during his stay at the club, and, as a result, in January 2008, he was released. In 2008, he joined his former home-land club Skonto, playing there for one season and helping the club reach good results in the national championship. After the season, he left Skonto FC, joining FK Jūrmala-VV finishing his career there with two games in the national championship. International career Pahars broke into the Latvian national team at the start of 1996, and made his debut on 12 March 1996 in a 1–0 friendly defeat away to Cyprus. His first goal for his country came in his ninth match at home to Poland in a 3–2 defeat also in a friendly on 17 February 1997. On 2 September 2006, he returned to the Latvian national team for a match against Sweden. All in all, he played 75 times and scored 15 goals for Latvia. Despite Latvia not qualifying for the World Cup Finals they did have success in June 2001 when they beat Estonia and Lithuania, to lift the Baltic Cup, with Pahars scoring in both games. Pahars was then named Latvian Footballer of the Year for a third successive year in November 2001. During a spell of injuries, he managed to play in the closing minutes as Latvia claimed a place in the European Championships in 2004 with a 2–2 draw in Turkey on 19 November 2003. He again struggled for full fitness before scoring his first goal for Latvia in a 3–1 friendly win over Kazakhstan on 18 February – his first international goal since May 2002. With so many injury problems over the season he was a substitute for all three of 2004 UEFA Latvia's Group matches at Euro 2004, although he did taste the championships by coming off the bench in all three games. Managerial career Skonto In 2010 Pahars accepted an offer to become Aleksandrs Starkovs' assistant at Skonto alongside legendary Vitālijs Astafjevs. He became the champion of Latvia in 2010 once again, this time in an assistant manager's role. In 2011 Starkovs left for FK Baku in Azerbaijan and Pahars became the manager of the club. Managing the club for two seasons, he helped the club win the Baltic League in 2011 and lift the Latvian Football Cup, as well as finish as the runners-up of the Latvian Higher League in 2012. In December 2012, Pahars left Skonto, being succeeded