Iļja Vestermans

Iļja Vestermans (1915–2005) was a Latvian football forward of Jewish origin.

Iļja Vestermans

Personal information
Date of birth	28 September 1915
Place of birth	Rīga, Russian Empire (now Latvia)
Date of death	2005 (aged 89–90)
Place of death	Florida, U.S.
Position(s)	Centre forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1931	Maccabi Riga
1933–35	Hakoah Riga
1935	Hakoah Vienna
1936–1937	Maccabi Tel Aviv
1937	Hakoah Vienna
1938	Racing Paris
1939–1940	Philadelphia Passon Phillies
1941–1943	New York Americans
1945	Brooklyn Hispano
1946–1947	New York Electrical Workers Union Team
National team
1935–1938	Latvia	23	(13)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He was born in Riga. For most of his career he played with the Riga Jewish community sports club Hakoah. He made his debut in the Latvia national football team in 1935 against Lithuania and scored two goals in the match.

In the 1938 FIFA World Cup qualification Vestermans scored in both matches as Latvia beat Lithuania and scored the single goal for Latvia against Austria in the decisive match for the World Cup spot.[1]

In his 23 matches for Latvia Vestermans scored 13 goals.[2] He was the third-highest scorer in the Latvian national team before the start of the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940, however, Vestermans had far less appearances than Ēriks Pētersons and Alberts Šeibelis who had a better goal-tally. Vestermans was considered as one of the most talented footballers in Latvia, rated especially high for his dribbling skills.[3]

Vestermans left Latvia for Austria 1935 to play professionally in Hakoah Vienna, later playing in Racing Paris and in the United States to where he fled in 1938. He died at the age of 90 in Florida.

References

1. World cup history (in Russian) Archived 13 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
2. RSSSF
3. Karlsons, Pēteris (1 January 2005). ""Gribēt ar vienu gribu, varēt ar vienu spēku..." No Latvijas futbola vēstures". Laiks (in Latvian).