Genādijs Soloņicins (born 3 January 1980 in

Liepāja Liepāja () (formerly: Libau) is a Administrative divisions of Latvia, state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest city in the Courland region and the third-largest in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an ...

) 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 ...

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 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 ...

. His last professional club was Liepājas Metalurgs 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 ...

, the club where he spent most of his professional career. Soloņicins was also a member of

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 ...

Club career

Soloņicins played for Liepājas Metalurgs for 12 years, making his debut in 1997. In the penultimate match of the 2004

Virslīga 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 F ...

season he missed a crucial last minute penalty in a 3–2 loss to

Skonto FC Skonto FC was a Latvian professional Association football, 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 o ...

meaning the club lost out to Skonto on becoming Latvian champions. However, the following season, Soloņicins was part of the Liepājas Metalurgs team that finally broke Skonto's 14-year reign in Latvian football when they became Virslīga champions in October 2005. In December, he was named the Virslīgas best Midfielder of the 2005 season. In summer 2009 he joined Simurq Zaqatala playing in the

Azerbaijan Premier League The Azerbaijan Premier League (), also known as Misli Premyer Liqası for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Azerbaijan and the highest level of the Azerbaijani football league system. It is contested by twelve ...

. While playing in Azerbaijan he became a substantial first eleven figure and helped the club start the 2009–2010 season unexpectedly well but the end of the season was not as good and Simurq finished the regular championship in the 7th position. At the time teams in Azerbaijan were divided into 2 pools after the end of the regular season with 6 teams in each pool. As Simurq finished 7th, they competed in the second pool with the last 6 teams of the regular season. Due to the relatively poor results Simurq broke off contracts with its foreign players and Soloņicins was forced to leave the club in February 2010. Following the release, Soloņicins signed a contract with Liepājas Metalurgs in March 2010, returning to the team, where he had played before for nearly 13 years. At the end of 2010 he terminated his contract with Metalurgs to look for a club abroad, but having struggled with receiving satisfactory offers from other clubs returned to Metalurgs in February 2011, after being out of football for half a year. After the 2013 season Metalurgs football club was dissolved due to the financial struggle of its sole sponsor Liepājas Metalurgs, the metalwork company and replaced in the league by the newly formed

FK Liepāja FK Liepāja is a Latvian professional football club established in 2014. The club is based at the Daugava Stadium in Liepāja. FK Liepāja plays in the Latvian Higher League. In their first season they finished 4th in the 2014 Latvian Higher ...

. In January 2014 Soloņicins announced his retirement from professional football.

International career

Soloņicins made 44 appearances for

and scored 1 goal, playing for the national team from 2000 to 2010.

Honours

champion (2): 2005, 2009 *

runner-up (8): 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011 *

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 ...

winner (1): 2006 *

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 ...

champion (1):

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Solonicins, Genadijs 1980 births Living people Footballers from Liepāja Latvian men's footballers FK Liepājas Metalurgs players Simurq PIK players Latvia men's international footballers Latvian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Azerbaijan Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan Men's association football midfielders