Aleksandrs Cauņa

Aleksandrs Cauņa is a midfielder who currently plays for CSKA Moscow. He was born on 19 January 1988 in Daugavpils, Latvian SSR.

In 1995 Cauņa began his youth career at Dinaburg. In 2002 the promising youngster joined Skonto Riga, where he played until 2005. In 2006 the club offered him a professional contract, but Cauņa refused the offer and signed for Olimps Riga instead. Aleksandrs made 10 appearances and netted 2 goals for the club before reuniting with Skonto Riga. He was promoted to the first team and registered over 60 appearances during his 2006-2009 spell at the club. His positive display at Skonto Riga sparked interest of the scouts of Watford.

In 2009 Cauņa was loaned out to Watford for a season. Aleksandrs didn’t enjoy regular football at the club, featuring in 5 matches and scoring a goal. In January 2011 CSKA Moscow declared interest in the player’s services.

Cauņa joined the Russian club on a half-a-year loan. He took part in 3 matches for CSKA, showing the club’s management his great potential and playing abilities. He made a good impression on the training staff and the management, so there was no difficulty in making his move to CSKA permanent.

From 2006 to 2007 Cauņa won 3 international caps for the Latvia U21 team. Since 2007 the midfielder has been regularly called up to the Latvia national team. From 2007 to 2012 he made 29 appearances and notched 9 goals.