against Honduras, Astafjevs set a new European record with 158 caps. His European record of 167 caps was matched by Iker Casillas and

in June 2016 and November 2016 respectively, and was later broken in March 2017 by Buffon.

Coaching career

After his retirement from professional football, Astafjevs accepted an offer to become the assistant manager of Skonto Riga. At the start of 2012 he was appointed as the manager of Skonto-2, but was later succeeded by

Tamaz Pertia Tamaz Pertia (born 23 December 1974) is a former Georgian football midfielder, currently a manager with FK Liepāja in the Latvian Higher League. Playing career During his playing career, Pertia has played for Lokomotiv Minsk in the Belaru ...

. At the start of 2013 he was selected to be the assistant manager 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 ...

, coached by his former club and international team-mate

. On 11 July 2013, Pahars became the manager of

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 ...

and chose Astafjevs to be one of his assistants. On 4 June 2014, Astafjevs became the manager of

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 ...

. In April 2018 Astafjevs left the assistant manager's position of the Latvian national team, following the sacking of head coach

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 ...

. In January 2019, Astafjevs was appointed as the new coach of the

Pafos FC Pafos FC ( el, Πάφος FC) is a Cypriot football club based in Paphos. The club was created in 2014, by the merger of the two biggest teams of Paphos, AEP Paphos and AEK Kouklia. They play their home games at the Stelios Kyriakides Stadium, ...

academy, taking charge of the U17 and U19 age groups. In 2020, he returned to Latvia as the head coach of the Latvia U17 team as well as the assistant head coach of

FK Auda Futbola klubs Auda is a Latvian football club, playing in the highest division of Latvian football (Latvian Higher League). They are based in Ķekava, near the capital, Riga. Auda won their first ever major trophy in 2022, beating RFS 1–0 in ...

. In 2021, he again departed Latvia to return to Cyprus as assistant manager of

Honours

Skonto *

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 ...

(9): 1992,

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

, 1996,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, 2010 * Latvian Football Cup: 1992, 1995, 1997, 1998 Latvia * Baltic Cup:

, 2001, 2003,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Individual *

Virsliga 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 ...

top scorer:

Latvian Footballer of the Year Latvian Footballer of the Year is an association football award for Latvia. It is held by the Latvian Football Federation. Since 2005, there has also been an award for the top female player. Winners Women * 2005: Sintija Grāviņa-Grēve * 20 ...

: 1995, 1996, 2007

References

External links

Latvian Football Federation
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Astafjevs, Vitalijs Living people 1971 births Latvian people of Russian descent Footballers from Riga Latvian footballers Association football midfielders Skonto FC players Bristol Rovers F.C. players FC Rubin Kazan players FK Austria Wien players FC Admira Wacker Mödling players FK Ventspils players JFK Olimps players Latvian Higher League players English Football League players Russian Premier League players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Latvia international footballers UEFA Euro 2004 players FIFA Century Club Latvian expatriate footballers Latvian expatriate sportspeople in England Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate footballers in Austria Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Russia Latvian football managers FK Jelgava managers