Jānis Ikaunieks

Liepājas Metalurgs

Ikaunieks was born in Kuldīga. As a youth player, he played for the youth teams of Liepājas Metalurgs. Ikaunieks scored 11 goals in 20 matches in the 2012 First League season, contributing to Liepājas Metalurgs II winning the championship. Having been promoted to the first team in 2013, Ikaunieks debuted on 7 April in the Higher League in a 2–1 defeat against FK Daugava. During his professional debut season, he played 19 league matches and scored three goals. The club was dissolved at the end of the season due to financial difficulties, and Ikaunieks and other players transferred to its successor, the newly established FK Liepāja.

FK Liepāja

Starting the season as a nominal substitute, Ikaunieks was promoted to the first team and named the Higher League player of the month in May. On 11 June 2014, Ikaunieks scored four goals in a 7–0 victory over FC Jūrmala. Overall, he scored 23 goals in 32 league matches and became the second highest scorer of the league behind Vladislavs Gutkovskis from Skonto. In August 2014, Ikaunieks went on trial with the Croatian Prva HNL champions Dinamo Zagreb. In September, he was named player of the month for the second time in the season. One month later in October, explicit interest in the player was reported from Ajax, Metz, VfB Stuttgart and Udinese Calcio. On 5 December 2014, Ikaunieks was named the best midfielder of the season and was simultaneously voted as the best player of the 2014 Higher…

Ikaunieks was a member of Latvian youth national football teams that ranged from U18, U19, until U21. He debuted for the Latvian senior squad on 13 October 2014, playing the entire 90 minutes in a 1–1 UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying draw against Turkey. It was later calculated that Ikaunieks had repeated the record of Māris Verpakovskis who debuted in 1999, being exactly 19 years, 7 months and 25 days old. On 29 March 2016, Ikaunieks scored his first two goals for his country in a 5–0 friendly victory over Gibraltar.

Club

As of match played 12 December 2024

International

As of 17 November 2025

Scores and results list Latvia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ikaunieks' goal.

His elder brother Dāvis is also a professional footballer who plays for the same team.