Edgars Gauračs (born 10 March 1988) is a retired

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 ...

who played as a striker.

Club career

Ascoli

Until summer 2006 he played for Blāzma Rēzekne, but after training in

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with teams like

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, Sampdoria and

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

, he signed with Ascoli. He was released from the Italian club in 2009.

Ventspils

FK Ventspils signed him before 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 ...

matches in 2009. He appeared for FK Ventspils in the

2009–10 UEFA Europa League The 2009–10 UEFA Europa League was the first season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The competition was previously known as the UEFA Cup, which had been in existence for 38 years. Spai ...

group stages. He scored a goal against

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC () or Hertha Berlin, is a German professional football club based in Berlin. Hertha BSC plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football league system, German footbal ...

in the first match 1–1 draw. During the winter transfer period in 2009 after several great performances many clubs from

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and

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showed their interest in signing him during the winter transfer window. Gauračs finally signed a contract with

FC Rapid București Fotbal Club Rapid 1923, commonly known as Rapid București () or simply as Rapid, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in Bucharest, that competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1923 by employees of the Grivi� ...

and he joined the club on loan from

Ventspils Ventspils () is a state city in northwestern Latvia in the historical Courland region of Latvia, and is the sixth largest city in the country. At the beginning of 2020, Ventspils had a population of 33,906. It is situated on the Venta River and ...

until the end of the season. The club's owner, George Copos, confidently announced that the player had a bright future ahead of him at his new club, where he would have stayed for 4 more years if Rapid had activated its option for a permanent deal in the summer. Rapid paid 50,000 € for the loan. Edgars made his debut for Rapid on 28 February 2010 in a league match against Unirea Urziceni, coming on as a substitute. Unfortunately, Edgars had to fight with his injuries all season long, appearing only in six team matches without scoring a single goal. In June 2010 he returned to FK Ventspils but was released in July.

Sheriff Tiraspol

In August 2010, after treating his injuries, he went on trial with

FC Sheriff Tiraspol Fotbal Club Sheriff Tiraspol (), commonly known as Sheriff Tiraspol or simply Sheriff, is a professional football club based in Tiraspol, a city located in the unrecognised breakaway state of Transnistria, that plays in the Liga, the top tier ...

from Moldova. This trial was successful and he signed a contract with the team on 25 August 2010, making himself available to play in the

. Gauračs scored a hat-trick for Sheriff in his first match at the club in a 4–0 victory over FC Sfîntul Gheorghe. He also appeared in the 2–0 victory over

FC Dynamo Kyiv The Football Club 'Dynamo Kyiv', also known as Dynamo Kyiv, or simply Dynamo, ( ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet ...

in the

second match. All in all he played five matches out of six in the

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 ...

, starting one match in the first eleven. He scored five goals in a 7–0 league victory over FC Dinamo Bender on 18 December 2010. All in all he played 12 matches in the national championship of Moldova, scoring 11 goals. After the first half of the season he decided to quit the contract, searching for a higher level championship.

Yenisey Krasnoyarsk

In February 2011 Gauračs went on trial with

Russian National Football League 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 t ...

club

FC Yenisey Krasnoyarsk FK Yenisey Krasnoyarsk (ФК Енисей Красноярск) is a Russian football club based in Krasnoyarsk, in Krasnoyarsk Krai. The club plays in the Russian First League. History The club was founded in 1937 as ''Lokomotiv Krasnoyarsk'' ...

and signed a contract with them in March 2011. He became a first eleven player right after joining and during the season played 33 matches, scoring 5 goals for the team. Yenisey finished the season in the tenth position.

Torpedo Moscow

On 15 June 2012 Gauračs signed a two-year contract with another

club

Torpedo Moscow Football Club Torpedo Moscow (, ''FK Torpedo Moskva''), known as Torpedo Moscow, is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. The club will return to the Russian Premier League in the 2025–26 season. Their c ...

. The player himself stated that Torpedo's ambitions to earn a promotion 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 ...

and the relatively close distance to

had made the decision for him. In his first season with Torpedo, Gauračs scored three goals in 21 appearances, while the second season saw him score 1 goal in 15 matches. At the end of 2013 in a special nomination Gauračs was named the most stylish footballer of the

Spartaks Jūrmala

Having lost a place in the squad of the national team, Gauračs made a decision to return 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 ...

, signing a contract with Spartaks Jūrmala at the end of February 2014. His move was at a great extent influenced by Spartaks' that time manager Fabio Micarelli. Gauračs immediately made an influence, scoring in five consecutive matches. His run of form earned him two Latvian Higher League Player of the Month awards, in June and July respectively. His first league goal, a top corner strike from a free kick against Skonto Rīga, was later voted as the goal of the season with Gauračs receiving an award in the Latvian Football Federation annual awards ceremony. Afterwards, this goal was also voted by supporters as ''Goal of the Year'' in the Baltics. All in all, Gauračs scored 14 goals in 16 league matches, becoming the fourth top scorer of the championship, having played there for only half a season till July 2014.

Aarau

On 16 July 2014 Gauračs was given out on a year-long loan to the

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club

FC Aarau FC Aarau is a Swiss professional football club based in Aarau. Founded in 1902, the club competes in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football after being relegated from the Swiss Super League. History FC Aarau was form ...

. On his debut Gauračs scored the only goal in a 1–0 league victory over

FC Sion Football Club Sion, commonly known as simply FC Sion or Sion, is a Swiss Association football, football club from the city of Sion, Switzerland, Sion. The club was founded in 1909 and play their home matches at the Stade Tourbillon. They have wo ...

. In only his second match for the club on 28 July 2014 against

BSC Young Boys Berner Sport Club Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation, ) is a Swiss professional sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 17 Swiss league championships and eight Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss footbal ...

Gauračs suffered a cruciate ligament rupture and was ruled out of football for more than half a year.

Retirement

In November 2019 it was confirmed, that 31-year old Gauračs would retire. However, he would continue in his position as a general director at Spartaks Jūrmala, which he was appointed back in May 2017 alongside his football career. In October 2021, Gauračs was sanctioned with a ten year ban for match-fixing by

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

’s Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body. He was sanctioned under Article 12.2(a)(d) and (e) of UEFA’s Disciplinary Regulations.

International career

From 2007 till 2010, Gauračs played for Latvia U-21. He scored 10 goals in 12 games and is still the all-time top scorer for the U-21 side. Gauračs made his senior debut for

in the

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qualification match against

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on 4 June 2011, coming on as a substitute. Gauračs helped

win the 2012 Baltic Cup, scoring 3 goals in 2 matches and becoming the top scorer of the tournament.

International goals

Other information

Gauračs is famous for his unusual goal scored in the

Moldovan National Division The Moldovan Liga, officially known as Liga 7777.md for sponsorship reasons, is an association football league that is the top division of Football in Moldova, Moldovan football league system. The competition was established in 1992, when Moldov ...

match against FC Olimpia on 7 November 2010, coming from the back of the goalkeeper and stealing the ball from the unlucky Serghei Paşcenco, while he was preparing to make a long distance kick after saving a penalty.

Personal life

Gauračs is married to Jūlija Gaurača and has a son Enriko, born in 2008. Gauračs has several tattoos across his body that represent important events of his personal life. He is locally famous for his stylish image and similarities in looks with the former English football superstar

David Beckham Sir David Robert Joseph Beckham ( ; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Primarily a right winger and known for his range of passing, cross ...

. Gauračs speaks six languages – Latvian, English,

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

, Polish,

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

. His all-time favourite football player is

Andriy Shevchenko Andriy Mykolayovych Shevchenko (, ; born 29 September 1976) is a Ukrainian former Manager (association football), football manager and Football player, player. Shevchenko is considered one of the greatest Striker (association football), strik ...

. Gauračs is an active user of

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and

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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gauracs, Edgars 1988 births Living people People from Rēzekne Latvian men's footballers Latvian expatriate men's footballers Latvia men's international footballers SK Blāzma players Ascoli Calcio 1898 FC players FK Ventspils players FC Rapid București players AC Rodengo Saiano players FC Sheriff Tiraspol players FC Torpedo Moscow players FK Spartaks Jūrmala players FC Aarau players FK Liepāja players FC Yenisey Krasnoyarsk players Swiss Super League players Liga I players Moldovan Super Liga players Russian First League players Men's association football forwards Expatriate men's footballers in Moldova Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Moldova Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Italy