Sergejs Kožans (born 16 February 1986) is a

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

n former football defender, who played as a defender. He is currently first-team coach at

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the B ...

Club career

As a youth player Kožans played for JFC Skonto, making his professional debut in 2005. He spent 4 years playing 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 ...

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 ...

, all in all making 51 appearances and scoring 5 goals. In 2009, alongside his team-mate

Ivans Lukjanovs Ivans Lukjanovs (born 24 January 1987) is a retired Latvian footballer, who played as a winger. Club career Lukjanovs was born in Daugavpils, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union. As a youth player he played for JFC Skonto, making his first first-team ap ...

, Kožans joined the Polish

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 ...

side

Lechia Gdańsk Lechia Gdańsk () is a Polish football club based in Gdańsk. The club was founded in 1945 by people expelled from Lwów, who were supporters of Poland's oldest football team Lechia Lwów, founded in 1903. The club's name comes from Lechia, a ...

. In his first season with Lechia Kožans played 18 matches and scored 1 goal. All in all he spent three seasons in the

, playing 42 matches and scoring 1 goal. On 24 May 2012 it was announced that Kožans would leave the club. He became an unrestricted free agent, and on 13 October 2012 joined the

Belarusian Premier League The Belarusian Premier League or the Vyšejšaja Liha or the Vysheyshaya Liga ( be, Вышэйшая ліга, russian: Высшая лига, "Top League") is the top division of professional football in Belarus, and is organized by the Belaru ...

club Shakhtyor Soligorsk, signing a contract until the end of the season. They finished the 2012 Belarusian Premier League season as the runners-up. In March 2013 Kožans joined the fellow league club Slavia Mozyr. He played 5 league matches for the club, but then left because of personal reasons. In August 2013 Kožans returned to his former club

Skonto Rīga 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 Latv ...

in the

. In August 2014 he left the club because of its financial difficulties and unpaid wages, having played 15 league matches and scored 2 goals. On 7 August 2014 it was announced that Kožans would join the Polish First League club GKS Tychy.

International career

From 2003 to 2004 Kožans played for Latvia U-17 and from 2006 to 2008 he was a member of Latvia U-21 squad. However, he has not been capped for the senior side yet.

Coaching career

In January 2023, Kožans returned to

as a first-team coach.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kozans, Sergejs 1986 births Living people Latvian footballers Footballers from Riga Latvian people of Russian descent Latvian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Poland Expatriate footballers in Belarus Expatriate footballers in Lithuania Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Ekstraklasa players Skonto FC players Lechia Gdańsk players FC Shakhtyor Soligorsk players FC Slavia Mozyr players GKS Tychy players FC Šiauliai players Bytovia Bytów players FK Spartaks Jūrmala players Riga FC players Association football defenders Latvian football managers