Vaclavs Borduško (born 3 October 1914 in

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 ...

, died 14 October 1999 in Toronto, Canada) 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 ...

n international

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 ...

, a two-time champion of Latvia.

Biography

Borduško was one of the most notable footballers of Polish origin in

. His first senior football club was Reduta Riga - the strongest Riga polish football club of the 1920s-1930s. After the 1932 season he moved to the strongest

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 ...

. However he didn't actually play a single match with RFK and very soon transferred further - to

SSS Riga SSS or Sss may refer to: Places * SSS islands, part of the Netherlands Antilles * Sheerness-on-Sea railway station, Kent, England, National Rail station code * Siassi's airport IATA code * Southern Cross railway station (formerly Spencer Stree ...

, the local social democrats sports club for which he played in 1933. As after the Kārlis Ulmanis coup of 15 May 1934 all social democrat organisations were banned, SSS was disbanded and Borduško moved to

Riga Vanderer Riga Vanderer (sometimes written as Wanderer, in later years – Rīgas Vilki, also – RV) was a Latvian football club that was founded in 1927, disbanded in 1940, restored a year later and disbanded again in 1944. History Founding The decisi ...

. Borduško had a good second half of the season as

achieved its best Latvian Higher League finish in the second position and won the Riga Football Cup, however after the season he changed the club again - this time for ASK Riga. ASK proved to be "his" side - that is Borduško played there until 1940 when Latvia lost its independence and the ASK side was dismissed. His first season wasn't especially good - Borduško had problems adapting to his new partners and received few scoring chances and ASK struggled in the league, finishing in a rather sad sixth place in the league. It started going uphill - in the next four years ASK was two times the second strongest side in Latvia and another two times - the third strongest. During the Soviet occupation of 1940 and 1941 Borduško played with RDKA Riga and

RGK Riga RGK may refer to: *RGK Foundation *RGK Mobile **RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service *RGK color space, see RG color space *Red Wing Regional Airport (FAA Code: RGK) *Gorno-Altaysk Airport (IATA Code: RGK) *Romano-Germanic Commission (' ...

, in the German occupation - with Bekona eksports in 1941 and again with ASK Riga from 1942 to 1943. In the latter two years with ASK Borduško won two Latvian league titles and the 1943

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 ...

. Borduško emigrated from Latvia during World War II. In 1945 he was the head of the Latvian football section in Lübeck, Germany. In 1946 he played with Latvian emigrants national football team, at the end of the year he moved to England, where he also was the head of the local Latvian football section for some time. At the end of the 1940s Borduško moved to Canada where he lived until his death in 1999.

National team playing career

Borduško made his international début for

on 14 August 1934. In his next match on 9 September 1934 Borduško scored his first goal for the national team. In total he played 25 international matches for Latvia scoring 8 goals, including two in the

1938 FIFA World Cup The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the third edition of the World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams and was held in France from 4 June until 19 June 1938. Italy defended its title in the final, beat ...

qualifiers.WORLD CUP 1938 - QUALIFYING
/ref> Borduško played his last match for Latvia on 24 September 1939 when he wasn't even full 25 years old. With 25 international matches he was the 13th most capped international footballer in the independent Latvia of the 1920s and 1930s. According to various sources Borduško scored 7 or 8 goals in international matches for Latvia.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bordusko, Vaclavs 1914 births 1999 deaths Footballers from Riga People from Kreis Riga Latvian people of Polish descent People from the Russian Empire of Polish descent Latvian footballers Latvia international footballers Association football forwards Latvian World War II refugees Latvian emigrants to Canada