- 23 August 1988 in Kingston, Ontario

Kingston, Ontario

Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...

) was a Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

n football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 goalkeeper who played for Olimpija Liepāja

Olimpija Liepaja

Olimpija Liepāja was Latvian football club that in the 1920-1930s was one of the strongest in Latvia and with which played many Latvia national football team footballers. It was from the city of Liepāja.-History:...

 and Latvia national football team

Latvia national football team

The Latvian national football team is controlled by the Latvian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Latvia and represents the country in international football competitions, such as the World Cup and the European Championships. So far, they have never qualified for a FIFA World...

 in 1920s-1930s.

Biography

Lazdiņš made his debut for the top football club in Liepāja

Liepaja

Liepāja ; ), is a republican city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea directly at 21°E. It is the largest city in the Kurzeme Region of Latvia, the third largest city in Latvia after Riga and Daugavpils and an important ice-free port...

 in 1928 as Olimpija Liepāja

Olimpija Liepaja

Olimpija Liepāja was Latvian football club that in the 1920-1930s was one of the strongest in Latvia and with which played many Latvia national football team footballers. It was from the city of Liepāja.-History:...

 won its second Latvian league title. In the first year Lazdiņš was mainly the backup goalkeeper behind K.Minsterjānis but in 1929 he already was the number one goalkeeper for Olimpija.

Through the entire 1930s Lazdiņš played rarely was replaced in the goal of Olimpija and was considered one of the best goalkeepers in the country. He was tall and rarely made spectacular jumps but he always played without fear and as the first of Latvian goalkeepers started participating in playing outside the penalty area. Lazdiņš was the most popular footballer of Olimpija of his era.

Lazdiņš made 16 appearances for Latvia national football team, after matches against Poland, Germany and Sweden international football specialists praised him as a European class goalkeeper. The brightest season in his career came in 1936 when he managed to keep his goal shut in half of the games in the Latvian Virsliga

Virsliga

-Past Virslīga winners:-Top scorers:-Riga football league winners:* 1910 Union Riga* 1911 British FC Riga* 1912 Union Riga* 1913 British FC Riga* 1914 British FC Riga* 1915 British FC Riga-Champions of Latvia before Virslīga:* 1922 Ķeizarmežs...

 and played 5 matches for Latvia as it won four times and played one draw. With Olimpija Lazdiņš played from 1927 to 1944.

After World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 he ended up in Germany. There he played with TSV Schwaben Augsburg

TSV Schwaben Augsburg

TSV Schwaben Augsburg is a German football club which is part of a larger sports association whose origins go back to the 1847 formation of the gymnastics club Turnverein Augsburg...

 in 1946 and with FC Gundelfingen

FC Gundelfingen

The FC Gundelfingen is a German association football club from Gundelfingen an der Donau, Bavaria. A longtime fourth and fifth division side, the club is one of the top sides from Schwaben and has six Schwäbischer-Pokal wins to its credit....

 under management of his former Latvia national team mate Vladimirs Bērziņš

Vladimirs Berzinš

Vladimirs Bērziņš was a Latvian football midfielder and manager, one of the most capped footballers in pre-war Latvia.-Biography:...

 in 1947. In 1948 Lazdiņš played with RFC Liege in Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

. Afterwards he settled in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and played football in St Catharines.