Aleksandrs Dibrivnijs

Infobox Football biography
playername= Aleksandrs Dibrivnijs
dateofbirth = birth date|1969|08|28
cityofbirth = Jēkabpils
countryofbirth = Latvian SSR
position = Forward (retired)
years = 1987-1989
1989
1990
1991-1994
1994-1995
1996
1997
clubs = VEF Rīga
Junioru izlase
Pārdaugava Rīga
Skonto FC
Olimpija Rīga
Skonto/Metāls
Daugava Rīga
caps(goals) =
nationalyears = 1993
nationalteam = Latvia
nationalcaps(goals) = 01 (0)

Aleksandrs Dibrivnijs (born August 28, 1969 in Jēkabpils) is a former Latvia international footballer, a four-time champion of Latvia.

Biography

In his very first senior season in 1987 Dibrivnijs won the Latvian Cup with VEF Rīga. In the cup final against Torpedo Rīga Dibrivnijs came on as a substitute and scored the winning penalty in the aftermatch penalty shootout. Dibrivnijs spent two years with VEF but in 1988- [1989] he had to start his military service in the Soviet Army. During the first months in the army Dibrivnijs still was allowed to play football with VEF, then he was assigned to play with RAF Jelgava, however as he didn't make the first-squad selection of RAF, he mostly played with Junioru izlase. After Dibrivnijs had expressed an interest in joining FC Baltika Kaliningrad, Dibrivnijs was sent to continue his service far from Latvia - in Irkutsk. There he played football with the local army squad and attracted interest from the management of FC Zvezda Irkutsk. He participated in some trainings with the club but wasn't allowed to play for it.

After completing his military service and returning to Riga Dibrivnijs received transfer papers for joining Zvezda Irkutsk, but he stayed in Riga and joined Pārdaugava Riga which was then coached by Jānis Gilis. In 1991 Dibrivnijs joined Skonto Riga for which he played until the summer of 1994, winning the Latvian Higher League all these four years [ [http://www.skontofc.lv/lat/speletaji/visi_speletaji/ Players of Skonto FC] ] . In 1993 Dibrivnijs played his single official match for Latvia national football team as it beat Estonia national football team to win the Baltic Cup [ [http://www.lff.lv/lv/aizlase/vesture/1993/ Latvian international football in 1993] ] .

In the middle of the 1994 season Dibrivnijs left Skonto, as after an injury he got very little playing practice. He joined Olimpija Rīga which had won the silver medals of the Latvian league the previous year but was already on a decline in 1994 and in 1995 finished in the 9th place in the Latvian League and went bankrupt. After that Dibrivnijs spent one year Skonto/Metāls. In his last season in the Latvian Higher League in 1997 Dibrivnijs played with Daugava Rīga which under the management of Jurijs Popkovs won the silver medals of Virslīga.

After leaving FC Daugava Dibrivnijs continued playing football with several Latvian First League clubs, however his preferences switched to futsal in which he also represented the Latvia national team, and in later years also took up coaching. As of October 2008 he is the playing head coach of the strongest Latvian futsal club - Nikars Rīga.

Honours

*Latvian Higher League (4): 1991-1994 (Skonto)
*Latvian Cup (2): 1987 (VEF), 1992 (Skonto)
*Baltic Cup: 1993

References