Aleksejs Karlis Auziņš (7 August 1910 in

Jelgava Jelgava () is a state city in central Latvia. It is located about southwest of Riga. It is the largest town in the Semigallia region of Latvia. Jelgava was the capital of the united Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1578–1795) and was the ad ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

– 25 April 1997 in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

) was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

midfielder,

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and also an

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player.

Football playing career

Auziņš was born in the provincial city of

, but he made his first serious steps in football in

where he joined the Latvia Higher League side Amatieris in 1927. He played with Amatieris until 1930, but in 1931 he joined Riga Vanderers, a much stronger club than Amatieris whose days of glory were already in the past. In the early 1930s Auziņš became a candidate for

Latvia national football team The Latvia national football team () represents Latvia in men's international Association football, football, and is controlled by the Latvian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Latvia. They have never qualified for the FIF ...

, but he did not play for it until 1935. He played with Vanderers until 1939 and the biggest achievements were two second-place finishes in the Latvian league – in 1932 and 1934. In 1936 Auziņš was a member of the Vanderers squad that won the

Latvian Cup The Latvian Football Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Latvian football. Since 2021, its full name is Responsible Gaming Latvian Football Cup (''Atbildīgas spēles Latvijas kauss'') due to the sponsorship by sports betting company ...

(in the first year when its name had been changed from

Riga Football Cup Riga Football Cup () was a knockout tournament held in Latvian football from 1910 to 1913 and then from 1925 to 1936. Clubs from cities other than Riga were allowed to participate in the tournament from 1925. In 1937 it was replaced by the Latvia ...

) and another time in 1938. With the Latvia national team Auziņš played seven matches in 1935. Auziņš played with Riga Vanderers until 1939, then retired from active football only to return to it during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1941 during the German occupation of Latvia he played with the Students football club, and from 1942 to 1944 – with US Riga.

Ice hockey playing career

Auziņš played all of his career with the hockey team of US Riga winning three Latvian league titles – in 1937, 1940 and 1942. He played with

Latvia national ice hockey team The Latvian men's national ice hockey team represents Latvia in international ice hockey. The team is ranked 10th in the world by IIHF as of 2023. The team is controlled by the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation. Their best ever finish at the World C ...

at the

1936 Winter Olympics The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936, were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 16 February 1936 in the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Nazi Ger ...

Coaching career

Auziņš was the director of the Lokomotīve football stadium in Riga for more than three decades – from 1947 to 1980 but in addition to it he also worked as a football and ice hockey coach. In football, he worked with the senior squad of Lokomotive Riga (from 1956 to 1959) and with its youth squad. The most notable footballers whom he coached include Vilnis Straume and

Leonards Andžāns Leonards may refer to: Places ;United States * Leonards, Florida * Leonards, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community * Leonards Point, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community See also *Leonard (disambiguation) *St Leonards (disambiguation) St Leona ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Auzins, Aleksejs 1910 births 1997 deaths Men's association football midfielders Ice hockey players at the 1936 Winter Olympics Latvia men's international footballers Latvian football managers Latvian men's footballers Latvian sports coaches Latvian ice hockey players Olympic ice hockey players for Latvia Sportspeople from Jelgava