Aleksandrs Koliņko (born 18 June 1975) is a Latvian retired professional footballer who works as assistant manager and goalkeeping coach of Latvian Higher League club FK RFS. Club career Koliņko was born in Riga and started his career in 1994, playing for Skonto Riga reserve team Interskonto, which was renamed Skonto-Metāls in 1995. After two seasons in the reserve team Koliņko broke through to Skonto Riga first team in 1996. In 1997, Koliņko participated in the UEFA Champions League qualification match against FC Barcelona, but eventually he became a first eleven player just in 1999, after the retirement of Oļegs Karavajevs. Koliņko made his name in the football world during a spell at English club Crystal Palace, where his appearances were limited due to his inconsistent form. He joined the club in 2000 alongside his international teammate Andrejs Rubins. He could make brilliant saves one moment, but terrible blunders the next. Reportedly, he was disciplined by the club after, while on the substitutes' bench, he was accused of laughing at a goal his own team had conceded and punched in the face by manager Trevor Francis. Francis was later fined by the club and the Football Association for his actions. In 2003, Koliņko was released by Crystal Palace and he joined the Russian Premier League club FC Rostov. Playing there for two seasons, Koliņko showed good performance and transferred to Rubin Kazan in January 2005. At that time he was certainly one of the best goalkeepers in the Russian Premier League. In 2006, Koliņko was named Latvian Footballer of the Year. He was dismissed from Kazan for an unexplained reason before the 2008 season, playing there for two years. After his release, Koliņko joined the Latvian Higher League club JFK Olimps, but after just playing six matches he left the club, following the interest from several clubs abroad. In May 2009, he signed a contract for 30 days with Dinamo București. At the end of the season the board announced he would not be offered a new contract. In August 2008, he went on trial with Notts County in England, but didn't stay with the club. In the summer transfer period he signed a contract with the Latvian Higher League club FK Ventspils. In December 2009, he extended his contract with Ventspils for another year. Despite this fact, he was linked with a move to the Russian club FC Sibir