Vilnis Straume is a former 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...

 player.

Biography

In 1956 Straume joined Daugava Rīga - the club for which he played until the end of his footballer career. However in 1957 he had to serve in the Soviet Army and also played with FK Dinamo Rīga with which he together with future Daugava players Georgijs Smirnovs

Georgijs Smirnovs

Georgijs Smirnovs is a former Latvian footballer and football manager. In 2006 Latvian Football Federation selected Smirnovs as one of the 11 greatest footballers in the first 100 years of football in Latvia.-Biography:...

 and Georgijs Gusarenko

Georgijs Gusarenko

Georgijs Gusarenko is a Latvian football inspector and manager and former footballer.Gusarenko made his first steps in football in the sports school Daugava in Riga. In 1959 he played in the reserves squad of FC Dynamo Moscow. From 1960 to 1962 he played with Daugava Rīga in the Soviet Top League...

 won the Latvian Cup. Straume was a very hard working defender with one ambition - to play in the Soviet Top League

Soviet Top League

The Soviet Top League since 1970 was officially known as the Supreme League serving as the top division of Soviet Union football since 1936.It was one of the best football leagues in Europe ranking second among the UEFA members in 1988-1989 seasons...

. From 1960 to 1962 he achieved this ambition as Daugava competed in the Soviet Top League. From 1956 to 1966 he played in 308 matches with Daugava and scored one goal.