Gunārs Ulmanis (1938 – 17 July 2010) was a Latvian football right wing midfielder, one of the most famous Latvian footballers of the 1960s.

Biography

While at school Ulmanis played both

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and football but the famous Latvian football coach

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persuaded him to devote himself entirely to football. For his first team in the regional competition Ulmanis scored 60 out of the team's 78 goals and was called up to the flagman of Latvian football -

Daugava Rīga 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 ...

. In his first game for Daugava - an international game against Polish

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- Ulmanis scored 3 goals. He was popular among Latvian football fans for his "lazy" and relaxed playing manner which he was able to alter with unexpected outbursts of energy in form of shots on goal or passes to the center. His popularity was partly also connected with his last name Ulmanis (the same as former Latvian president

Kārlis Ulmanis Kārlis Augusts Vilhelms Ulmanis (; 4 September 1877 – 20 September 1942) was a Latvian politician. He was one of the most prominent Latvian politicians of pre-World War II Latvia during the Interwar period of independence from November 1918 to ...

) which also brought him troubles with the Soviet authorities. He played for Daugava for almost his entire career - from 1955 until 1969, scoring many important goals and having been elected the team captain. After Daugava he spent two years as player-manager for

Rīgas radiorūpnīca Riga District ( lv, Rīgas rajons) was an administrative division of Latvia, located in Semigallia and Vidzeme regions, in the centre of the country. The district had the two cities of Riga and Jūrmala with the Gulf of Riga to the north. Beginnin ...

and since that he has been coaching youth players. He died on 17 July 2010 at the age of 71.

References

1938 births 2010 deaths Latvian footballers Daugava Rīga players Association football forwards Soviet footballers Soviet Top League players {{Latvia-footy-bio-stub