Imants Bleidelis
# Imants Bleidelis

Imants Bleidelis (born 16 August 1975) is a Latvian former professional football midfielder. He made 106 appearances for the Latvia national team.

## Club career

Born in Riga, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union, Bleidelis started his career at Skonto in 1992. In 1994, he played for Inter Skonto, and then between 1994 and 1999 he played 128 games scoring 24 games for Skonto. Skonto then sold him to English club, Southampton who were then in the Premier League, for £650,000, where he joined fellow countryman Marians Pahars. Bleidelis signed a three-and-a-half-year contract. He played only two league games in three seasons, and after being allowed to go on trial in Denmark with Superliga club, Viborg FF January 2003 Southampton released him on 26 January, and two days later he signed a two-year contract with Viborg, where he scored six goals in 55 appearances.

He left Viborg in winter 2004 after turning down a new contract. Despite offers from two Latvian clubs, Skonto and FK Venta in 2005 he moved to Austria to play for Austrian Bundesliga club Grazer AK where he signed a two-year contract. He made his debut for the club on 17 February 2005 in the UEFA Cup against English club Middlesbrough.

He moved back to Latvia in 2006 with FK Jūrmala. In 2007, he moved to FHK Liepājas Metalurgs. Bleidelis had his contract with FK Liepājas Metalurgs terminated on 7 July 2008 along with another Latvian international, Andrejs Rubins.

## International career

Bleidelis played over 100 international matches and scored ten goals for the Latvia national team. He made his debut on 19 May 1995 against Estonia in the Baltic Cup. He played at the Euro 2004 finals and his 100th appearance came on 2 June 2007 against Spain in UEFA European Championship qualifier.

## Honours

Skonto

* Virsliga (6): 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998
* Latvian Football Cup: 1992, 1995, 1997, 1998

Metalurgs

* Virsliga runners-up: 2007
* Baltic League: 2007
* Baltic Football: 2002
