Kristaps Grebis (born 13 December 1980 in

Liepāja Liepāja (; liv, Līepõ; see other names) is a state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest-city in the Kurzeme Region and the third-largest city in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an important ice-f ...

) is a retired Latvian

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 ...

Club career

Grebis started his professional career in 2000 with

FK Liepājas Metalurgs FK Liepājas Metalurgs ( lv, Futbola klubs "Liepājas metalurgs") was a Latvian football club in the city of Liepāja and playing in the Virslīga. They played at the Daugava Stadium (capacity 5,083). In 2005 Liepājas Metalurgs became the fir ...

. Making 7 appearances and scoring one goal in his first season, he later had a short spell with FK Rīga, returning to Liepāja in 2002. This time playing there for 4 straight years, in 2006 he left for

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and t ...

. Grebis had his contract with Oxford United cancelled by mutual consent in March 2007, as this period of his career wasn't the best. Later on he joined

FK Ventspils FK Ventspils is a Latvian football club, based at Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions in Ventspils city and is one of the most popular football clubs in the country. The club played in the Latvian Virsliga since 1997. It was abolished in 2020, but has ...

, but in 2008 came back to his home land team Liepājas Metalurgs. He played there for two years, until 2008, making 63 appearances and scoring 48 goals. In 2009, he was the best scorer of the

Virsliga Latvian Higher League or Virslīga is a professional football league and the top tier of association football in Latvia. Organised by the Latvian Football Federation, the Higher League is contested by 10 clubs. The full name of the league is Op ...

championship with 30 goals in one season. This was definitely the best period in his career, while playing in Latvia. In February 2011 he joined

AEL Limassol Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou ( el, Αθλητική Ένωση Λεμεσού, translation=Athletic Union of Limassol) commonly known as AEL, is a Cypriot sports club based in the city of Limassol, most famous for its football team. AEL also maintai ...

, after being on trial with them for 2 weeks. His stay in Cyprus didn't last for long, as the club decided to release him just 4 days after joining, pointing that Grebis had been diagnosed heart problems in the medical tests. Later on it was said that there were no problems with Grebis's heart, but the club had needed to find a reason to release Grebis, as the new coach hadn't wanted to keep him in the squad. A week later he signed a contract with FK Gence, playing in the Azerbaijan Premier League. In July 2011 Grebis moved to

FK Simurq Zaqatala Simurq PIK ( az, Simurq Peşəkar Idman Klubu) was an Azerbaijani football club based in Zaqatala, that competed in the Azerbaijan Premier League. History Early years (2005–2009) The club was founded in 2005 and participated in the Azerbaij ...

. In August 2012 he was signed by the German

NOFV-Oberliga Nord The NOFV-Oberliga Nord is the fifth tier of the German football league system in the northern states of the former East Germany and West Berlin. It covers the German states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and northern Saxony ...

club Viktoria 1889. He left the club in February 2013, having played 5 league matches, and returned to the

Latvian Higher League Latvian Higher League or Virslīga is a professional football league and the top tier of association football in Latvia. Organised by the Latvian Football Federation, the Higher League is contested by 10 clubs. The full name of the league is O ...

, signing with

Daugava Rīga FK Daugava Rīga was a Latvian football club, based at the Daugava Stadium in Riga. They played in the Latvian Higher League. The last manager of the team was Armands Zeiberliņš. From the club's foundation in 2003 till 2009 the club was k ...

. Grebis played 9 matches for Daugava, marking 1 goal to his name, before joining FC Jūrmala in July 2013. Prior to the 2014 season Grebis returned to his home-town Liepāja and signed a contract with the newly established club FK Liepāja, led by his former international teammate

Māris Verpakovskis Māris Verpakovskis (born 15 October 1979), is a Latvian retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He represented the Latvia national team at UEFA Euro 2004 and is the only Latvian player to score at the end stage of a major int ...

. He scored on his debut for the club. Grebis retired after the 2018 season.

International career

Grebis made his debut for Latvia in 2008. He has collected 13 appearances and scored 2 international goals.

Honours

champion (3): 2005, 2007, 2009 * Latvian Football Cup winner (2): 2006, 2007 *

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

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grebis, Kristaps 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Liepāja Latvian footballers Association football forwards FK Liepājas Metalurgs players FK Rīga players Oxford United F.C. players FK Ventspils players Simurq PIK players FK Daugava (2003) players FC Jūrmala players FK Liepāja players Latvian Higher League players National League (English football) players Latvian expatriate footballers Latvia international footballers Expatriate footballers in England Latvian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in Azerbaijan Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan Expatriate footballers in Germany Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Germany