Voldemārs Žins (born 1905, date of death unknown) was a

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played for

Olimpija Liepāja Olimpija Liepāja was a Latvian football club. It was based in Liepāja Liepāja (; liv, Līepõ; see other names) is a state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest-city in the Kurzeme Region and the third-larg ...

and

Latvia national football team The Latvia national football team ( lv, Latvijas futbola izlase) represents Latvia in international football and is controlled by the Latvian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Latvia. They have never qualified for the FI ...

Club career

Žins began playing football with LNJS Liepāja in the early 1920s but he became really popular in

Liepāja Liepāja (; liv, Līepõ; see other names) is a state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest-city in the Kurzeme Region and the third-largest city in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an important ice ...

after he moved to

in 1925. Olimpija was rapidly becoming one of the best football clubs in Latvia then with footballers like Rūdolfs Kronlaks, Ludvigs Dudaņecs,

Kārlis Tīls Kārlis Tīls (1906-196?) was a Latvian international football (soccer), football defender and football manager, one of the most legendary footballers in the history of Liepāja. Biography At the age of 17 Tīls was one of the footballers who ...

and other future national team players in their top form. In 1925, Žins scored two goals as Olimpija devastated Cēsu SB 7–0 in the final match for the title of best provincial football club in

. Playing with Olimpija, Žins won the

Latvian Higher League Latvian Higher League or Virslīga is a professional football league and the top tier of association football in Latvia. Organised by the Latvian Football Federation, the Higher League is contested by 10 clubs. The full name of the league is O ...

five times and became a three-time winner of the Riga Football Cup (the predecessor to the

Latvian Cup The Latvian Football Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Latvian football. Since 2021, its full name is Responsible Game Latvian Football Cup (''Atbildīgas spēles Latvijas kauss'') due to the sponsorship by sports betting company Wi ...

). After winning his fifth title with Olimpija in 1936 Žins retired from top-level football together with team veteran Rūdolfs Kronlaks. Although Žins was never the leading goalscorer for Olimpija (in his later years he usually scored around five goals in a season) he was always an integral part of the Olimpija attack. Žins came out of retirement in 1941 when he played with the Tosmare football club.

International career

In 1927, Žins played for the first time for the Latvia national football team and in his very first match for it his scored three goals becoming the first Latvian footballer to have scored a hattrick in an international match. In total between 1927 and 1932 Žins scored five goals in ten matches for Latvia and his goal tally was best among the Olimpija footballers in the national team.History of football in Liepāja
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zins, Voldemars Latvian footballers Latvia international footballers 1905 births Year of death missing Sportspeople from Liepāja Association football forwards