Vladislavs Kozlovs (born 30 November 1987 in

Rēzekne Rēzekne (, ; German: ''Rositten'') is a state city in the Rēzekne River valley in Latgale region of eastern Latvia. It is called ''The Heart of Latgale'' (Latvian ''Latgales sirds'', Latgalian ''Latgolys sirds''). Built on seven hills, Rēzekn ...

) 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 most recently played for FK Liepaja in 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 Op ...

Club career

Early career

As a youth player Kozlovs played for his local club SK Dižvanagi (later renamed

SK Blāzma SK Blāzma is a Latvian football club located in Rēzekne. The club is a continuation of the city's main football club, Dižvanagi. The club competed in Virslīga in the 2008 season following promotion from the 1. Liga in 2007. History The f ...

), after being spotted by coaches Ž. Ārmanis and E. Seleckis in a youth tournament. He was taken to the first team that played in the

Latvian First League The Latvian First League ( lv, Latvijas Pirmā līga, 1. līga) is the second tier of football in Latvia and is organised by the Latvian Football Federation. History The league was founded together with other Latvian football competitions in 19 ...

in 2005. Kozlovs spent one season in

, before moving to

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

after graduation from high-school in 2006. He continued studying in

Latvijas Universitāte University of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Universitāte, shortened ''LU'') is a state-run university located in Riga, Latvia established in 1919. The ''QS World University Rankings'' places the university between 801st and 1000th globally, sevent ...

and played for the high-school team Metta-Latvijas Universitāte. Kozlovs had 3 successful seasons in the Latvian First League with them, playing there until 2010.

FK Jelgava

In 2010 the starlet was spotted by the

newcomers

FK Jelgava FK Jelgava is a Latvian football (soccer), 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 ...

, as they signed a contract with him before the start of the season. Kozlovs proved his abilities soon and scored 6 goals in 25 league matches in his first season in the Latvian Higher League. He managed to win 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 ...

, as well as made a margin in FK Jelgava history in a friendly match against

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

as the first player to score a goal against a club from the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

, as well as the first player to score a goal in the club's new stadium – Zemgales Olimpiskais Sporta Centrs. In the 2011 season Kozlovs scored 16 goals in 31 league appearances, being the club's top scorer as well as the third top-scorer of the league. He was also named the best player of the league in June. Kozlovs started the 2012 season well, scoring 6 goals in 15 matches and being his team's top scorer.

FK Ventspils

On 4 July 2012 Kozlovs joined the

club

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 h ...

. He played there for 2 seasons, making 32 league appearances and scoring 3 goals. In August 2013 Kozlovs left Ventspils due to family reasons after a mutual agreement.

Return to FK Jelgava

Before the start of the

2014 Latvian Higher League The 2014 Latvian Higher League was the 23rd season of top-tier football in Latvia. FK Ventspils are the defending champions. The season started on 21 March 2014. Initially, Skonto Riga and Daugava Daugavpils, the second and third teams from the p ...

, on 19 January, Kozlovs made an official return to his former club

. Filling the vacant forward's place in the first eleven he quickly made an impact as Jelgava managed to reach the bronze medals of the Latvian championship for the first time in the club's history. With 15 goals in 34 matches Kozlovs became the third best scorer of the championship behind the

Skonto FC 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 Latvia ...

forward Vladislavs Gutkovskis and

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 ...

midfielder

Jānis Ikaunieks Jānis Ikaunieks (28 April 1912 Riga – 27 April 1969 Riga) was a Latvian astronomer, who studied the characteristics of the red giants, and, in particular carbon stars. He founded the ''Latvian Astronomical Society'' and the popular science ...

. On 21 May 2014 Kozlovs helped Jelgava win the

Latvian Football 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 ...

, beating Skonto on penalties. In July the club participated in the first round of the

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. It ...

qualification, ceding to the Norwegian club

Rosenborg BK Rosenborg Ballklub, commonly referred to simply as Rosenborg () or RBK, is a Norwegian professional football club from Trondheim that plays in Eliteserien. The club has won a record 26 league titles, a shared record 12 Norwegian Football Cup ti ...

FC Infonet

At end of January 2015 Kozlovs went on trial with the

Belarusian Premier League The Belarusian Premier League or the Vyšejšaja Liha or the Vysheyshaya Liga ( be, Вышэйшая ліга, russian: Высшая лига, "Top League") is the top division of professional football in Belarus, and is organized by the Belarusi ...

club Naftan Novopolotsk. In February it was reported that he had signed a one-year deal with the Estonian

Meistriliiga Meistriliiga (, known as the A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons) is the highest division of the Estonian Football Association annual football (soccer), football championship. The league was founded in 1992, and was initially semi-p ...

club

FC Infonet FCI Tallinn (FC Infonet Tallinn) is a football club, based in Lasnamäe, Tallinn, Estonia. Formed in 2002, the club played in the Estonian top flight Meistriliiga from 2013 to 2017, and won the league in the 2016 season. In 2017, the club merge ...

FK Liepāja

Kozlovs joined

in January 2019. He left in June 2019.

International career

Kozlovs made his debut for

in a friendly match against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

on 17 November 2010, coming on as a substitute in the 76th minute. In June 2012 Kozlovs was called up for the

2012 Baltic Cup The 2012 Baltic Cup was a football competition which was held on 1–3 June 2012 in Estonia. Format For the first time, Finland took part in the competition. As a result of this, the round-robin format was changed to knock-out tournament, as ...

squad. He scored the decisive penalty in the final against

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, helping Latvia win the tournament. As of 2015, Kozlovs has 3 caps under his belt, with the last international match being played back in 2012.

Personal life

Vladislavs Kozlovs has a bachelor's degree in finance and crediting. According to ''fk jelgava.lv'', his hobbies include cars. Kozlovs' aim in football is to develop and improve. He has a

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

account.

Honours

FK Jelgava *

winner: (2) 2010, 2014 FK Ventspils *

winner: (1) 2013 National team * Baltic Cup winner: (1) 2012

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kozlovs, Vladislavs 1987 births Living people People from Rēzekne Latvian footballers Latvian people of Russian descent Latvia international footballers SK Blāzma players FS METTA/Latvijas Universitāte players FK Jelgava players FK Ventspils players Expatriate footballers in Estonia Latvian expatriate footballers Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Estonia Esiliiga players Meistriliiga players FCI Tallinn players FK Liepāja players Association football forwards