Artis Lazdiņš

Early career

Artis Lazdiņš started playing football in his early childhood being taken to trainings to his local team FK Limbaži (coach: Valdis Matīss) by his father. In 2000 his family decided to move to the USA. He then continued playing football in an American-Ukrainian football (soccer) academy Chornomorets-USA in NYC. In 2004, after graduating from the Julia Richman High School, he returned to Latvia and played for Auda in Riga until the end of 2005.

Ventspils

In 2006 Lazdiņš was signed by Ventspils. In his first season in Ventspils Lazdiņš played for the reserve team and did not take part in the first-team action. In 2007 Lazdiņš had three appearances, not finding the net. In the next two years the number of appearances grew to 12 and 18, respectively. Lazdiņš became the champion of Latvia with FK Ventspils three times in a row - from 2006 to 2008. He also participated in the UEFA Europa League group stages in 2009. However, in 2009 the team's managers changed and Lazdiņš was no more needed within the squad, with his contract being terminated by a mutual agreement.

Jelgava

After leaving Ventspils Lazdiņš started looking for a club abroad but was then handed an offer by the Latvian Virsliga newcomers Jelgava. He signed a contract for one season and soon after joining became a first eleven player. In his first season there he played 24 matches and also managed to win the Latvian Cup. In January 2011 Lazdiņš extended his contract with FK…

Lazdiņš was a member of Latvia U-19 and Latvia U-21 football teams, being called up to the senior side for the Baltic Cup matches in 2010. He made his international debut in the second match of the tournament against Estonia on 19 June 2010. He then came on as a substitute, replacing Juris Laizāns. In 2012 Lazdiņš helped Latvia win the Baltic Cup, beating Finland in the final. Latvia won the Baltic Cup for the second time in a row in May 2014, beating Lithuania in the final. As of March 2015, Lazdiņš had played 21 matches for Latvia.

According to fkjelgava.lv, Lazdiņš loves cinema and also has a Twitter account. His native language is Latvian, but he also speaks English fluently, Russian well and German at a basic level. His aim in football is to improve and reach career heights.

Ventspils

Latvian Higher League: 2006, 2007, 2008 Latvian Cup: 2007 Baltic League: 2009–10 Jelgava

Latvian Cup: 2009–10, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16 Latvia

Baltic Cup: 2012, 2014