The striker Vladislavs Gutkovskis was recognized as the best football player of Latvia in 2021, on Friday the Latvian Football Federation (LFF) winners were announced.
Gutkowski, the striker of the Latvian national team and the Polish club Czestochowa’s Rakow, has been recognized as the best footballer for the first time.
The best football player award was given to the Latvian national team and the Icelandic team IBV midfielder Sandra Voitāne, who received this award for the second year in a row. Voitāne started the German Bundesliga team Meppen last season and then joined the Austrian club Wacker in Innsbruck. She joined the Icelandic unit before the start of the upcoming season.
The best indoor footballer (Germans Matyushenko) and beach footballer (Mikhail Skurotovich) have also been traditionally determined.
Artjom Milov, Chairman of the Board of LNK Industries, was awarded the LFF President’s Award for his special contribution to Latvian football. Miķelis Rubenis and Georgijs Smirnovs received the award for their lifetime contribution to Latvian football.
Raimonds Krollis was recognized as the best youth footballer for the second year in a row, but Sofija Gergeležis was awarded such an honor among women. For the first time, it was also awarded to the best youth space footballer received by Edgar Tarakanov.
Coaches Andrejs Karpovs and Reinis Flaksis are also praised in the youth football section. “Playoff” arena received an award as the best organizer of youth football and “Riga Football School” was recognized as the most creative children’s and youth football club.
The brothers have named Uldis Strautmanis the best journalist of the year in Latvian football, but the award for popularizing football in the digital environment has reached the Valmiera football club.
Andris Treimanis, who received this award for the seventh time in his career, was recognized as the best referee of the year in Latvian football. For the first time in his career, Roman Platonov has been recognized as the best assistant judge. The title of the best judge is Jelena Jermolajeva, and the title of the best assistant is Līga Didriķe. For the first time, the best indoor football referee was named, receiving the award for Ingum Puriņš.
This year, Arturs Šketovs received the award for the best indoor football coach, who is receiving this award for the second year in a row. Jevgenijs Gedertsons was recognized as the best coach in women’s football, while Viktors Morozs was named the coach of the year.
Leonti Vamba (Spartak), who scored 14 goals, and Bogdan Samoilov (Auda), who scored eight goals in the Future League, were the top scorers in the Optibet league last season.
Tomasz Šimkovičs was named the best player of last season’s Optibet Premier League championship, who also received the award as the best midfielder, but goalkeeper Rihards Matrevics, defender Žiga Lipuščeks and striker Raimonds Krollis earned recognition elsewhere. Bogdan Samoilov received the award as the best player in the first league (Optibet Future League).
As usual, the winners in the nominations were determined by summarizing the votes submitted by a wide range of representatives of the Latvian football community. Voters in the respective nominations included representatives of the LFF committees, coach councils, clubs, teams and academies, sports journalists and participating organizations.
Last year’s outstanding were nominated in a total of 31 nominations. This year, two new nominations were added – the best indoor football player of the youth (the award is named after Raimonds Valts) and the best indoor football referee.
In 2020, goalkeeper Pavels Steinbors was recognized as the best football player in Latvia.
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