Arminas Narbekovas

Arminas Narbekovas

Personal information
Full name	Arminas Andreyevich Narbekovas
Date of birth	28 January 1965
Place of birth	Gargždai, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position	Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current team	None
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
1983–1990	Žalgiris Vilnius	155	(51)
1990	Lokomotiv Moscow	14	(2)
1990–1996	Austria Wien	115	(32)
1996–1998	VfB Admira Wacker Mödling	50	(9)
1998–1999	FCN St. Pölten	??	(?)
1999–2000	VfB Admira Wacker Mödling	20	(4)
2000–2001	SV Hundsheim	??	(??)
2001–2003	Wiener SK	11	(0)
2003–2004	White Star Brigittenau	11	(2)
2004–2005	SV Weikersdorf	23	(9)
National team
1988–1990	USSR	0	(0)
1990–2001	Lithuania	13	(4)
Teams managed
2004–2005	SV Weikersdorf
2006–2007	Žalgiris Vilnius
2007–2009	SV Donau Langlebarn
2009–2012	FK Banga Gargždai
2010–	Lithuania (assistant coach)
2012	FK Spartaks Jūrmala
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (goals)

Arminas Andreyevich Narbekovas (born 28 January 1965 in Gargždai) is a former Lithuanian football player. In 2003, he was selected by UEFA as his country's greatest player of the past 50 years.

Career

Narbekovas made his debut in 1983 with Žalgiris Vilnius, Lithuania's sole representative in the Soviet Top League, at the age of 18. In 1987, he finished second in league scoring with 16 goals while leading his club to a third-place finish, their best in history. Zalgiris would then participate in the UEFA Cup for the first time, losing to Austria Vienna.^[1] Austria would become Narbekovas' destination after Lithuanian players were allowed to move abroad. Arminas moved there in 1990 after a short stint with Lokomotiv Moscow, since Lithuania was not a part of UEFA yet and players from its clubs were not permitted to transfer.^[2] Narbekovas would spend the rest of his club career in Austria, with Austria Vienna until 1995 and then with Admira Wacker and a number of other lower division clubs.^[3]

Olympic medal record
Men's football
	1988 Seoul	Team

International career

Although he never received a FIFA-sanctioned cap for the USSR national team, he did play for them, and win the Gold Medal, at the 1988 Summer Olympics. Narbekovas scored two goals in the tournament, including an extra time one in the semifinals against Italy, helping the Soviets to a 3–2 victory. Also, he represented USSR in 1987 Summer Universiade.^[4] Arminas first played for Lithuania in its first ever game as a newly independent country, on 27 May 1990 against Georgia, and scored the first goal in the 2–2 tie. Unfortunately, injuries limited his career to just 13 caps and four goals for his country.

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	27 May 1990	Dinamo Stadium, Tbilisi, Georgia	Georgia	2–2	Draw	Friendly
2.	28 April 1992	Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland	Northern Ireland	2–2	Draw	1994 World Cup qualifier
3.	25 May 1994	Bazaly Stadium, Ostrava, Czech Republic	Czech Republic	5–3	Loss	Friendly
4.	9 October 1996	Žalgiris Stadium, Vilnius, Lithuania	Liechtenstein	2–1	Win	1998 World Cup qualifier
Correct as of 1 December 2014[5]

Honours

Narbekovas was named Lithuania's footballer of the year four times, from 1985 to 1988.^[6] In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's jubilee, he was selected by the Lithuanian Football Federation as the country's Golden Player – the greatest player of the last 50 years.^[7]

References

1. Austria Wien Career
2. Arminas packt aus
3. "Österreich ist Litauen mehr als zehn Jahre voraus"
5. Football PLAYER: Arminas Narbekovas
6. UEFA.com - Lithuania's Golden Player
7. Golden Players take centre stage

External links

• Arminas Narbekovas at National-Football-Teams.com