Aleksejs Višņakovs (born 3 February 1984 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 ...

) is a Latvian former professional

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 lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He was also a member of Latvia national team.

Club career

Latvia

As a youth player Višņakovs played for JFC Skonto. Being a promising youngster, in 2001 he was brought to the first team by that time manager

Aleksandrs Starkovs Aleksandrs Starkovs (born 26 July 1955) is a Latvian football coach and a former footballer who played as a forward. Most recently he coached FK Liepāja. Starkovs has managed clubs such as Spartak Moscow in Russia, FK Baku in Azerbaijan and ...

. It was hard for the young player to fit in the squad, as he played only 2 matches in his first season with the club. After the season, he was given away to another club from

, this time

FK Auda Futbola klubs Auda is a Latvian professional association football, football club, playing in the Latvian Higher League, the highest division of domestic football. They are based in Ķekava, near the capital Riga. Auda won their first ever major t ...

, playing in the

Latvian First League The Latvian First League () is the second tier of football in Latvia and is organised by the Latvian Football Federation. Since 2021, its full name is Nākotnes Līga (''Future League''). History The league was founded together with other Latv ...

. Višņakovs played 20 matches for them, scoring his first goal then. After showing some pretty good qualities, he was taken back to

Skonto Riga Skonto FC was a Latvian professional 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 cor ...

and surely didn't disappoint this time. He had a long spell with the club that lasted for 5 years, from 2003 till 2008. During this time he became well known among the fans and was a vital player in the starting eleven, all in all making 139 appearances and scoring 31 goal. In 2009, he left the club, as his contract ended. Immediately after leaving, on 13 February 2009, he signed a contract with

rivals

FK Ventspils FK Ventspils was a Latvian professional football club based at Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions in Ventspils. It was one of the most prominent football clubs in the country. The club played in the Latvian Virslīga since 1997. It folded in July ...

. He played there for the next two seasons, also appearing in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

group stages. All in all he played 43 matches, scoring 16 goals, becoming one of the league's top scorers.

Spartak Nalchik

After the successful season he was linked with a move to the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

club Spartak Nalchik. In January 2011 he joined them on trial, and as it was successful, he signed a contract with them. Unfortunately, soon after the deal club's managers changed and as the new coach stated, Višņakovs was no more needed for the team, and Višņakovs was released.

Cracovia

Soon after leaving Nalchik Višņakovs went on trial with Cracovia, playing in the Polish Ekstraklasa. In February, 2011 he signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with them, soon after joining already proving his qualities. Joining in the middle of the season, he played 14 matches and scored 3 goals, helping the club secure a place in the next year's Ekstraklasa. But the next season, Cracovia were relegated from Ekstraklasa and Višņakovs terminated his contract by a mutual agreement.

Baltika Kaliningrad

In July 2012 Višņakovs was about to sign a contract with the

Latvian Higher League Latvian Higher League or Virslīga, also known as TonyBet Virslīga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Latvia and the highest level of the Latvian football league system. Organised by the Latvian Footbal ...

club Spartaks Jūrmala, but eventually the move fell through and Aleksejs joined the

Russian First Division The Russian First League (, Pervaya liga), formerly called Russian First Division () and Russian Football National League (FNL) () is the second level of the Russian football league system. The Russian Professional Football League (PFL) used to ...

club Baltika Kaliningrad on 11 August 2012, signing a one-year contract. He played 17 matches for Baltika, scoring 2 goals. In July 2013 his contract was terminated by mutual consent and Višņakovs joined Spartaks Jūrmala on a short-term contract.

Widzew Łódź

In August 2013 Višņakovs went on trial with the Polish

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

club

Widzew Łódź RTS Widzew Łódź () is a Polish football (soccer), football club based in Łódź. The club was founded in 1910. Its official colours are red and white, hence their nicknames ''Czerwona Armia'' (Red Army) and ''Czerwono-biało-czerwoni'' (Red-wh ...

and signed a one-year contract with them on 23 August 2013, becoming a teammate of his younger brother

Eduards Eduards is a Latvian masculine given name, which is a cognate of the English name Edward, meaning "rich guard".''Behind the Name''"Given Name Edward" Retrieved on 22 January 2016. The name may refer to: *Eduards Andersons (1914–1985), Latvian ...

. Višņakovs scored his first goal for Widzew in a 1-1 league draw against

Jagiellonia Białystok Jagiellonia Białystok () is a Polish professional football club based in Białystok that plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top level of Polish football. The club was founded in 1920 by soldiers in the 42nd Infantry Regiment Reserve Battalion in Bi ...

on 31 August 2013.

Zimbru Chișinău

On 9 August 2014 Višņakovs signed a contract for one year with Moldovan club Zimbru Chișinău.

Return to Latvia

Before the 2015 season Višņakovs returned to his first club Skonto. In February 2016 he joined RFS, a newly promoted club in Latvian Higher League. Višņakovs joined

Riga FC Riga Football Club, commonly referred to as Riga FC, is a Latvian Association football, football club, founded in 2014. The club is based at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Since 2016 Latvian Higher League, 2016, the club has been playing in the Latv ...

for the 2019 season.

International career

Višņakovs made his debut for

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 ...

in 2004 against

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

, but he didn't participate 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. Th ...

group stages. As of 19 March 2015, he has had 57 caps and 8 goals for the national team.LFF: SPĒLĒTĀJI , Players

International goals

:''Scores and results list Latvia's goal tally first.''

Personal life

His younger brother

is also a professional footballer, currently playing for SK Super Nova in the Latvian Optibet Virslīga as a forward. While Aleksejs was a part of

squad, they also played together. They are the second pair of brothers to play for Widzew together after Lithuanians Artūras and Igoris Steško during the 2001–2002 season.

Honours

Skonto *

Virsliga Latvian Higher League or Virslīga, also known as TonyBet Virslīga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Latvia and the highest level of the Latvian football league system. Organised by the Latvian Football ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

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 ...

Ventspils *

Baltic League The Baltic League (officially known as the Triobet Baltic League) was a Baltic men's football club tournament held four times between the top club sides from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Launched in 2007 inspired by the now defunct Scandinavi ...

: 2009–10 Riga * Virsliga:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Latvia * Baltic Cup:

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Individual * Latvian Young Player of the Year: 2004, 2005

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Visnakovs, Aleksejs 1984 births Living people Footballers from Riga Latvian people of Russian descent Men's association football midfielders Latvian men's footballers Latvia men's international footballers Skonto FC players FK Auda players FK Ventspils players KS Cracovia players FK Spartaks Jūrmala players FC Baltika Kaliningrad players Widzew Łódź players FC Zimbru Chișinău players FK RFS players Riga FC players SK Super Nova players Latvian Higher League players Ekstraklasa players III liga players Russian First League players Moldovan Super Liga players Latvian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Moldova Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Moldova