Karlis Arvīds Jurgens (27 May 1905 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 ...

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 ...

– 17 December 1955 in

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) was a

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two team sport, teams wearing Ice skates#Bandy skates, ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The playin ...

player who played for Latvia national teams in all four of these sports. He was one of the best all-around Latvian sportsmen.

Football career

Jurgens began playing football with JKS Riga in 1921, in 1922 winning silver medals of Riga championship with the club, although he was mainly the second choice goalkeeper behind Hermanis Saltups. When in 1923 RFK was formed, Jurgens alongside most of the JKS footballers joined the new club which proved to be the flagman of Latvian football in the years to come. From 1924 to 1926 Jurgens won three Latvian league titles with RFK and became a two-time winner of the Riga Football Cup. From 1924 he also played 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 ...

for which in the years to come he played nearly two times as many matches as his main competitor Harijs Lazdiņš from Olimpija Liepāja. He was a member of the Latvian football team at the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad () and officially branded as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The opening ceremony was held on 5 July, but some competitions had al ...

. In 1927 Jurgens became the instigator for Riga Vanderer being formed as there was an incident involving Jurgens playing for different clubs in different sports which eventually led to Jurgens being arrested before a

match. He joined the newly founded Vanderer (alongside several other former RFK footballers) and together with the side rose to 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 ...

over just two years. For the 1928/1929 season Jurgens left Latvia and played with

Austria Wien Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (), known in English as Austria Vienna, and Austria Wien in German-speaking countries, is an Austrian professional association football club from the capital city of Vienna. It has won the most trophies of any Aust ...

becoming the first Latvian footballer to play abroad. Before the 1932 season Jurgens left Vanderer for ASK Riga with which he won his fourth Latvian championship in 1932.Champions of Latvia 1932
He played with ASK until the 1937/38 season after which he switched solely to refereeing eventually becoming one of the best football referees in Latvia. With Latvia national football team he played his last match in 1935. Jurgens continued to perform as a football referee after

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 ...

when he lived in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Ice-hockey career

In ice hockey Jurgens won five Latvian league titles – from 1932 to 1937 when playing with ASK Riga hockey team. With Latvia national ice hockey team he played 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 ...

. In ice hockey, unlike football Jurgens played as a forward and not as a goalkeeper.

Basketball career

Jurgens won the Latvian basketball league title when playing with RFK in 1925.

Honours

Football

*Latvian Higher League: 1924, 1925, 1926, 1932 *Riga Football Cup: 1924, 1925 *Baltic Cup: 1928

Ice hockey

*Latvian league: 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937

Basketball

*Latvian league: 1925

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jurgens, Avrids 1905 births 1955 deaths Men's association football goalkeepers Basketball players from Riga Footballers at the 1924 Summer Olympics Footballers from Riga Ice hockey people from Riga Ice hockey players at the 1936 Winter Olympics Latvia men's international footballers Latvian bandy players Latvian men's footballers Latvian men's basketball players Olympic footballers for Latvia Olympic ice hockey players for Latvia People from Riga county