Andrejs Rubins

Born in Riga, Rubins started his career in 1996 at FK Auda in the Latvian 2nd Division. The following year he moved to Sweden with Östers, where he made eleven league appearances, before moving back to Latvia in 1998 to play for Skonto Riga. He played there for the next three seasons, and managed to win three league titles in a row. He also won the Latvian Cup twice. All in all, over those three seasons he scored 14 goals in 67 league matches. In 2000, Rubins moved to England, joining English Football League First Division club Crystal Palace. He made just 31 appearances in three seasons at the club, but still managed to impress, scoring twice in the League Cup against Leicester City and Liverpool. In December 2002, Rubins moved to Russia, initially to play for Spartak Moscow in the Russian Premier League on a free transfer. However, three months later, without playing a game, he moved to Shinnik Yaroslavl, where he played 51 games in two seasons, scoring 4 times. In January 2005, Rubins signed a four-year contract with Spartak Moscow, who were then managed by Latvian manager Aleksandrs Starkovs. After struggling to settle, he made just five appearances, and the club sent him on loan back to Shinnik Yaroslavl in January 2006 for 12 months. In June 2007, he was linked with another loan move, this time with English Football League Championship club Blackpool, but he eventually went on loan to the Latvian Higher League club Liepājas Metalurgs on 27 July for six months. He was…

Rubins made his international debut for the Latvia national team on 10 November 1998 in a 3–0 loss in a friendly match against Tunisia. With 117 international caps he is the second most capped player in the history of Latvia national team, 50 matches short of Vitālijs Astafjevs. Rubins also participated at the EURO 2004 in Portugal.

After his retirement Rubins started coaching children and youngsters in Ikšķile. Prior to the 2014 Latvian First League season Rubins was appointed the assistant manager of FK Ogre. As of 2022 he was an assistant coach to FK Spartaks Jūrmala.

As of 26 September 2013