Vladimirs Bērziņš (born 16 December 1905, date of death unknown) was a 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 ...
midfielder and manager and was one of the most capped footballers in pre-war Latvia.
Biography
Bērziņš began playing football with the mostly German sports club
Union Riga in 1925. He was selected to play 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 ...
on 26 August 1925 for a friendly match against
Estonia
Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...
, but he was removed later from the list of selected players.
At the end of the 1926 football season, Bērziņš left Union for the three-time champion of Latvia,
RFK, where he played the rest of his football career. With RFK, he 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 ...
title four times – in 1930, 1931, 1934 and 1935. In the second half of the 1930s, Bērziņš played very little with RFK and retired from playing in 1939. He did however return to RFK in 1943. In total, Bērziņš played 40 international matches for Latvia from 1927 to 1936, being the fourth most capped Latvian football international behind
Ēriks Pētersons
Ēriks Pētersons (1909–1987) was a Latvian footballer and ice hockey player. Between 1929 and 1939 he played 63 international matches and scored 21 goals for Latvian national team. He also played in the Latvian national ice hockey team, whe ...
,
Jānis Lidmanis
Jānis Lidmanis (18 January 1910 – 29 November 1986) was a Latvian footballer and basketballer.
Career
In the 1930s he was the captain of Latvia national football team for which he made 55 appearances (second result in the pre-war Latvian tea ...
, and
Alberts Šeibelis.
After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Bērziņš ended up in Germany, where he coached the local football club of
FC Gundelfingen in 1946. Another former Latvian international
Harijs Lazdiņš
Harijs Lazdiņš (25 July 1910 in Liepāja – 23 August 1988 in Kingston, Ontario) was a Latvian football goalkeeper who played for Olimpija Liepāja and Latvia national football team in 1920s-1930s.
Biography
Lazdiņš made his debut for ...
played in goal for the
Gundelfingen
Gundelfingen im Breisgau (Low Alemannic: ''Gundelfinge im Brisgau'') is a municipality directly north of the city Freiburg in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany.
Gundelfingen is one of the larger municipalities in the Breisgau-Hochschwarzw ...
club.
Der Neuaufbau und die Zeit der Pokaltriumphe
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In later years, Bērziņš settled in Canada.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Berzins, Vladimirs
1905 births
Year of death missing
Latvian men's footballers
Latvian football managers
Latvia men's international footballers
Men's association football defenders