Roberts Savaļnieks

Roberts Savaļnieks (born 4 February 1993 in Valmiera) is a Latvian professional footballer who plays for Latvian Higher League club RFS and the Latvia national team.

Club career Originally, from Valmiera, Savaļnieks moved to Liepāja at an early age to train and play for the youth teams of Liepājas Metalurgs. He was taken to the first team in 2009, and with the playing time gradually growing, Savaļnieks became a first eleven player in 2012. Over the period of five consecutive seasons with the club he participated in 80 league matches and scored five goals, as well as played in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.

In January 2014, Savaļnieks went on trial with the Polish Ekstraklasa club Jagiellonia Białystok and signed a contract with them for half-a-year with an option to extend it for two more years. He made his debut for the club on 16 February 2014, coming on as a substitute in a 1-0 league defeat to Ruch Chorzów. In June 2014, having played three league and one cup match, it was revealed that Jagiellonia would not extend Savaļnieks' contract.

In July 2014, he returned to the Latvian Higher League and joined the newly established FK Liepāja. With 11 appearances and 2 goals in the remaining part of the season, he helped the club finish the league in the top four.

After winning the Virsliga with Liepāja, in 2015 Savaļnieks joined Riga FC.

International career Savaļnieks was a member of Latvia U18, Latvia U19 and Latvia U21 football teams. On 25 February 2014, Savaļnieks received his first call-up to the senior national team for the following friendly match against Republic of Macedonia on 5 March 2014. He remained an unused substitute throughout the match.

Career statistics International

Scores and results list Latvia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Savaļnieks goal. + List of international goals scored by Roberts Savaļnieks No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 1 30 March 2021 Atatürk Olympic Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey 1–2 3–3 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification 2 25 March 2022 National Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta 1–1 1–1 Friendly

Honours Liepājas Metalurgs Latvian Higher League: 2009

Liepāja Latvian Higher League: 2015

RFS Latvian Higher League: 2021, 2023, 2024 Latvian Cup: 2019, 2021, 2024 Latvian Supercup: 2025

Latvia Baltic Cup: 2016, 2018