Marian's Pahars

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Marian's Pahars
Marians Pahars as discount coach.jpg
Marians Pahars 2011
Personnel
birthday 5th August 1976
place of birth Chornobaj ,  Ukrainian SSR
size ~ 175 cm
position Midfielder , winger , striker
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1994 FK Daugava Riga 17 0(3)
1995 Discount Metals 16 0(4)
1995-1998 Riga discount 85 (44)
1999-2006 Southampton FC 137 (43)
2006-2008 Anorthosis Famagusta 19 0(4)
2008 Riga discount 19 0(8)
2009 FK Jūrmala-VV 1 0(0)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
Latvia U-18
Latvia U-21
1996-2007 Latvia 75 (15)
Stations as a trainer
Years station
2010-2011 Discount Riga (Co-Tr.)
2011-2013 Riga discount
2013-2017 Latvia
2018– FK Jelgava
1 Only league games are given.

Marians Pahars (often incorrectly: Marian Pahars ; born August 5, 1976 in Chornobaj , Ukrainian SSR ) is a former Latvian football player and current coach . At the zenith of his career, he played for Southampton FC in England from 1999 to 2006 . During this time he was named Latvia's Footballer of the Year three times in a row . He came back to Latvia via Cyprus and ended his active career there in 2009. In 2011, after the departure of Aleksandrs Starkovs , he took over as coach of Skonto Riga . From July 2013 to April 2017 he was the Latvian national coach.

Club career

Career start in Latvia

According to various sources, Pahars began his career in Chornobaj, in what was then the Ukrainian SSR, or in Riga, in what was then the Latvian SSR. He was born in his later Latvian homeland. Initially a supporter of Spartak Moscow , Pahars attended school in what was then the Latvian SSR, which in turn, when Marians Pahars was eight years old, was attended by the then already quite successful Skonto Riga youth trainer Jurijs Andrejevs , who at that time was still sporadically im Professional football was active. Thanks to Andrejevs, Pahars decided to start himself in the football field, where he was initially used in local clubs. He finally got into men's football at the age of 17 or 18 when he joined the professional team of FK Daugava Riga , which at that time was already represented in the Virslīga , the top division of Latvian football . There the offensive player was used in his first season in 17 league games in which he scored three goals. After a place in the middle of the table, he moved to Skonto-Metāls , the Skonto Riga team, which is actually considered a farm or reserve team. In the team, which at that time was also based in the Virslīga, Pahars, who at that time was still mainly used in midfield, but mainly on the wings, made 16 league appearances in which he met four times. Via the reserve team he finally made it to the men's team of Skonto Riga in the same season , where he was able to establish himself as a striker for the first time and was also very successful as a goalscorer with eight goals from nine games. While the reserve team occupied seventh place in the table, Skonto Riga once again took first place in the table and thus celebrated the fourth championship title since the introduction of the Virslīga in 1992. But Marians Pahars won not only the championship title with the team in this Season, he was also successful with the team in the Latvian soccer cup . So you could win the cup for the game year 1995 almost without any problems.

Successful run with discount Riga continues

Even after his first personal championship title, the successful run of the capital city club, which at that time was considered the best Latvian football club at all, continued. While he became a regular in the attacking row of Skonto Riga in the 1996 game , was used in all 28 league games and scored twelve times in the opposing goal, he was able to celebrate the championship again with the club from Riga. In the 1996 Latvian Cup , the team made it to the final, but lost to RAF Riga 1: 2. Another success this year was for Pahars and his team, among other things, the victory in the Turkmenistan President's Cup of 1996 . In the following game year , the offensive strength of the player, who had also played in the Latvian national team since the previous year, decreased significantly, mainly because he mostly returned to his former positions in midfield. After 22 appearances and five goals from Marians Pahars, the team was once again able to assert itself clearly in the league and again won the championship title without losing points (24 wins and 4 draws). In the Latvian Football Cup 1997 Skonto Riga prevailed again with Pahars, who was also successful as a goalscorer in the 2-1 final victory over FC Dinaburg . This winning streak continued in 1998 , when under long-term coach Aleksandrs Starkovs , who was to accompany the club until 2004, the seventh championship title in a row was won. As in the previous year, they were able to prevail 1-0 in the 1998 cup final against Liepājas Metalurgs and again celebrate the cup victory. In the course of the league action, Marians Pahars was used in 26 championship games, in which he contributed 19 goals, and was voted the best striker in the league at the end of the season, although there were other players who came to more goals this season. After the offensive player had been under observation by various scouts over the years, the first concrete offers from international clubs followed after the Pahars flood in 1998, which also invited him to trial training units. Among other things, he completed trial training with the Italian second division promoted Salernitana Calcio , with Werder Bremen , which has long been established in the German first class, and with the formerly successful Austrian representative Casino Salzburg , but was then signed by FC Southampton to play in the English Premier League .

Successful move to the island

After he previously played with the reserve team in a game against Oxford United and was able to achieve a hat trick in the subsequent 7-1 win, the young Latvian recommended himself for a commitment at the club from the South East England region . In addition, Gary Johnson, who was new to the position of Latvian team boss at the time, had a share in the successful transfer of the young Latvian to England, as he had a good relationship with the then Southampton coach Dave Jones . For a rumored transfer fee of around £ 800,000, Marians Pahars was finally transferred from Skonto Riga to Southampton FC in mid-February 1999. Due to some difficulties in obtaining a work permit and the concerns of the PFA , Pahars finally joined the team in March 1999. At the club from the port city of Southampton , he was jointly responsible when the team managed to stay in league shortly before the end of the season after the team stayed in the relegation zone of the table until April and feared relegation. In addition to various offensive players, such as the attacking midfielder, captain and club legend of FC Southampton, Matthew Le Tissier , Pahars was used in six league games by the end of the 1998/99 season and recorded three goals. The Latvian made his debut at the same time as Southampton made the turnaround in the league on April 5, 1999 in a game against Coventry City when he came on the turf in the 70th minute. With the final against FC Everton , the southern Englanders secured themselves relegation after Marians Pahars contributed both goals in the 2-0 win. This year Pahras was also voted Latvia's Footballer of the Year for the first time because of his achievements . In the two following years, the striker was honored twice in this way, which makes him, together with his team partner at Skonto Riga or in the national team, Vitālijs Astafjevs , the record holder of this award with three elections for Latvia's Footballer of the Year.

With his two goals in the season finale, he became a crowd favorite and was also referred to as "Latvian Michael Owen " from the coming season , which is partly due to his time in the national team, but above all to his scoring danger at club level. While Dave Jones, the coach of the Saints, the team's nickname, was forced to step down as head coach in January after suspicion of child abuse surfaced against him and he was replaced by Glenn Hoddle , Marians Pahars also had to change his position as a player. Still active in the attack line under Jones, he moved to the wing under Hoddle , but still finished the season as the team's top scorer. The man with the shirt number 17 scored 13 goals in 33 league appearances and was barely among the ten most dangerous players in the league-wide list of goalscorers. With the team he came up to 15th place in the table, while Le Tissier, one of his offensive partners, was the first midfielder in history to reach the 100 goal mark. At the end of the season, the Saints extended his contract for another five years. 1999/2000 already one of the regular players , he was also used as one of the regulars in the 2000/01 season , where he made 31 championship appearances. Due to his position change from striker to winger, his goalscoring rate decreased somewhat, although he still managed nine goals by the season finale, where he secured a comfortable place in the middle of the table with the team. While Hoddle left the team in March 2001 and was replaced by interim coach Stuart Gray , who carried out his office until the end of the season and then until October, at the end of the season, Southampton FC moved after 103 years in The Dell to the newly built and greater St. Mary's Stadium .

There, Pahars should finally find his way back to his position as a striker, during which time he and James Beattie formed a dangerous strike duo. In the 2001/02 season it was largely successful for the Latvian, although his team weakened especially in the early stages of the season and was mostly only to be found on relegation places, which also resulted in a renewed change of coach. Gray gave way and Strachan came, which then led to an upswing in the team, which was represented in the middle of the table by the end of the season. Up to this point the Latvian International had 36 championship appearances and 14 goals scored. With 14 hits, Pahars and the then Chelsae offensive player Eiður Guðjohnsen made it to eighth place in the league-wide list of goalscorers and, with Beattie, was the second best striker in the league. At the end of this season, "Le God", as Matthew Le Tissier is also called by the fans, one of his offensive partners, ended his active career after having been with Southampton FC for almost 18 years. An operation on the groin, which Pahars underwent during the summer break, was the beginning of a series of injuries that nearly cost him his career and made him no longer a regular player. After he was halfway regenerated, Marians Pahars made it back to the professional team of the southern English, but had to pause the rest of the season due to an injury after a serious injury to his ankle in November 2002, where he only made nine league appearances and one goal. Despite the fact that with Pahars one of his best offensive players was missing, Southampton FC made it to eighth place in the table by the end of the season, the best performance since promotion to the Premier League. In addition, the team also reached the final in the 2002/03 FA Cup , which they lost, however, after a Pirès goal, just 1-0 to Arsenal . As Arsenal had already qualified as champions for the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League , the starting position for the first round of the 2003/04 UEFA Cup went to FA Cup finalists Southampton.

Lengthy series of injuries

After a long rehabilitation phase and some time in the reserve team, Pahars found his way back into the team only slowly in the 2003/04 season , where he only scored one goal in 14 appearances, but still from his former discount trainer Aleksandrs Starkovs into the Latvian squad for the 2004 European Championship was fetched. His only goal, the first after almost a year, he scored with his strong right foot in the 3-0 home win over Portsmouth FC on December 21, 2003. With the team, he lined up in the final standings in twelfth place in the table. After Strachan left the club in February 2004, the successor period was mainly characterized by various coach changes. Strachan's successor Steve Wigley took over the team management until March 2004, before he was replaced by Paul Sturrock , who carried out his position as head coach of Southampton FC until August 2004. While Marians Pahar's old ankle injury worsened in the preparation period prior to the 2004/05 season , he was forced to take the entire 2004/05 season off. The Latvian wanted to fight his way back into the professional squad by playing in the reserve team before the pain in his ankle became more acute again and he had to refrain from making it into the Premier League this season. During this time, the team was again led for several months by Steve Wigley, who handed over his office in December 2004 to Harry Redknapp , who brought the team to the first relegation in 28 consecutive years in the Premier League. After Redknapp carried out his office until December 2005 and then handed it over to George Burley , Pahars was first used again in the 2005/06 season . But this season was also riddled with numerous injury-related failures by the Latvian offensive player. While the Saints only settled in the middle of the table of the Football League Championship , the once dangerous Latvian was used in only eight championship games in which he scored one goal. In May 2006, the club declared that they would no longer want to extend the expiring contract of Marians Pahars, which meant the departure of the Latvian, who had made 137 league appearances and 34 goals by then. After the last game of the season, the crowd favorite took part in a lap of honor through the stadium together with the rest of the Saints' players.

Change to Cyprus and return home

Marians Pahars as a player in 2008

In July 2006 he moved to Cyprus , where he signed a three-year contract with the Cypriot first division club Anorthosis Famagusta , although he also had inquiries from Coventry City or Derby County . But his long-running injury was also present in Cyprus, which was not exactly conducive to his career on the team. With 17 appearances and four goals, he came with the team in the final standings of the 2006/07 season in third place, which was equivalent to a starting place in the first qualifying round for the 2007/08 UEFA Cup . At the same time, the team was able to win the Cypriot Football Cup of the 2006/07 season. Without losing points, Anorthosis Famagusta was able to secure the 13th championship title in the club's history in 2007/08 , with Marians Pahars only having two goalless appearances in the championship due to another extended absence . At the same time, the team also made it to the final of the Cypriot Football Cup 2007/08 , but lost to APOEL Nicosia 2-0. Due to his long-term injury, he was dismissed from the club by mutual agreement in February 2008, whereupon he returned to his home country for the first time, where he also signed a contract with his former home club Skonto Riga until the end of the season.

Under coach Paul Ashworth , Marians Pahars was only able to easily build on his previous form, with eight goals in 19 league appearances in the 2008 game year and with the capital club in third place in the table behind FK Ventspils (1st) and Liepājas Metalurgs (2nd) .) lined up. For the following season he moved to FK Jūrmala-VV , where he completed his last professional league use on April 25, 2009 in the 0-1 home defeat against Olimps Riga , when he came on the lawn in the 78th minute for Jurģis Kalns . After that, Pahars was in the club's professional squad until the beginning of 2010, although it was no longer used. After the departure of Ashworth, Pahars former coach Aleksandrs Starkovs took over the position of head coach at Skonto Riga and brought Pahars and Vitālijs Astafjevs into the team as assistant coaches. Both held this position up to and including 2011, including the championship title in the 2010 game year . After Starkovs also left the club in 2011, Pahars was appointed as head coach of the club, who in turn retained Astafjevs as assistant coach and also Jurijs Ševļakovs as second assistant coach, Aleksandrs Kulakovs as goalkeeping coach and the athlete Viktors Lācis as co -coach Fitness coach brought into the team. In the 2011 season he led his team for the first time as head coach.

In July 2013 he took over the position of Latvian national coach from Aleksandrs Starkovs .

National team career

Marians Pahars began his international career in the youth teams in his home country, where he was a member of the Latvian U-18 national team, for which he first appeared in a UEFA -organized competition in 1993 . In addition, Pahars has also been used by the Latvian U-21 selection throughout his career . He joined the national team of Latvia at the beginning of 1996, making his debut on March 12, 1996 in a 0-1 away defeat in a friendly against Cyprus . He made his first goal for his home country in his ninth international match, a 2-3 loss to Poland on February 17, 1997. In 1997 he was able to finish the Baltic Cup with the Latvian national team in second place and repeated this again the following year . In addition, he played numerous games in qualifying for the 1998 World Cup , but with the Latvians could not prevail against Austria and Scotland and ended up with the team in fourth place in Group 4 . In 2001 Pahars, who wore the shirt number 17 both at club level and in the national team, won the Baltic Cup for the first time after the tournament had not been played in the previous two years. During this time, Marians Pahars also completed numerous players in the qualification phase for the 2002 World Cup , where the Latvians repeatedly failed to prevail. After he no longer took part in the Baltic Cup 2003 and the Baltic Cup 2005 with the team , he was still used sporadically for the Latvian national team. Although he was already struggling with his protracted injury at that time, he was called up by the then head coach of the Latvian national team Aleksandrs Starkovs for the Latvian squad for the 2004 European Championship in Portugal . At the Euro, he was finally used as a substitute in all three group matches in Latvia, but remained goalless and retired with the team as the bottom of group D from the current tournament. This was followed by further mostly sporadic missions until 2007, when he finally withdrew from the Latvian national soccer team. By this time he had completed 22 European Championship ( 2000 , 2004 and 2008 ) and 16 World Cup qualifying games and scored a total of five goals. Throughout his entire career in the national team, Marians Pahars has made appearances in 75 official international matches and scored 15 goals. In addition, he has long been considered the Latvian top scorer in the national team since the country's independence in 1991. Currently (as of April 6, 2011) he and Juris Laizāns are fourth in the all-time scorers list of the Latvian national team and also ranked 10th in Latvia's perpetual mission list.

successes

As a player

With discount Riga

With anorthosis Famagusta

With Latvia

As a trainer

With discount Riga

With Latvia

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c according to other sources also Riga , Latvian SSR
  2. ↑ a b Proof of Tschornobaj ( memento of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English), accessed on June 7, 2011
  3. ↑ Pahars replaces Starkovs UEFA.com, July 11, 2013, accessed August 24, 2013.
  4. ^ Marian Pahar's interview , accessed June 10, 2011
personal data
SURNAME Pahars, Marians
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pahars, Marian (wrong but often used spelling)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Latvian soccer player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH 5th August 1976
PLACE OF BIRTH Chornobaj , Ukrainian SSR