Jānis Rozītis (20 March 1913 – 3 May 1942) was a Bulgaria-born Latvian

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 ...

and

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 ...

player. In football, he played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

and became a two-time champion of Latvia and a Latvia national team regular in the mid-1930s.

Biography

Rozitis was born at

Sliven Sliven ( ) is List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, the eighth-largest city in Bulgaria and the administrative and industrial centre of Sliven Province and municipality in Northern Thrace. It is situated in the Sliven Valley at the foothills of th ...

, Bulgaria, where his parents lived before the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, his father being Eduard Voldemars Rozitis and Anna (''nee'' Immaka). Rozitis married Eleonora Rozīte in 1935 by whom he had one son. Eleonora died in 1936, 3 days after giving birth to their only son, Leon Rozīte (Brašnevics), soon to be raised by his grandparents, Herbert and Klara Brašnevics. After the death of Eleonora, Rozitis went onto marry Mirdza Rozīte (Bekmane) in 1938

Rozitis became a mechanic working at motor company VEF in Riga and did compulsory military service in the Heavy Artillery of the Latvian Army during the 1930s.
Football in Latvia 1917-1940 Biography, Janis Rozitis (Latvian language), accessed 15 March 2022. Rozītis started playing football with the youth squad of Rīgas FK, RFK. He played his first official matches for the side in 1932 and in 1933 he became a regular. On 10 June 1934, Rozītis made his first international appearance for Latvia as he replaced another youngster -

Ēriks Raisters Ēriks Raisters (26 November 1913 – 25 May 1942) was a Latvian footballer who played as a forward. He made 27 international appearances for the Latvia national team between 1934 and 1940. Club career Raisters' first senior club was JKS Rig ...

in a friendly match against

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. He scored his first goal for Latvia in a friendly against

Estonia national football team The Estonia men's national football team () represents Estonia in international football matches and is controlled by the Estonian Football Association, the governing body for football in Estonia. Estonia's home ground is Lilleküla Stadium ...

on 12 June 1935. In total between 1934 and 1939 Rozītis scored 7 goals over 26 matches. With RFK Rozītis won 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 ...

titles in 1934 and 1935. He competed for the

Latvian national ice hockey team The Latvian men's national ice hockey team represents Latvia in international ice hockey. The team is ranked 10th in the world by International Ice Hockey Federation, IIHF as of 2023. The team is controlled by the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation. ...

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 ...

. After the 1936 season Rozītis left RFK and continued playing with the football club of his work place - biggest Riga factory VEF. Rozītis had been playing with VEF Rīga in addition to RFK since at least 1934 in

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...

s tournaments but as VEF side was aiming for the top-flight it acquired several higher class footballers to play with its side full-time, and Rozītis was the most notable of those. Although it was not until 1939 when VEF gained a place in the Latvian Higher League, Rozītis did not lose his place in the national team in 1938 and 1939. He stayed with VEF after Latvia was annexed by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in 1940 and he also stayed there when Latvia was occupied by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

in 1941. Rozītis died in an accident on 3 May 1942 aged 29, together with two other VEF footballers – Leonīds Peiča and Arnolds Boka – 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 ...

Reichskommissariat Ostland The (RKO; ) was an Administrative division, administrative entity of the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories of Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1945. It served as the German Civil authority, civilian occupation regime in Lithuania, La ...

- when they were blown up attempting to remove German Army munitions that had been stored on the VEF playing field. The three teammates were buried in the First

Forest Cemetery, Riga Forest Cemetery () is an large cemetery in the northwestern part of Riga, the capital of Latvia, between the neighbourhoods of Mežaparks and Čiekurkalns. Formally, the cemetery is divided between 1st Forest Cemetery, with entrance from Aizsa ...

Honours

: 1934, 1935 * Baltic Cup: 1937

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rozītis, Jānis 1913 births 1942 deaths Men's association football forwards Civilians killed in World War II Footballers from Riga Ice hockey people from Riga Ice hockey players at the 1936 Winter Olympics Latvian casualties of World War II Latvian men's footballers Latvia men's international footballers Olympic ice hockey players for Latvia