Artis Lazdiņš (born 3 May 1986) is a Latvian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for German club Greifswalder FC. Club career Early career Artis Lazdiņš started playing football in his early childhood being taken to trainings to his local team FK Limbaži (coach: Valdis Matīss) by his father. In 2000 his family decided to move to the USA. He then continued playing football in an American-Ukrainian football (soccer) academy Chornomorets-USA in NYC. In 2004, after graduating from the Julia Richman High School, he returned to Latvia and played for FK Auda in Riga until the end of 2005. FK Ventspils In 2006 Lazdiņš was signed by FK Ventspils. In his first season in Ventspils Lazdiņš played for the reserve team and did not take part in the first-team action. In 2007 Lazdiņš had three appearances, not finding the net. In the next two years the number of appearances grew to 12 and 18, respectively. Lazdiņš became the champion of Latvia with FK Ventspils three times in a row - from 2006 to 2008. He also participated in the UEFA Europa League group stages in 2009. However, in 2009 the team's managers changed and Lazdiņš was no more needed within the squad, with his contract being terminated by a mutual agreement. FK Jelgava After leaving Ventspils Lazdiņš started looking for a club abroad but was then handed an offer by the Latvian Virsliga newcomers FK Jelgava. He signed a contract for one season and soon after joining became a first eleven player. In his first season there he played 24 matches and also managed to win the Latvian Cup. In January 2011 Lazdiņš extended his contract with FK Jelgava for another season. In August 2011 he went on trial with the Danish team Randers but did not stay with them, returning to Jelgava. All in all, Lazdiņš played 24 matches, scoring two goals in the 2011 season. The 2012 season started badly for Jelgava and having played 15 matches, Lazdiņš used the release clause of his contract in July 2012. Piast Gliwice In August 2012 Lazdiņš went on trial with the Polish Ekstraklasa club Piast Gliwice and signed a contract with them in September 2012. He scored his first goal for the club on 30 March 2013 in a 1–1 league match draw against Jagiellonia Białystok. The 2012-13 season, which was the debut season for Piast since the return