Deniss Ivanovs (born 11 January 1984) is a Latvian former

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 lea ...

who played as a defender.

Club career

Born in

Liepāja Liepāja () (formerly: Libau) is a Administrative divisions of Latvia, state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest city in the Courland region and the third-largest in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an ...

, Ivanovs played in the youth team of local club Liepājas Metalurgs. Making his senior team debut in 2001, he played 9 seasons for Metalurgs, appearing in 187 league matches, scoring 9 goals, and eventually serving as captain. In July 2009 Ivanovs went on trial with Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

club,

Ajax Amsterdam Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or commonly Ajax, is a Dutch professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. ...

. He did not make the team but a month later, on 26 August 2009, he signed a three-year contract with their farm-club

Ajax Cape Town Cape Town Spurs F.C. (formerly known as Ajax Cape Town) is a South African professional football club based in Parow in the city of Cape Town that plays in the National First Division. Dutch Eredivisie club AFC Ajax was their parent club and ma ...

of the South African

Premier Soccer League The Premier Soccer League (PSL) is the administrative body for professional soccer leagues and cups in South Africa. It is based in Johannesburg, and was founded in 1996 following an agreement between the National Soccer League and the remnant ...

. He played there for one season, making 21 appearances. In July 2010 Ivanovs moved to Turkey, signing a two-year contract with the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

club

Sivasspor Sivasspor Kulübü, known as Net Global Sivasspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish sports club based in Sivas. The primary department of the club is men's football. Formed in 1967, its football department has competed in Süper Lig since t ...

. His debut came in a league match against

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

which Sivasspor won 2–1. Ivanovs played all 90 minutes and received a yellow card. He appeared in 16 league matches but lost his place in the starting eleven in mid-season due to an injury. With his playing time limited, Ivanovs left Sivasspor at the end of the season. In July 2011 Ivanovs joined the

Azerbaijan Premier League The Azerbaijan Premier League (), also known as Misli Premyer Liqası for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Azerbaijan and the highest level of the Azerbaijani football league system. It is contested by twelve ...

club,

FK Baku FC Baku (), founded as Dinamo Baku in 1997, was an Azerbaijani football club based in Baku that had been an amateur club since 2016. Prior to that, Baku played 18 seasons in the Azerbaijan Premier League, winning the championship twice and the N ...

, with his national team teammate

Māris Verpakovskis Māris Verpakovskis (born 15 October 1979), is a Latvian retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He played for the Latvia national team at UEFA Euro 2004 and is the only Latvian player to score at the end stage of a major inte ...

and manager

Aleksandrs Starkovs Aleksandrs Starkovs (born 26 July 1955) is a Latvian football coach and a former footballer who played as a forward. Most recently he coached FK Liepāja. Starkovs has managed clubs such as Spartak Moscow in Russia, FK Baku in Azerbaijan and ...

. He played there for two seasons, winning the

Azerbaijan Cup The Azerbaijan Cup () is a major association football competition in Azerbaijan. In its original form, it started in 1936, when Azerbaijan was a republic of the Soviet Union and it was not disputed by Azerbaijani teams in the Soviet league pyramid ...

in 2012. Ivanovs was released by Baku at the end of the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season. In February 2014 Ivanovs joined the Romanian

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

side

FC Botoșani Asociația Fotbal Club Botoșani (), commonly known as FC Botoșani or simply Botoșani, is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Botoșani, Botoșani County, that competes in the Liga I. In 2013, twelve years after being ...

, appearing on 8 matches before leaving in mid-summer. In August 2014, after a five-year absence, Ivanovs returned to the Latvian Higher League, joining newly established

FK Liepāja FK Liepāja is a Latvian professional football club established in 2014. The club is based at the Daugava Stadium in Liepāja. FK Liepāja plays in the Latvian Higher League. In their first season they finished 4th in the 2014 Latvian Higher ...

. After a brief spell in the winter of 2015 with

Nyíregyháza Spartacus Nyíregyháza (, ) is a city with county rights in northeastern Hungary and the county capital of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg. With a population of 118,001, it is the Cities of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, seventh-largest city in Hungary an ...

in the

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, ), also known as NB I or Fizz Liga after its title sponsor, OTP Bank's webshop subsidiary, is a professional association football league in Hungary and the highest level of the Hungarian football league system. Twelve ...

, he went back to FK Liepāja where he was the captain of the team for the 2020 Latvian Higher League season. Ivanovs is individually sponsored by the company ''NPK Expert''. Ivanovs retired in November 2020, playing his last game for FK Liepāja.

International career

Ivanovs made his debut for

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

at the age of 21, on 24 December 2005, in a

King's Cup King's Cup (incl. translations), may refer to: Sports Football * Copa del Rey, Spanish for "King's Cup," the main national knockout tournament in men's football * King's Cup (Bahrain), the premier national knockout football tournament * King's ...

match against

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. He became a first eleven player in 2007. Ivanovs scored his first international goal on 26 March 2008 in a friendly match against

Andorra Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...

. On 19 June 2010, for a Baltic Cup match against

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

, Ivanovs was named captain of the team. As of 2015, he has collected 60 international caps and scored 2 goals.

Career statistics

Honours

Club *

Virsliga Latvian Higher League or Virslīga, also known as TonyBet Virslīga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Latvia and the highest level of the Latvian football league system. Organised by the Latvian Football ...

: 2005, 2009, 2015; runner-up 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2017 *

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

: 2006, 2017, 2020 *

Baltic League The Baltic League (officially known as the Triobet Baltic League) was a Baltic men's football club tournament held four times between the top club sides from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Launched in 2007 inspired by the now defunct Scandinavi ...

: 2007 *

: 2011–12 International * Baltic Cup: 2008

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ivanovs, Deniss 1984 births Living people Footballers from Liepāja Men's association football defenders Latvian people of Russian descent Latvian men's footballers Latvia men's international footballers FK Liepājas Metalurgs players Cape Town Spurs F.C. players Sivasspor footballers FC Baku players FC Botoșani players FK Liepāja players Nyíregyháza Spartacus FC players Latvian Higher League players South African Premier Division players Süper Lig players Azerbaijan Premier League players Liga I players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Latvian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in South Africa Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Azerbaijan Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary