Voldemārs Plade (sometimes also called Valdis Plade; 24 December 1900 – 27 January 1961) was 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 ...

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 ...

forward and manager, the most notable of the four Plade brothers who played 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 ...

. He was born 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 ...

. Plade was one of five football playing brothers. In his youth he played with Union Riga and Āgenskalns sports club; but he became widely known in 1921 when playing for Ķeizarmežs. Alongside his brothers Kurts Plade, Teodors Plade and Alfrēds Plade, who all also played with Ķeizarmežs, Plade won Latvian league titles in 1922 and 1923. Unlike his brothers, Plade proved to be a long-lasting force in Latvian football and was a national team regular from 1923 to 1929, capping 16 international appearances and scoring 9 goals. In a 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 ...

at the 1929 Baltic Cup, Plade scored three goals for Latvia from passes from the rising star

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 ...

. Plade represented Latvia at the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad () and officially branded as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The opening ceremony was held on 5 July, but some competitions had al ...

. After the dissolution of Ķeizarmežs in 1925, Plade joined RFK with which he played for two years. After two years with RFK Plade joined the newly founded Riga Vanderer with which he occasionally played until 1935. As early as 1933 Plade also took up coaching, working with

V. Ķuze ''V.'' is a satirical postmodern novel and the debut novel of Thomas Pynchon, published on March 18, 1963. It describes the exploits of a discharged U.S. Navy sailor named Benny Profane, his reconnection in New York with a group of pseudo-bohe ...

, Universitātes Sports, Riga Vanderer and LAS Riga. From at least 1936 he also appeared regularly as a football referee. In 1939 Plade as a

Baltic German Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), their resettlement in 1945 after the end ...

repatriated to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. He visited

in December 1942 before returning to the Eastern Front of

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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plade, Voldemars 1900 births 1961 deaths Footballers from Riga People from Riga county Latvian people of Baltic German descent Latvian men's footballers Latvia men's international footballers Footballers at the 1924 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Latvia Latvian football managers Men's association football forwards