Dainis Andersons 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 (soccer)

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...

 player and manager, one of the most famous footballers from Valmiera

Valmiera

Valmiera is the largest city of the historical Vidzeme region, Latvia, with a total area of 18.1 km². It is the center of the Valmiera District. As of 2002, Valmiera had a population of 27,323, and in 2008 – 27,569....

.

Biography

Andersons started playing football in with the Valmiera youth team which was coached by Evgenijs Katajevs. Later when Katajevs took over the senior club Gauja Valmiera

Gauja Valmiera

Gauja Valmiera was a Latvian football from Valmiera that played in the top Latvian league from 1979 to 1993.It was named after the river Gauja. In the 1990s another Valmiera football club - FK Valmiera - was renamed to Gauja.-History:...

 and with it earned promotion to the top LSSR league, Andersons went up together with Katajevs. In 1983 Andersons together with his Valmiera teammate Jānis Ozols earned an invitation to join Daugava Rīga - the best Latvian club which played in the 1st Soviet league.

Andersons stayed two years with Daugava, then returned to Valmiera. Soon he in addition to playing became the clubs head coach and in 1990 he brought Gauja to its only title in the Latvian league history. Andersons worked and played with Gauja until 1993 when the club collapsed.

In 1999 Andersons tragically drowned in the Gauja

Gauja

The Gauja is one of the longest rivers in Latvia, with a length of and a catchment area of . Its source is in the hills southeast of Cēsis. It first flows east and north and forms the border with Estonia for about . South of Valga and Valka, it turns west towards Valmiera, continuing southwest...

river while trying to save a drowning child.