Aurelijus Skarbalius

Football player infobox
playername= Auri Skarbalius


fullname = Aurelijus Skarbalius
nickname = Auri
dateofbirth = Birth date and age|1973|5|12|mf=y
cityofbirth = ?
countryofbirth = Soviet Union
height = 176 cm
currentclub = Herfølge BK
position = Manager
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1992-1994
1994-1995
1995-2005
2005
2006-
clubs = FK Zalgiris Vilnius
FK Inkaras Kaunas
Brøndby IF
→Herfølge BK (loan)
Herfølge BK
caps(goals) = 43 (6)
27 (4)
194 (2)
8 (0)
31 (0)
nationalyears = 1991-2005
nationalteam = Lithuania
nationalcaps(goals) = 65 (5)
manageryears = 2006-
managerclubs = Herfølge BK

Aurelijus Skarbalius, nicknamed "Auri", (born May 12, 1973) is a Lithuanian professional footballer, who started his career as a winger, but played mostly as either left- or right-sided fullback. He is 176 cm tall and weighs 77 kg. Skarbalius is a former captain of the Lithuania national football team, and he holds the record number of appearances for Lithuania with 65 international caps, during which he has scored 5 goals. He retired from international football in October 2005 after spending all 14 years with the national team since Lithuania gained independence.

Biography

Auri started his career in Lithuanian clubs FK Zalgiris Vilnius and FK Inkaras Kaunas, before he was bought by Danish Superliga club Brøndby IF in 1995, after he and FK Inkaras Kaunas met Brøndby in the 1995 UEFA Cup. At Brøndby he immediately won silverware, as the club won three Danish championships in a row in the 1995-96, 1996-97, and 1997-98 seasons. Despite only playing 17 games over the three championship winning seasons, Auri earned himself a cult following in the stands during his early years at Brøndby, as he didn't succeed in scoring any goals for the club. Apart from this, he was well liked for his high work ethics and team spirit.

He was a part of Brøndby's first stint in the UEFA Champions League 1998-99 main tournament, with the job to mark David Beckham of Manchester United and Luís Figo of FC Barcelona. Skarbalius got his big breakthrough in the 2000-01 season, playing 28 of 33 games in the Superliga, and in the championship winning season of 2001-02 he scored his only two goals for Brøndby, one in the Superliga, and one in the UEFA Champions League qualification against Dinamo Tirana. Incidentally Skarbalius was voted Brøndby's "Player of the year 2002" that season.

Following the summer 2002 arrival of new manager Michael Laudrup, new player Asbjørn Sennels was bought for the left side of the defence in the following December. Sennels was a part of the Danish national team at the time, and even though Sennels initially didn't find his feet at the club, Auri played the rest of the season as a substitute for the left and right side of the defence. Auri spent the next few years mainly on the bench in Brøndby, and for the last half of the 2004-05 season he was put on loan at Superliga relegation battlers Herfølge BK. Herfølge ended the season with relegation, and Auri returned to Brøndby to collect his 5th Danish championship title for Brøndby, for the games he played in the first half of the season.

For the first half of the 2005-06 season Skarbalius only took part in 3 matches for a combined 72 minutes on the pitch, and his contract was mutually terminated of December 31, 2005 to allow Auri to become a playing assistant coach at Herfølge in the Danish 1st Division. In November 2006, he was promoted to head coach of the club.

Honours

* Danish Superliga (5 titles)
**1995-96, 1996-97, 1997-98, 2001-02, 2004-05
*Danish Cup (3 titles)
**1997-98, 2002-03, 2004-05
*2002 Brøndby IF "Player of the year"

External links

* [http://www.brondby.com/player.asp?sid=20&id=33 Brøndby IF profile]
* [http://fotball.bladet-tromso.no/stats/isPlayer.jhtml?isPlayerID=94990 Career stats] (not including European matches)
* [http://90min.dk/auri-jeg-er-ingen-legende/ Interview with Auri] (In Danish)