Latvian coach Alexander Starkov

Alexander Starkov is a former Soviet football player, and now a Latvian coach who now trains the national football team of Latvia. He is 61 years old, so in the near future he may complete his professional career as a coach, so as not to overload his health too much. Alexander Starkov acted as a striker when he was still a player.

Carier start

Alexander Starkov was born on July 26, 1955 in the city of Madona, located in the Latvian SSR. There he started playing football and joined the football academy of the local club "FIR", with which in 1973 he entered into a professional contract when he reached adulthood. In the "FIR" he spent only two years, after which he moved to the "Daugava", with which most of his career will be connected. In 1976, Starkov played 24 matches for the new club, but he spent only one more year before he was invited to the Moscow "Dynamo". However, there Alexander Starkov did not stay and in the same year he returned to the club, which will play for a very long time.

Career player in the Daugava

So, Starkov Alexander Petrovich returned to the Daugava in 1978, when he was 23 years old, so as not to leave this club anymore. There he spent twelve years of his career, and in 1990 announced that he was leaving the sport. For these 12 years, the footballer has done a lot for the club - he went on the field 417 times, scoring 189 goals. His best season was in 1985, when he scored 28 goals in 46 games. For his services to the club and the country, he was recognized as the best player in Latvia for a whole fiftieth anniversary - from 1953 to 2003. Naturally, he was not going to finish on what he had achieved: Starkov Alexander Petrovich had already received a coaching license at the age of 35, and when he announced that he was completing his football career, he was immediately informed that he would become the new coach The Daugava.

Beginning of coaching career

Alexander Starkov - coach at 35 years old, it sounded very impressive, but the acting coach of the club was showing too good results to replace him. Therefore Starkov took the position of his assistant, where he stayed for two years. When he realized that he had nothing to wait for in the Daugava, he accepted an offer from the Football Union of Latvia and headed the youth national team of the country in the age group under 21 years. He trained him for one year and showed that he is capable of much. That is why in 1993 he received an offer from the Riga club "Skonto", which he headed.

Successes with Skonto

Starkov-football made a lot for Latvia. In particular, it is about what he gave to his club. "Daugava" (Riga) never before Starkov and never after him did not know such an incredible striker. However, not always a successful football player turns into a successful coach. Fortunately, in the case of Alexander Petrovich, everything turned out very well. In 1993, he headed Skonto and immediately won the Latvian championship with the club. Twelve years Starkov led the "Skonto", and twelve times the club won in the championship of Latvia. In addition, six times he managed to take also the Cup of Latvia, twice he won the Livonian Cup. And almost all this time Starkov in parallel played the role of assistant head coach in the national team of Latvia. He was invited there in 1995, and he left only in 2001. During this time, he managed to work with five different coaches, but none of them could not bring the national team to a new level. In 2001, Starkov himself tried himself as the head coach of the national team, still combining this activity with coaching at Skonto, and in 2004, when he left the club, he left the national team.

Period in Spartak

Alexander Starkov left Skonto and the Latvian team for a reason - he was offered a job in the Russian Spartak, a team that was one of the strongest during the Soviet era. But now the club was far from being so intimidating, and the management hoped that the new coach could breathe new life into it. Unfortunately, expectations did not materialize - Starkov, of course, managed to finish the Russian championship in 2005 in second place, and in 2006 to bring the club to the semi-finals of the Cup of Russia, the leadership of this was clearly not enough. Therefore, after only two years at the club, Starkov returned to his homeland.

Returning to Latvia

In March 2007, Alexander Starkov accepted the proposal of the Football Union of Latvia and again headed the national team of the country. He did a good job, showed not the worst results, but could not achieve something that no one before him. For all the time at the helm Starkov could not get any impressive victory, defeating only Luxembourg, Malta and other similar teams. And in 2013, when he was able to play in two games only twice and lost twice, and then was defeated by Bosnia and Herzegovina 0: 5, Starkov resigned as coach.

However, in 2009, while he was still working in the national team, he was invited again by the Riga "Skonto", which he led to 12 of 12 victories in the Latvian championship in the past. This time it was not possible to win: in 2009 Starkov was able to pull Skonto out of the crisis only to third place, and in the following he helped the club to win the Baltic League and reach the Livonian Cup final.

After that, Starkov headed the Azerbaijani "Baku", with which he worked for a year and a half. When he left first "Baku", and then the national team of Latvia, many believed that he would leave the sport. But after three years of break Starkov returned to assist the new coach of the Latvian national team Marjan Pahar, with whom he had already played nine games.