Aleksandrs Vanags (21 March 1919 – 1986), also known as Alexandre Vanags, was a Latvian football and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. At international level, he represented the

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 ...

, after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

he played football in France.

Biography

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, Vanags made his debut with Universitātes Sports before moving to ASK Rīga. He scored 9 goals for

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 ...

in 18 matches (from 1937 to 1939). In addition to football Vanags also played basketball for Latvia on an international level, he was silver medalist of

EuroBasket 1939 The 1939 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1939, was the third FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA. Eight national teams affiliated with the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) took pa ...

. In 1942 during German occupation of Latvia Vanags as a player with ASK won the Latvian league title. After the Second World War Vanags settled in France where he joined

RC Strasbourg Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace (commonly known as RC Strasbourg, Racing Straßburg, RCSA, RCS, or simply Strasbourg; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Füeßbàllmànnschàft Vu Stroßburri'') is a football in France, French association football ...

. For two seasons he played also with

FC Nancy Football club de Nancy was a French association football team playing in the city of Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle. The team was founded in 1901 and dissolved in 1968. Honours * Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Cou ...

but then returned to Strasbourg. In 140 matches with RC Strasbourg Vanags scored 10 goals. In 1951 Vanags won the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and professio ...

with RC Strasbourg.Vanags' profile on the RC Strasbourg website
/ref> Later Vanags took up coaching football and basketball.

References

External links

* 1919 births 1986 deaths Footballers from Riga Men's association football midfielders Ligue 1 players RC Strasbourg Alsace players FC Nancy players Latvian footballers Latvian men's basketball players Latvia men's international footballers Basketball players from Riga Latvian expatriate basketball people in France Latvian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in France {{Latvia-footy-bio-stub