Iļja Vestermans Explained

Iļja Vestermans
Birth Date:1915 9, df=yes
Birth Place:Rīga, Russian Empire (now Latvia)
Death Place:Florida, U.S.
Position:Centre forward
Years1:1931
Years2:1933–35
Years3:1935
Years4:1936–1937
Years5:1937
Years6:1938
Years7:1939–1940
Years8:1941–1943
Years9:1945
Years10:1946–1947
Clubs1:Maccabi Riga
Clubs2:Hakoah Riga
Clubs3:Hakoah Vienna
Clubs4:Maccabi Tel Aviv
Clubs5:Hakoah Vienna
Clubs6:Racing Paris
Clubs7:Philadelphia Passon Phillies
Clubs8:New York Americans
Clubs9:Brooklyn Hispano
Clubs10:New York Electrical Workers Union Team
Nationalyears1:1935–1938
Nationalteam1:Latvia
Nationalcaps1:23
Nationalgoals1:13

Iļja Vestermans (28 September 1915 – 2005) was a Latvian football forward of Jewish origin.

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 Latvia 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 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.

Notes and References

  1. http://www.chas-daily.com/win/1998/03/11/s_65.html World cup history (in Russian)
  2. https://www.rsssf.org/miscellaneous/let-recintlp.html RSSSF
  3. Karlsons. Pēteris. 1 January 2005. "Gribēt ar vienu gribu, varēt ar vienu spēku..." No Latvijas futbola vēstures. Laiks. lv. 14 February 2023. 3 February 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200203190615/http://periodika.lv/periodika2-viewer/view/index-dev.html?lang=fr#panel:paissue:/p_000_xlak2005n01article:DIVL657query:I%C4%BCja%20VestermansissueType:P. dead.