Igors Tarasovs

Igors Tarasovs (born 16 October 1988) is a Latvian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back.

Club career

As a youth player, Tarasovs played for JFC Skonto and was promoted to the first team in 2006. Making just one first team appearance, he was soon loaned out to the unofficial Skonto Riga farm-team Olimps/RFS to get playing practice. During his loan spell from 2007 to 2008, Tarasovs played 50 matches and scored two goals. He returned to Skonto in 2009, becoming a starting player. Representing the club for three years, Tarasovs made 84 league appearances and scored eleven goals, becoming the Latvian champion in 2010 and the Baltic League champion in 2011. In 2011, the fans voted him as the Skonto Riga Player of the Season.

At the start of 2012, Tarasovs refused to extend his contract with Skonto and went on trials with Jagiellonia Białystok in Poland, Inter Baku in Azerbaijan and Tatran Prešov in Slovakia. On 15 February, Tarasovs signed a contract with the Azerbaijan Premier League club Simurq PFC until the end of the season, joining his international team-mate Andrejs Rubins. Tarasovs scored three goals in 14 games that season, helping his team secure a place in the top tier for the upcoming season.

In July 2012, Tarasovs returned to Latvia, signing a contract with the Latvian Higher League club Ventspils. Throughout two seasons with the club, he scored eight goals in 37 league matches and helped the team win the championship and the Latvian Football Cup in 2013. Tarasovs also participated in the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League qualifying matches.

Tarasovs went on trials with Baník Ostrava and Bodø/Glimt in the Czech Republic and Norway, but eventually signed a contract with the Belarusian Premier League club Neman Grodno in February 2014. On 22 March 2014, Tarasovs scored the winning goal for Neman in the extra-time of Belarusian Cup quarter-final match against BATE Borisov, securing his team a 2–1 victory and a place in the semi-finals. He scored in the 100th minute, beating his international team-mate Germans Māliņš in the BATE Borisov goal.

On 27 November 2014, Tarasovs signed a one-year contract with the Polish Ekstraklasa club Jagiellonia Białystok, with an option to extend for two more seasons.

On 7 July 2017, he moved to Śląsk Wrocław.

On 9 August 2019, it was confirmed that Tarasovs had joined Spartaks Jūrmala.

International career Tarasovs was a regular player for Latvia U21 from 2008 to 2010. He scored once in eight appearances. Tarasovs was firstly called up for Latvia international squad for a friendly match against Angola on 3 March 2010. He made his debut then coming on as a replacement for Vitālijs Astafjevs in the 73rd minute.

Career statistics Club

International

Scores and results list Latvia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Tarasovs goal.

Honours Skonto Riga Latvian Higher League: 2010 Latvian Cup: 2010–11 Baltic League: 2010–11

Ventspils Latvian Higher League: 2013 Latvian Cup: 2012–13