Ritvars Rugins (born 17 October 1989]) is a Latvian football (soccer), footballer who most recently played for

Riga FC Riga Football Club, commonly referred to as Riga FC, is a Latvian football club, founded in 2014. The club is based at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Since 2016 the club has been playing in the Virslīga. History The club was officially registered ...

in 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 ...

and

Latvia national football team The Latvia national football team ( lv, Latvijas futbola izlase) represents Latvia in international football and is controlled by the Latvian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Latvia. They have never qualified for the FI ...

Club career

Early career and FK Ventspils

Ritvars Rugins started playing football at the age of 9 in his local club Tukums 2000. In 2007, he joined the

club

FK Ventspils FK Ventspils is a Latvian football club, based at Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions in Ventspils city and is one of the most popular football clubs in the country. The club played in the Latvian Virsliga since 1997. It was abolished in 2020, but ha ...

. In 2008, he played his first league match for the team, it was his only appearance that season. In 2009, he played 14 games and scored twice. In 2010, he scored 3 goals in 22 games. Year 2011 saw him playing 29 matches and scoring 4 times. During that season Rugins was tried out in different positions, as the coach

Sergei Podpaly Sergei Ivanovich Podpaly (russian: Серге́й Иванович Подпалый; born 13 September 1963) is a Russian association football coach and former player. He works as a director of sports for FC Arsenal Tula. Honours * Russian Pr ...

faced a lack of defenders all season long. Ritvars usually plays as a midfielder, but periodically has also been part of the defensive and attacking lines, being described as a very universal player. Rugins is a three-time Latvian champion and has also won the

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

and

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 Scandinav ...

- each once respectively.

Illichivets Mariupol

On 9 January 2012 Rugins signed a contract with the

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( uk, "Українська Прем'єр-ліга", ''Ukrayinska Premier Liha'') or UPL is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. As the Vyshcha Liha ( uk, Вища ліга, ''Top League' ...

club

Illichivets Mariupol Football Club Mariupol ( uk, Футбольний клуб "Маріуполь" ) was a Ukrainian professional football club based in Mariupol, that competed in the Ukrainian Premier League. The club ceased to exist as a result of the Siege of ...

. He made his league debut for the club on 10 March 2012, coming on as a substitute in the 72nd minute against

Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk ( uk, Футбольний клуб «Шахтар» Донецьк , short nickname "miners") is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Donetsk. In 2014, due to the War in Donbass, the club was ...

Skonto Riga

In July 2012, Rugins returned to the

, signing for

Skonto Riga Skonto FC was a Latvian football club, active from 1991 until 2016. The club played at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Skonto won the Virsliga in the first 14 seasons of the league's resumption (15 in total), and often provided the core of the Lat ...

Riga FC

Rugins signed with

on 7 January 2019. Rugins departed the club at the end of the 2022 season.

International career

Rugins played for Latvia U-21 until 2010, scoring once in 12 matches. He made his debut for the national team in a friendly match against China (0–1) on 17 November 2010. As of August, 2012, Rugins has been capped 8 times for the national side.

Honours

FK Ventspils

* Latvian champion ** 2008, 2011 * Latvian Cup winner ** 2011, 2017 * Baltic League champion ** 2010

Riga FC

* Latvian champion ** 2019, 2020

National team

* Baltic Cup winner ** 2014, 2018

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rugins, Ritvars 1989 births Living people People from Tukums Latvian men's footballers Latvian expatriate men's footballers Latvia men's international footballers FK Ventspils players Skonto FC players Riga FC players Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine FC Mariupol players Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders