Eduards Freimanis (22 February 1919, 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 ...

- 1993) was a former

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 ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

forward, the first Latvian footballer to play with a professional club in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Playing career

Freimanis started playing football in the early 1930s with the youth squad of Olimpija Liepāja. He played with the senior squad of Olimpija from 1937 to 1939, winning two

Latvian Higher League 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 Footbal ...

titles. In 1939 he joined JKS Riga. In 1939 Freimanis was first capped for

Latvia national football team The Latvia national football team () represents Latvia in men's international Association football, football, and is controlled by the Latvian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Latvia. They have never qualified for the FIF ...

and scored two goals in his very first international match (he played his second international match the next year). In 1940 when Latvia was annexed by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and former Latvian sports clubs were disbanded, Freimanis joined RAFS 1, later he played with

Dinamo Riga Dinamo Riga () is a professional ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. It most recently was a member of the Latvian Hockey Higher League. The club is affiliated with HK Zemgale/LBTU. The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 as a successor of a D ...

. From 1941 to 1944 he played with Daugavieši and from 1942 to 1944 in the

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

selected team. In 1942 with six goals scored Freimanis was the best goalscorer in the

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Freimanis ended up in the West, from 1945 to 1946 he played in

Greven Greven (; Westphalian: ''Graiwen'') is a medium-sized town in the district of Steinfurt, in Germany's most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia and close to the city of Münster. Geography Greven is situated on the river Ems, approx. 25&n ...

, the next season he moved to

Holstein Kiel Kieler Sportvereinigung Holstein von 1900 e.V., commonly known as Holstein Kiel () or KSV Holstein, is a German association football and sports club based in the city of Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein. From the 1900s through the 1960s, the club was o ...

, helping them to finish runners-up in the

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

championship play-offs in the summer of 1947 and in the following year he settled in

. His first club there was the amateur side Eynesbury Rovers, but in the 1947/1948 season he became the first Latvian footballer to play in a professional English football club as he joined

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Peterborough United formed in ...

(in 21 match for the club he scored 22 goals), for two more seasons he played with

Northampton Town F.C. Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in ...

, until finally he landed in Nuneaton Borough,Northampton Town transfers
/ref> where he also worked as a coach for some time.

Honours

Club Titles *

: 1938, 1939 Olimpija Liepāja

Caps

*2 caps for Latvia (2 goals)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Freimanis, Eduards 1919 births 1993 deaths Latvian men's footballers Latvia men's international footballers Northampton Town F.C. players Nuneaton Town F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Eynesbury Rovers F.C. players Footballers from Liepāja Men's association football forwards Holstein Kiel players Latvian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in West Germany English Football League players