Algimantas Liubinskas

Algimantas Liubinskas (born November 4, 1951 in Kybartai) is a Lithuanian politician and former manager of the Lithuania national football team.

Football

At 31 years old, Liubinskas became the youngest ever coach of the Soviet Supreme League team Žalgiris Vilnius (which he coached from April 1983 to April 1985).

In 1992 he was named the manager of the Lithuanian national team. Despite wins against Slovenia and Ukraine in 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Liubinskas was fired in 1995 after an argument with the Lithuanian Football Federation. His next job saw him move back into club football as he won the 1996/97 Lithuanian title with FK Kareda Šiauliai, but subsequent spells at FK Panerys Vilnius, Ekranas Panevėžys, and Polish side Jagiellonia Bialystok were less successful. He returned to coaching in 2002, as Lithuania's Under-21 coach, and was handed the senior team job the following year. In this position, he replaced Benjaminas Zelkevičius, who had been Liubinskas' replacement in 1995. Liubinskas lasted five years as head manager before he resigned in 2008. Famous results during his second tenure include a 1-1 draw against Germany in Nuremberg, a 1-0 victory over Scotland in Kaunas, and a 1-1 draw in Naples against Italy. All three fixtures occurred during European Championship qualifiers.

Prior to his coaching career, Liubinskas played 62 games for Žalgiris Vilnius from 1973 until 1974.

Politics

On August 4, 2008, Liubinskas quit his role as national team coach in order concentrate on campaigning for a seat in the Seimas as a member of the right-wing Order and Justice party. [cite news|url=http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iPYRDZqRDMNqSgbNUYa_Fv5nxrjg|title=Lithuania coach quits to launch political career|publisher=AFP|date=2008-08-04|accessdate=2008-08-06]

References

External links

* [http://www.uefa.ch/news/newsid=385018,printer.htmx Liubinskas on UEFA.com]