 Astafjevs in training with Latvia in 2009 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1971-04-03)3 April 1971 (age 54) | ||
| Place of birth | Riga,Latvian SSR,Soviet Union | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Aris Limassol (assistant manager) | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1990–1992 | Daugava Rīga | 26 | (11) |
| 1992–1996 | Skonto | 99 | (43) |
| 1996–1997 | Austria Vienna | 26 | (1) |
| 1997–1999 | Skonto | 55 | (17) |
| 1999–2003 | Bristol Rovers | 108 | (16) |
| 2003–2004 | Admira Wacker | 28 | (2) |
| 2004–2005 | Rubin Kazan | 30 | (10) |
| 2006–2008 | Skonto | 26 | (6) |
| 2009 | RFS/Olimps | 14 | (1) |
| 2009 | Ventspils | 5 | (0) |
| 2010 | Skonto | 14 | (2) |
| Total | 431 | (109) | |
| International career | |||
| 1992–2010 | Latvia | 167 | (16[1]) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2010–2014 | Skonto Riga (assistant manager) | ||
| 2012 | Skonto-2 | ||
| 2013 | Latvia U-21 (assistant manager) | ||
| 2013–2018 | Latvia (assistant manager) | ||
| 2014–2016 | FK Jelgava | ||
| 2020 | Riga FC II | ||
| 2021– | Aris Limassol (assistant manager) | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Vitālijs Astafjevs (born 3 April 1971) is a Latvian professionalfootball coach and former player who played as amidfielder. He is an assistant manager of Cypriot clubAris Limassol having previously held the role for theLatvia national team.
Astafjevs won nine Latvian championships withSkonto Riga. He also played abroad for clubs in Austria, England and Russia. At international level, Astaefjevscaptained Latvia atUEFA Euro 2004. With 167caps for his country Astafjevs held the European record for the most international matches played, until being overtaken byGianluigi Buffon in 2017. He is currently the joint sixteenth-most capped male footballer in history, alongsideIker Casillas.[2]
Born inRiga, Astafjevs started his professional career withSkonto Riga in 1992, shortly afterLatvia had regained its independence from theSoviet Union. He played there for five seasons, until 1996, becoming a vital first eleven player. They won the league in each of his first four seasons. Twice, in 1995 and 1996, Astafjevs was named the Latvian footballer of the year. In 1995, atypically for a midfielder, he became the top scorer of the league with 19 goals in 28 matches. In 1996, he moved abroad for the first time in his career and joinedAustria Vienna in Austria. He played there just for a season and then, in 1997, returned to Skonto. He played there for three seasons, and won three more league titles. He went abroad again in 2000, this time joiningFootball League Division Two sideBristol Rovers in England.
Astafjevs was signed for Rovers byIan Holloway, who then managed to persuade authorities to issue him with a work permit. He arrived in the second half of the 1999-2000 season when the club were in second place. His fifth match was away toOldham Athletic and saw him score and set up two more in an eventual 4–1 win, despite being stretchered off. Rovers fell to seventh by the end of the season, missing the play-offs. The following season had them relegated to the fourth tier for the first time in their history. He scored only twice during the 2001–02 season, but in the following campaign he scored four in the last six league matches to avoid a further relegation. He was then released by managerRay Graydon.[3]
In 2003, after being released, he returned to Austria and joinedAdmira Wacker Mödling. In 2004, after theEuropean Championship, having spent one season in Austria, Astafjevs joined theRussian Premier League clubRubin Kazan. Once again he was one of the team's leaders there. Finishing the 2005 season, Astafjevs decided to joinSkonto Riga again, where he became the Latvian champion 8 times (previous years of playing also included). In 2007, at the age of 36, he was once again named Latvian footballer of the year.
On 9 September 2008, alongside his teammateMarians Pahars, Astafjevs announced his retirement from professional football. After a few days Astafjevs declined this fact, stating he could play for a different club. After the new year it was announced that Astafjevs would play forOlimps/RFS and he would also be the assistant manager alongsideAndrejs Štolcers and Mihails Koņevs, whilst the manager of the club would be the Dutch coach Anton Joore.[4]Olimps/RFS then hadn't secured themselves a place in the higher league yet, but there was a possibility if the club merged with another team fromRiga. After a half season spent there he joined last season's championsVentspils, who were completing their squad for the upcomingUEFA Europa League matches.[5] Appearing in the tournament's group stages, Astafjevs played only 5 matches there and was released in November 2009. In 2010 Astafjevs returned toSkonto Riga once again and became the Latvian champion with them. After the 2010 season Astafjevs retired from professional football.
Astafjevs debuted for Latvia at the age of 21 on 26 August 1992, against then-European championsDenmark in qualification for the1994 FIFA World Cup. From that time he was a vital player in the national team, playing there for 18 years. Astafjevs scored his first international goal on 2 July 1993 on his 14th cap, a friendly 2–0 win overEstonia.[6]
In 1999, after the retirement ofVladimirs Babičevs, Astafjevs became the captain of the team. His first match as captain was his 58th in total, againstGreece on 31 March in qualification forEuro 2000. On 31 March 2004, he became the first ever Latvian player to play 100 internationals, as they beatSlovenia in an away friendly. As the team's captain, he participated in theEuro 2004 championship in Portugal, playing in all three of Latvia's games. His last international appearance was a friendly match againstChina on 17 November 2010. There was a special ceremony after the game to honour him. After his retirement, defenderKaspars Gorkšs was elected to be the next captain of the team.[7]
On 14 October 2009, in a2010 FIFA World Cup qualification match againstMoldova, Astafjevs equalled the European record for the most matches in a national team; Astafjevs went level with the then-record holder EstonianMartin Reim on 157 caps.[8] On 15 November 2009, in a friendly match againstHonduras, Astafjevs set a new European record with 158 caps. His European record of 167 caps was matched byIker Casillas andGianluigi Buffon in June 2016 and November 2016 respectively, and was later broken in March 2017 by Buffon.[2]
After his retirement from professional football, Astafjevs accepted an offer to become the assistant manager ofSkonto Riga.[9] At the start of 2012 he was appointed as the manager ofSkonto-2, but was later succeeded byTamaz Pertia.[10] At the start of 2013 he was selected to be the assistant manager ofLatvia national under-21 football team, coached by his former club and international team-mateMarians Pahars.[11] On 11 July 2013, Pahars became the manager ofLatvia national football team[12] and chose Astafjevs to be one of his assistants.[13] On 4 June 2014, Astafjevs became the manager ofFK Jelgava.[14] In April 2018 Astafjevs left the assistant manager's position of the Latvia national team, following the sacking of head coachAleksandrs Starkovs.
In January 2019, Astafjevs was appointed as the new coach of thePafos FC academy, taking charge of the U17 and U19 age groups.[15] In 2020, he returned to Latvia as the head coach of theLatvia U17 team as well as the assistant head coach ofFK Auda.[16] In 2021, he again departed Latvia to return to Cyprus as assistant manager ofAris Limassol.[17]
Skonto
Latvia
Individual
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