Valerijs Semjonovs

Valerijs Semjonovs (born August 07, 1958) is a former Latvian footballer who for the most of his career played for FK Daugava Rīga.

Playing biography

Semjonovs was offered to join Daugava after his superb performance in the youth tournament "Pārceltuve" (he was selected best forward of the tournament). In Daugava he played from 1978 to 1989 (for one season he played with FC Karpaty Lviv during army duty), scoring 48 goals in 302 matches. His strong sides were speed and good technique however he often failed to score from very good opportunities. His most successful seasons with Daugava were in 1979 (10 goals) and 1981 (16 goals), but later in the career his performance declined. In different stages of his career Semjonovs also played on different positions on the field - he started as a forward but also sometimes played in defense and as a half-back [ [http://klisf.info/numeric/index.app?cmd=ln&lang=en&id=214289792202078 Semjonovs' statistics in senior football] ] .

After the end of playing on a professional level Semjonovs played football on amateur level in Riga, went on to coaching (worked with the Latvia U16 national football team) and founded a sports club [Miķelis Rubenis. History of Latvian football, 2000, p.158 (in Latvian)] . In 2005 Semjonovs was a candidate in the elections for Riga City Council [ [http://www.pv2005.cvk.lv/kand/pv2005.pv2005_rezult_plus.kandidnr=21257432166 Semjonovs' bio on the official Latvian elections website] ] .

References