Aleksandrs Čekulajevs (born 10 September 1985) is a Latvian

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 plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. Čekulajevs is widely famous for his goal scoring abilities. Scoring 46 goals in the

2011 Meistriliiga The 2011 Meistriliiga was the 21st season of the Meistriliiga, the top Estonian league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992. The season began on 5 March 2011 and concluded on 5 November 2011. The defending champions FC ...

season he was named in third position as world's top scorer of the year by

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for s ...

Club career

Early career

Born in Riga, Čekulajevs started playing football in 1996. He spent his youth years training with

FK Auda Futbola klubs Auda is a Latvian football club, playing in the highest division of Latvian football ( Latvian Higher League). They are based in Ķekava, near the capital, Riga. Auda won their first ever major trophy in 2022, beating RFS 1–0 in t ...

, FK Viola,

JFK Olimps JFK Olimps was a Latvian football club, playing in the top division of Latvian football. The club was from the city of Riga. According to a study from January 2011, the club was the youngest team in Europe, with an average age of 19.02 years. ...

and

yet again. In 2006 the youngster was spotted by 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 ...

club

FK Rīga FK Rīga was a Latvian football club based in Riga. They played in the Virslīga, the top division in Latvian football. They played their home games at Latvijas Universitātes Stadions. In 1999, its first year of existence, the club won the L ...

and Čekulajevs signed his first professional contract. He played 6 matches there, scoring 1 goal but soon the club hit financial difficulties and Čekulajevs' contract that should have kept him at the club until 2008 was unofficially broken.

FK Jūrmala-VV FK Daugava Rīga was a Latvian football club, based at the Daugava Stadium in Riga. They played in the Latvian Higher League. The last manager of the team was Armands Zeiberliņš. From the club's foundation in 2003 till 2009 the club was kno ...

were keen on signing him, but, even though the contract with

didn't exist anymore, the club wanted to receive a transfer fee. Furthermore,

was in debts with its players and hadn't paid Čekulajevs his wage for more than 3 months.

went bankrupt in 2008.

FK Auda

In 2007 Čekulajevs joined his former youth years' club

on loan from

, playing in the

Latvian First League The Latvian First League ( lv, Latvijas Pirmā līga, 1. līga) is the second tier of football in Latvia and is organised by the Latvian Football Federation. History The league was founded together with other Latvian football competitions in 1 ...

. Soon he became a first eleven player and wowed everyone with his scoring abilities, netting 51 goal in 30 league matches. He was not only named the top scorer of the season, but also beat the league's scoring record of all time set by Igors Kirilovs in 2002 with 47 goals in one season. He was also named the best player of the

in 2007.

First clubs abroad

After such a great performance Čekulajevs joined

in 2008. Playing 21 match there, he scored 3 goals and couldn't settle at the club. Soon he left the team, going abroad for the first time in his career and joining

FK Náchod-Deštné FK or fk may refer to: In arts and entertainment: * Flyer Killer, fictional automated robots in the ''Terminator'' film franchise. * Fox Kids, a former American children's television programming block. * Funky Kong, a video game character. Place: ...

in the

Czech Fourth Division The Czech Fourth Division ( cs, Divize) is the fourth tier of football in the Czech Republic. The level consists of six divisions, named Divize A-F, Divize A-C each holding 16 teams and Divize D-F each holding 14 teams. The top teams from Divize A, ...

. During one season there he scored 11 goals in 18 matches and came back to

in 2009. He started the

2009 Latvian Higher League Latvian Higher League 2009 ( lv, Virslīga) was the 18th season of top-tier football in Latvia. It began on 14 March 2009 with the first round of games and ended on 8 November 2009 with the 36th round of matches. Ventspils were the defending champ ...

season with them, but after 6 matches without scoring any goals, left for

Víkingur Ólafsvík Víkingur can refer to: * The Icelandic and Faroese word for Viking * Víkingur Ólafsson, Icelandic pianist * Knattspyrnufélagið Víkingur, Icelandic association football club * Víkingur Gøta, Faroese association football club * Ungmennafélag ...

, playing in the

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

2. deild karla 2. deild karla (English: Men's Second Division) is a football league in Iceland. It is the third division in the Icelandic football league system. The current champions are Afturelding from Mosfellsbær, who won their 1st title in 2018. The div ...

. Čekulajevs scored 10 goals in 17 matches for the club, helping his team win the championship.

JK Narva Trans

After a successful season in

Čekulajevs was signed by the Estonian

Meistriliiga Meistriliiga (, known as the A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons) is the highest division of the Estonian Football Association annual football (soccer), football championship. The league was founded in 1992, and was initially semi-p ...

club

JK Narva Trans JK Narva Trans, commonly known as Narva Trans or just Trans, are a professional Estonian association football club based in Narva that compete in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian football. The club's home ground is Narva Kreenholm S ...

. Soon after joining he found himself as a first eleven player, capable of scoring in almost every match he played. By the end of the season, he had scored 46 goals in 35 appearances, not only being the top scorer of his team and the league, but also setting a new goalscoring record for the division. In June 2012 he was named the third top scorer in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

by the

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs foo ...

league point system, thanks to his 46 goals, coming after

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...

(46) and

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...

(50). After his great performance, various European clubs showed their interest in signing Čekulajevs. During the winter transfer period he went on trials with the Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

club

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

2. Fußball-Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

club

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jerseys, the club was on ...

and the Polish

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 ...

team

Lechia Gdańsk Lechia Gdańsk () is a Polish football club based in Gdańsk. The club was founded in 1945 by people expelled from Lwów, who were supporters of Poland's oldest football team Lechia Lwów, founded in 1903. The club's name comes from Lechia, a ...

. Although scoring record 46 goals, Estonian football pundits and coaches thought that his achievement would have been much more remarkable if the league had not been represented by the worst team -

FC Ajax Lasnamäe FC Ajax Lasnamäe is an Estonian football club based in Tallinn. They play in the II Liiga East/North zone, the fourth division in Estonian football. The club also has women's team A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, ...

, who conceded in total of 192 goals in 36 matches (which was only 6 goals short of worst result in European top tiers). Čekulajevs scored 18 of his goals against bottom-finished Ajax.

Valletta F.C.

Čekulajevs didn't join any of the previously mentioned teams, signing a contract with the

Maltese Premier League The Maltese Premier League, known as BOV Premier League for sponsorship reasons with Bank of Valletta ( colloquially known as ''Il-Kampjonat Premjer''), is the highest level of professional football in Malta. Managed by the Malta Football Associ ...

champions

Valletta F.C. Valletta F.C. is a professional football club based in Valletta, the capital city of Malta, and competes in the Maltese Premier League, the top flight of Maltese football. The club was founded in 1943 after a merge of Valletta Prestons, Valletta ...

on 8 February 2012. He scored a goal on his debut for the club. All in all Čekulajevs scored 4 goals in 6 matches for the club, later being put on the bench for unexplained reasons. In May 2012 Čekulajevs broke his contract with the club, stating that he wasn't happy with the work of his agent.

Lombard-Pápa TFC

On 3 July 2012, Čekulajevs moved to the Hungarian

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, "National Championship"), also known as NB I, is the top level of the Hungarian football league system. The league is officially named OTP Bank Liga after its title sponsor OTP Bank. UEFA currently ranks the league 28 ...

, as a free agent signing a contract with Lombard-Pápa TFC. On 1 January 2013, he was released from Lombard-Pápa TFC, having played only four league matches for the club.

TTM Lopburi and Żejtun Corinthians

On 8 March 2013, it was announced that Čekulajevs had moved to Thai Division 1 side TTM Lopburi on a free transfer, signing a one-year contract. On 1 July 2013, after the end of the contract, he moved to the

Maltese First Division The Maltese Challenge League (referred to as the BOV Challenge League for sponsorship reasons) is the second-highest division in Maltese football, behind the Maltese Premier League. The First Division was the precursor of the present Premier ...

side Żejtun Corinthians on a free transfer, signing a contract till the end of the season.

AB Argir

On 1 July 2014, he moved to the

Faroe Islands Premier League The Faroe Islands Premier League (also known as ''Betri deildin menn'' for sponsorship reasons) is the top level of football in the Faroe Islands. It was founded in 1942 as Meistaradeildin, and it is played in current format since 2005, when Premi ...

club AB Argir.

Honours

;

Top Scorer 2007 ;

champion 2010 ;

Top Scorer 2011 ;

World's Top Scorer of the Year 2011

References

External links

performances Statistics 2001–2009

Statistics performances in Iceland

Statistics performances in Estonia
*
Aleksandrs Čekulajevs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cekulajevs, Aleksandrs 1985 births Living people Footballers from Riga Latvian footballers Association football forwards Latvian expatriate footballers FK Rīga players JFK Olimps players FK Daugava (2003) players Expatriate footballers in the Czech Republic Expatriate footballers in Iceland JK Narva Trans players Expatriate footballers in Estonia Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Estonia Valletta F.C. players Expatriate footballers in Malta Lombard-Pápa TFC footballers Expatriate footballers in Hungary Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Expatriate footballers in Thailand Żejtun Corinthians F.C. players Ungmennafélagið Víkingur players FK Náchod-Deštné players