Dainis Andersons

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dainis Andersons (1960-1999) was a Latvian football (soccer) player and manager, one of the most famous footballers from Valmiera.

[edit] Biography

Andersons started playing football in with the Valmiera youth team which was coached by Evgenijs Katajevs. Later when Katajevs took over the senior club Gauja Valmiera and with it earned promotion to the top LSSR league, Andersons went up together with Katajevs. In 1983 Andersons together with his Valmiera teammate Jānis Ozols earned an invitation to join Daugava Rīga - the best Latvian club which played in the 1st Soviet league.

Andersons stayed two years with Daugava, then returned to Valmiera. Soon he in addition to playing became the clubs head coach and in 1990 he brought Gauja to its only title in the Latvian league history^[1]. Andersons worked and played with Gauja until 1993 when the club collapsed.

In 1999 Andersons tragically drowned in the Gauja river while trying to save a drowning child.