Vladimirs Babičevs

Football manager infobox
playername = Vladimirs Babičevs
fullname =


dateofbirth = birth date and age|1968|4|22
cityofbirth = Riga
countryofbirth = Latvian SSR, Soviet Union
height = height|m=1.78
currentclub =
youthclubs = 9. maijs
youthyears = 198?-1986
position = midfielder (retired)
years = 1987
1988-1992
1993-1999
2000
2000 2001-2002
2003-2006
clubs = Zvejnieks Liepāja
RAF Jelgava
Skonto FC Policijas FK Torpedo-ZIL FK Rīga FK Jūrmala
caps(goals) = 02 0(0)
0145 0(21)
0130 0(60)
010 0(0)
00 0(0)
026 0(8)
042+ 0(8+)
nationalyears = 1993-1999
nationalteam = Latvia
nationalcaps(goals) = 51 0(4)
manageryears= 2006 2008 2008-
managerclubs= FK Jūrmala JFC Olimps (assistant) FK Jūrmala

Vladimirs Babičevs (born April 22, 1968) is a Latvian football manager and a former footballer. Babičevs played in a 51 international match for Latvia.

Club playing career

His first club was 9. maijs where he played under Juris Docenko. In 1987 Babičevs joined Zvejnieks Liepāja for which he played 2 matches in the second Soviet league. In 1988 he switched to RAF Jelgava. With RAF he played for four seasons in different divisions of Soviet football, and in 1992 - in Latvian Virslīga. In 1992 RAF played a golden match against Skonto FC and lost 2:3. After the seasons Babičevs switched to the side of the victors - he joined Skonto.

With Skonto came the most successful years of Vladimirs' career - the club was by far the strongest in Latvia and Babičevs soon became one of the key players of Skonto. In 1994 he was the best goalscorer in the Latvian league with 14 goals and was selected the best forward in the league. In mid-nineties Babičevs' switched to midfield and in 1997 he was selected the best midfielder of the Latvian league. In 1997 Babičevs was the only Skonto player to score against FC Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers.

In 1999 Babičevs got to play rather little - both because of competition and of his injuries. Before the 2000 season Babičevs together with several other Skonto players who the club didn't count with for the upcoming season left for Policijas FK. In the middle of the season Babičevs joined the only foreign club of his career - Torpedo-ZIL in Russia but he didn't play in any matches for the club. In 2001 Babičevs joined the newly-founded FK Rīga with which the won the Latvian cup. In 2003 he switched to another new club - FK Jūrmala [ [http://www.national-football-teams.com/v2/player.php?id=11224 Babičevs' club statistics] ] .

National team playing career

Babičevs made his national team debut on June 2, 1993 as Latvia lost 1:2 at home against Northern Ireland. On November 15, 1994 he scored his first goal for Latvia as in a rather poor match it beat Liechtenstein 1:0. In his international career Babičevs wasn't as much of a goalscorer as playing in different clubs - over 51 matches for Latvia he scored 4 goals. His last match for Latvia came in 1999 as it drew 2:2 away against Georgia.

Coaching career

In the middle of the 2006 season Babičevs was signed as head coach of FK Jūrmala but his contract wasn't renewed at the end of the season as the club failed to finish in the 4th place in the Latvian league. On January 23, 2008 it was announced that Babičevs who after leaving FK Jūrmala was director of JFC Olimps was appointed assistant coach with the club [ [http://esports.lv/futbols/lmt_virsliga/24012008-babicevs_-_trenera_asistents Babičevs - assistant coach] (in Latvian)] .

Honours

* Champion of Latvia - 7 (1993-1999)
* Latvian Cup winner - 3 (1995, 1997, 1998)
* Best forward in Latvian league - 1 (1994)
* Best midfielder in Latvian league - 1 (1997)

References