| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ģirts Karlsons | ||
| Date of birth | 7 June 1981 | ||
| Place of birth | Liepāja, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union (now Republic of Latvia) |
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| Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Inter Baku | ||
| Number | 20 | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1998–2003 | Liepājas Metalurgs | 96 | (40) |
| 2004 | Shinnik Yaroslavl | 8 | (0) |
| 2005 | Venta | 6 | (0) |
| 2005–2007 | Liepājas Metalurgs | 66 | (34) |
| 2008 | De Graafschap | 5 | (0) |
| 2008–2009 | Liepājas Metalurgs | 32 | (24) |
| 2009– | Inter Baku | 48 | (10) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2003– | Latvia | 45 | (9) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 27 March 2010 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
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Ģirts Karlsons (born 7 June 1981 in Liepāja) is Latvian football striker currently playing for Azerbaijani club FC Inter Baku.
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Karlsons started his career at FK Liepājas Metalurgs in 1998. He spent the next six season with the club. In the 2003 Virslīga season he was second highest scorer in the league with 26 goals, which included two hat-tricks.[1]
After a month long trial, he moved to Russia in January 2004 to play for Shinnik Yaroslavl in the Russian Premier League, signing a three year contract.[2] However, after just one season, where he played only 8 league games, he returned to Latvia with newly promoted Venta Kuldiga in 2005,[3] However, the club struggled financially and after just five matches had to let some of their players go, including Karlsons[4] who returned to his hometown club, Liepājas Metalurgs later that same year. He scored another hat-trick in the 2005 Virslīga season, and he also scored in the Latvian Cup final on 25 September which Liepājas Metalurgs lost 2–1 to Venta Kuldīga.[5] He scored yet another hat-trick in the 2006 Virslīga season, and finished the season as the second highest scorer in the league with 14 goals. In the Latvian Cup he scored a hat-trick in the 6–1 semi-final win over Dižvanagi Rēzekne and then scored in the final which the club won 2–1 over Skonto.[6] In December he was named runner-up in the Latvian Player of the Year Award by the Latvian Football Federation behind the winner Aleksandrs Kolinko of FC Rubin Kazan in Russia.[7] His contract expired in July 2007 and it was not renewed. He was then linked with English Championship club Bristol City, before going on trial with Southampton[8] and in January 2008 he had a two day trial with Wolverhampton Wanderers.[9] He then had trials in the Netherlands with FC Zwolle and De Graafschap, [10] and on 8 February 2008 he signed for De Graafschap who that time competed in the Eredivisie.[11] He returned to Liepājas Metalurgs in the middle of 2008 because of the limited game time. After some impressive matches there he attracted interest from several European clubs, but finally settled down in Azerbaijan, signing a contract with Inter Baku in the summer of 2009. The next season he became the champion of Azerbaijan.
Karlsons played for the Latvia Under 21 team.[12] He currently plays for the Latvia national team and won his first cap on 20 December 2003 as a second half substitute against Kuwait in Cyprus which Latvia lost 2–0.[9] On 28 December 2005 he scored in Latvia's 2–1 win over Oman national football team to reach the final of the King's Cup in Thailand.[13] Latvia won the cup, beating Korea DPR 2–1 in the final on 30 December with Karlsons again scoring.[14]
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