Aleksandrs Starkovs

For the Russian footballer, see Aleksandr Sergeyevich Starkov.
Aleksandrs Starkovs
Personal information
Date of birth 26 July 1955 (1955-07-26) (age 56)
Place of birth Madona, Soviet Union
(now Republic of Latvia)
Playing position Striker (retired)
Club information
Current club FK Baku (manager)
Latvia (manager)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1973–1975 RPI Madona
1975–1977 FK Daugava Rīga
1977–1978 FC Dinamo Moscow 0 (0)
1978–1989 FK Daugava Rīga 303 (110)
Teams managed
1990–1993 FK Daugava Rīga (assistant)
1992–1994 Latvia U-21
1993–2004 Skonto FC
1995–2001 Latvia (assistant)
2001–2004 Latvia
2004–2006 Spartak Moscow
2006–2007 Skonto FC (sporting director)
2007– Latvia
2010–2011 Skonto FC
2011- FK Baku
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Aleksandrs Starkovs (born 26 July 1955 in Madona, Latvia) is a Latvian football coach and a former footballer. Starkovs is currently in his second spell as manager of the Latvian national team and is also the manager of FK Baku, having previously managed clubs such as Spartak Moscow in Russia and Skonto FC in Latvia.

Playing biography

Starkovs started playing football in Madona where he played for the local Olimpija Madona playing for which he was selected the best forward of the 1969 Latvia Leather ball tournament. In 1975 Starkovs joined FK Daugava Rīga. In 1978 Starkovs went to FC Dynamo Moscow but it wasn't the right team for him, so soon Starkovs was back in Riga. However his best years were still to come - in 1980s Starkovs was one of the best snipers of the Soviet first league, scoring over a hundred goals for Daugava.

In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Latvia by the Latvian Football Federation as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. [1]

Coaching career

As a team manager Starkovs made his name with Skonto FC which he brought to innumerable Latvian championships. He also worked with Latvia national under-21 football team and in 2001 he was appointed the general manager of Latvian national team. He took over the Latvian national team after its disastrous performance in 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and lead the team to its biggest success ever, qualifying for Euro 2004 with a victory over World Cup bronze medalist Turkey.

After his success as the national team coach, he joined Spartak Moscow winning the silver medal of the Russian league in 2005, but in April 2006 he was forced to quit due to total obstruction from the team's fans and a conflict with former team captain Dmitri Alenichev.

Starkovs returned to Riga and in 2007 took over the Latvian national team which was struggling under Jurijs Andrejevs.

In 2009 he accepted the offer to coach Skonto FC and in January 2010 became the manager of the team as Paul Ashworth - the previous manager - left. His return was very successful and he managed to win the league with Skonto FC. In January 2011 he left Skonto FC, signing a contract in Azerbaijan with FK Baku. After signing the contract it was stated that he would continue managing Latvia as he did before.

References
Skonto FC – managers
  • Zahodins (1991–92)
  • Starkovs (1993–04)
  • Andrejevs (2004–05)
  • Ashworth (2005–09)
  • Starkovs (2009–2001)
  • Pahars (2011)
Latvia squad – UEFA Euro 2004
FC Spartak Moscow – managers
(c) caretaker
FK Baku – current squad