Jānis Gilis (27 April 1943 – 13 September 2000), was the first general manager of

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 ...

after

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 ...

regained independence.

Playing career

His first senior team was

ASK Riga ASK Rīga is a former professional basketball club that was based in Riga, Latvia. "ASK" stood for "Armijas Sporta Klubs" (in English: Army Sports Club). History BK Rīga was then founded in 2004 as an attempt to revive the defunct club ...

. From 1965 to 1968 Gilis played in the strongest Latvian team - FK Daugava Rīga, after a conflict with the team manager he left the team for

Zvejnieks Liepāja Zvejnieks ( Old orthography: ''Sweineek(s)''; feminine: Zvejniece) is a Latvian occupational surname, derived from the Latvian word for "fisherman". Individuals with the surname include: *Kristaps Zvejnieks (born 1992), an Alpine ski racer and ...

. The 1969 season Gilis started as a player in

FK Lielupe FK or fk may refer to: 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 * F ...

but soon he got an offer to become a manager for Lielupe thus ending his playing career.

Coaching career

were his first team as a manager. Later from 1977 to 1979, he was an assisting manager for FK Daugava under Vadims Ulbergs (), worked as a coach in the Riga school of football, and manager of

FK Pārdaugava FK Pārdaugava was a Latvian football club based in Riga. It was founded in 1984 as Daugava-RVR, the youth team of FK Daugava Riga and became defunct in 1995. In 1991 it replaced FK Daugava and played in the Soviet First League. It completed ...

reserves squad. After Latvian independence in 1991, Gilis was appointed as the first general manager of the Latvia national football team. Their first match under his management for Latvia was played on 8 April 1992 against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

(0:1). Under Gilis Latvia participated in qualifying for two

World cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

and one

European championship A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

. The first years for the national team were tough although under Gilis Latvia got some notable wins (1:0 against Northern Ireland, 3:2 against Austria) and also a couple of historical draws (0:0 against Spain and European champions Denmark). Gilis' son Gints Gilis had 5 caps for Latvia under his father. After the work with the national team Gilis managed Liepājas Metalurgs but in 1999 -

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 La ...

which under Gilis won the

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 ...

in the first year of the club existing. Gilis died on 13 September 2000.

Honours

* Baltic Cup **

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilis, Janis 1943 births 2000 deaths FC Daugava Riga players Soviet men's footballers Soviet football managers Latvian men's footballers Latvian football managers Latvia national football team managers Latvian sports coaches Men's association football midfielders