Marians Pahars facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Marians Pahars

Pahars in 2020
Personal information
Date of birth	(1976-08-05) 5 August 1976 (age 48)
Place of birth	Chornobai, Ukrainian SSR (now Ukraine)
Height	1.75 m
Playing position	Forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1994	Pārdaugava	17	(3)
1995	Skonto-Metāls	16	(4)
1995–1998	Skonto	85	(44)
1999–2006	Southampton	137	(43)
2006–2007	Anorthosis Famagusta	19	(4)
2008	Skonto	19	(8)
2009–2010	Jūrmala	2	(0)
Total		295	(106)
National team
1996–2007	Latvia	75	(15)
Teams managed
2011–2012	Skonto
2013	Latvia U21
2013–2017	Latvia
2018–2019	Jelgava
2021	Siena
2022-	Latvia (assistant)
Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Marians Pahars (born 5 August 1976) is a Latvian professional football manager and a former player. He is well-known for his time as a striker for English club Southampton. There, he played in the Premier League and the Championship.

Pahars also played two times for Skonto in the Latvian Higher League. He played 75 games for the Latvia national team, scoring 15 goals over eleven years. After retiring from playing, Pahars became a coach. He started as an assistant at Skonto, then became a manager. He managed Latvia's under-21 and senior teams. Later, he managed Jelgava. In Latvia, his name is Marians, but in England, he was often called Marian.

Playing Career Highlights

Starting Out at Skonto

Marians Pahars was born in Chornobai in Ukraine. His parents were Latvian. When he was young, he supported Spartak Moscow. A coach from Skonto, Jurijs Andrejevs, visited his school when Pahars was about eight. This visit made Pahars want to play football. Andrejevs became a very important person in Pahars' football journey.

At 18, Pahars signed with Pardaugava Riga. He then moved to Skonto Metāls. In 1995, he joined the Skonto first team. He began his career as a midfielder, usually playing on the wings. Later, he moved to a striker's role.

Pahars had his best goal-scoring record in 1995, scoring eight goals in nine games. The next season, he scored 12 goals in 28 games. He became a regular player for the Latvia national team. People sometimes called him the "Latvian Michael Owen" because of his skills. In the 1998 season, he scored 19 goals in 26 games for Skonto. His great performance caught the eye of bigger clubs. He had trials with teams in Italy, Germany, and Austria. However, Gary Johnson, who managed the Latvian national team, recommended Pahars to Southampton's manager Dave Jones.

Time at Southampton

Pahars had a trial match for Southampton's reserve team on 10 February 1999. He scored three goals in that game, helping his team win 7–1. Southampton agreed to pay Skonto about £800,000 for him. Even with some challenges to get a work permit, he joined the Saints in March 1999. This made him the first Latvian player in the Premier League.

He played his first game for Southampton on 5 April 1999, as a substitute against Coventry City. His first home game was on 17 April at The Dell. He came off the bench and scored a key goal against Blackburn Rovers in a 3–3 draw. At that time, the Saints needed to win their last game of the season to stay in the Premier League. Pahars scored two goals in a 2–0 win against Everton. This victory kept Southampton in the top league.

During the 1999–00 season, he played 33 games and was the club's top scorer with 13 goals. The new manager, Glenn Hoddle, moved Pahars to a wider position. The idea was that his dribbling and speed would create chances for others and allow him to score too.

He started the 2000–01 season well, scoring six goals as a striker. But when he moved back to a deeper role, his performance dropped. He still created chances for teammates, but his scoring became less consistent. He finished that season with nine goals.

At the start of the next season, he scored the winning goal against Bolton Wanderers on 15 September 2001. He scored regularly for the next three months. This included the winning goal in a 1–0 victory over Charlton Athletic on 24 November. This was Southampton's first win at their new St Mary's Stadium.

After the New Year, his goals became less frequent. However, he ended the season with his best total for the Saints: 16 goals in the League and FA Cup. Pahars' 16 goals, combined with 14 goals from his strike partner James Beattie, meant they had one of the best scoring partnerships in the Premier League.

In the summer of 2002, Pahars had a hernia operation. This meant he missed all of the pre-season training. Although he scored a penalty against Everton on 11 September, he never fully recovered from his injury. His season was often interrupted, and he received a red card against Manchester City. In November 2002, he badly injured his ankle. This injury kept him out for most of the 2002–03 season. He even needed another operation just before the FA Cup final.

The 2003–04 season also started with injuries. Even when he tried to play for the reserve team, his injuries came back. However, he did play in the final minutes when Latvia qualified for Euro 2004. This motivated him to get fit. He played three games in a row for the Saints, and they won all of them. His first goal of the season came on 21 December 2003, against local rivals Portsmouth. He scored a fantastic goal in a 3–0 home win.

After recovering from one injury, he was injured again during the 2004–05 pre-season. A late tackle on his already injured ankle meant he missed the start of the season. He tried to come back in reserve games, but the problems returned. He missed the entire season, which was frustrating as Southampton was relegated after 28 years in the top league.

The 2005–06 season was also difficult due to many injuries. He played ten games and scored one goal. However, it was not enough to continue his career at Southampton. In May 2006, after seven years, 156 games, and 45 goals for the club, his contract was not renewed. After the last game of the season on 30 April 2006, Pahars walked around the St Mary's pitch to say an emotional goodbye to the fans.

Later Clubs

In July 2006, Pahars signed with Anorthosis Famagusta, a team in Cyprus. This team was managed by former Georgian player Temuri Ketsbaia. His injury problems continued while he was at this club. Because of this, he was released in January 2008.

Pahars playing for Skonto

In 2008, he returned to his former club Skonto. He played there for one season and helped the club achieve good results. After that season, he left Skonto and joined Jūrmala. He finished his playing career there, playing two games in the national championship.

International Career

Pahars joined the Latvia national team in early 1996. His first game was on 12 March 1996, a friendly match against Cyprus, which Latvia lost 1–0. He scored his first goal for Latvia in his ninth game, against Poland on 17 February 1997, in a 3–2 friendly defeat.

On 2 September 2006, he played for the Latvia national team again in a match against Sweden. In total, he played 75 games and scored 15 goals for Latvia.

Latvia did not qualify for the World Cup Finals. However, in June 2001, they won the Baltic Cup by beating Estonia and Lithuania. Pahars scored in both of these games. In November 2001, Pahars was named Latvian Footballer of the Year for the third year in a row.

Despite his injuries, he played in the final minutes when Latvia qualified for the European Championships in 2004. This happened after a 2–2 draw against Turkey on 19 November 2003. He continued to struggle with injuries. However, he scored his first goal for Latvia since May 2002 in a 3–1 friendly win over Kazakhstan on 18 February 2004.

Because of his many injury problems that season, he was a substitute for all three of Latvia's group matches at Euro 2004. He came off the bench in all three games to experience the championships.

Managerial Career

Coaching Skonto

In 2010, Pahars became an assistant coach at Skonto. He worked alongside Aleksandrs Starkovs and the famous player Vitālijs Astafjevs. He helped the club win the Latvian championship in 2010 as an assistant manager.

In 2011, Starkovs left to manage Baku in Azerbaijan. Pahars then became the manager of Skonto. He managed the club for two seasons. During this time, he helped the club win the Baltic League in 2011 and the Latvian Football Cup. They also finished second in the Latvian Higher League in 2012. In December 2012, Pahars left Skonto, and Tamaz Pertia took over as manager.

Managing Latvia's National Teams

Pahars got a chance to return to coaching when the LFF offered him the job of manager for the Latvian under-21 national team. Soon after, on 11 July 2013, Pahars was promoted. He became the manager of the nation's senior team, after Aleksandrs Starkovs left the position.

As manager, Pahars led Latvia to win the 2014 and 2016 Baltic Cups. However, he could not guide the team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup in both 2014 and 2018. He also failed to qualify for the UEFA European Championship in 2016.

Coaching Jelgava

Pahars returned to Latvian club football, taking charge of Jelgava for their 2018 Latvian Higher League season. In his first season, he led them to a sixth-place finish. In his second season, Jelgava finished seventh in the Latvian Higher League. Pahars left the club at the end of that season.

Short Time at Siena

On 26 January 2021, Italian club Siena hired him. The club was in the fourth-tier Serie D at the time. He resigned less than a month later, on 10 February, after a series of bad results.

Career Statistics

Club Appearances and Goals

International Appearances and Goals

Scores and results list Latvia goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Pahars goal.

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	17 February 1997	Dherynia, Cyprus	Poland	1–2	2–3	1997 Cyprus International Football Tournament
2.	10 July 1997	Vilnius, Lithuania	Estonia	2–1	2–1	1997 Baltic Cup
3.	25 June 1998	Valga, Estonia	Estonia	1–0	2–0	1998 Baltic Cup
4.	8 February 1998	Ta'Qali, Malta	Malta	1–1	1–2	1998 Malta International Football Tournament
5.	10 February 1998		Albania	1–0	2–2
6.				2–2
7.	6 September 1998	Oslo, Norway	Norway	1–0	3–1	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
8.	5 June 1999	Riga, Latvia	Slovenia	1–0	1–2
9.	9 October 1999		Norway	1–1	1–2
10.	25 April 2001		San Marino	1–0	1–1	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
11.	2 June 2001	Brussels, Belgium	Belgium	1–3	1–3
12.	3 July 2001	Riga, Latvia	Estonia	2–1	3–1	2001 Baltic Cup
13.	5 July 2001		Lithuania	2–1	4–1
14.	22 May 2002	Helsinki, Finland	Finland	1–0	1–2	Friendly
15.	18 February 2004	Larnaca, Cyprus	Kazakhstan	1–1	3–1	2004 Cyprus International Football Tournament

Managerial Record

As of 29 June  2021 (2021 -06-29)^[update]

Awards and Achievements

As a Player

Skonto

• Virslīga: 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998
• Latvian Football Cup: 1995, 1997, 1998

Individual Awards

• Latvian Footballer of the Year: 1999, 2000, 2001

As a Manager

• Baltic Cup: 2014, 2016

Images for kids

• 

  Pahars playing for Skonto F.C.

See also

In Spanish: Marian Pahars para niños