Gatis Kalniņš (born 12 August 1981) is 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 ...

n football striker, currently playing for FK Valmiera in 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 career

As a youth player Gatis Kalniņš played for his local club FK Valmiera, being taken to the first team in 2000. He played there for 2 years, playing 29 matches and scoring 10 goals. In 2002, he was signed by Skonto Riga. He played there until 2008 - played 141 matches and scored 58 league goals over 7 seasons. In July 2008 he went on trial with the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

, but didn't stay with the team. In 2008 Kalniņš was released from Skonto and he signed a contract with Jūrmala-VV for the upcoming season. After scoring 3 goals in the first 8 matches he decided to leave and went abroad, signing a contract in Cyprus with Othellos Athienou from the

Cypriot Second Division The Cypriot Second Division () is the second highest association football, football division of the Cypriot football league system. Administered by the Cyprus Football Association, it is contested by 16 teams, with the top three teams being Prom ...

. He managed to play only six matches there, scoring no goals due to his long-term injuries. He was released after the season. In 2010, he came back to Latvia, signing for Jūrmala-VV once again. He played there for the next two seasons. Scoring 10 goals in 39 league games he became the team's top scorer for the both of them. In March 2011 Kalniņš went on trial with the Finnish team Inter Turku, but didn't sign a contract then. In July 2011 he moved to

FK Jelgava FK Jelgava is a Latvian football club that is based in Jelgava. The club plays its home-matches at the Zemgales Olimpiskais Sporta Centrs stadium with capacity of 1,560 people. In 2021, the club dissolved its professional team, which was abso ...

, as the team from

Jūrmala Jūrmala (; "seaside") is a state city in the Vidzeme region of Latvia, about west of Riga. Jūrmala is a resort town stretching and is sandwiched between the Gulf of Riga and the Lielupe River. It has a stretch of white-sand beach and is the ...

was financially struggling. In his first season with Jelgava, Kalniņš scored 1 goal in 11 league matches. Before the start of the 2012 season Gatis joined the

newcomers FS METTA/Latvijas Universitāte. On 17 November 2013 Kalniņš scored a hat-trick in the promotion/relegation play-offs and helped his team retain a place in the Latvian Higher League, with a 5–2 victory over FB Gulbene on aggregate. After the 2013 season he was named FS METTA/Latvijas Universitāte player of the season.

International career

Kalniņš has had 19 appearances for the

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 ...

and he has scored 1 goal. He made his debut in February 2004 in a friendly match against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. He scored his first and since then only international goal in 2005 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 ...

Honours

Skonto Riga

* Latvian champion ** 2002, 2003, 2004 * Latvian Cup winner ** 2002

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kalnins, Gatis 1981 births Living people Latvian men's footballers Skonto FC players Latvia men's international footballers Sportspeople from Valmiera Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Othellos Athienou FC players Cypriot Second Division players Latvian expatriate men's footballers FS Jelgava players FK Metta players Men's association football forwards