Aurelijus Skarbalius

Aurelijus Skarbalius (Danish pronunciation: [ˈɑwʁi]; born 12 May 1973) is a Lithuanian professional football manager and former player, who started his career as a winger, but played mostly as either left- or right-sided full-back. He is the Global Director of Capelli Sport, the owner of his former club HB Køge.

Auri Skarbalius
Personal information
Full name Aurelijus Skarbalius
Date of birth (1973-05-12) 12 May 1973
Place of birth Vilnius, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Full-back
Team information
Current team
 HB Køge (head coach)
Youth career
Žalgiris Vilnius
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1992–1994 Žalgiris Vilnius 43 (6)
1994–1995 Inkaras Kaunas 27 (4)
1995–2005 Brøndby 194 (2)
2005 → Herfølge (loan) 8 (0)
2006–2008 Herfølge 39 (0)
Total 311 (12)
International career
1991–2005 Lithuania 65 (5)
Managerial career
2006–2009 Herfølge
2009–2011 HB Køge
2011–2013 Brøndby
2013 Haslev FC
2014–2015 Viborg FF
2015–2016 Brøndby IF U19
2016 Brøndby (caretaker)
2016 Brøndby IF U19
2017–2018 Žalgiris Vilnius
2018–2019 FK Trakai
2020–2021 HB Køge
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Auri started his career in Lithuanian clubs Žalgiris Vilnius and Inkaras Kaunas, before he was bought by Danish Superliga club Brøndby IF for $150,000[1] in 1995, after he and Inkaras 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 did not 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 1998–99 UEFA Champions League 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 Denmark 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 Boldklub. 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 three matches for a combined 72 minutes on the pitch, and his contract was mutually terminated of 31 December 2005 to allow Auri to become a playing assistant coach at Herfølge in the Danish 1st Division. Before leaving Brøndby he managed to become the most capped foreign player in the club's history with almost 200 appearances.

International career

Skarbalius is a former captain of the Lithuania national team, and he previously held the record number of appearances for Lithuania with 65 international caps, during which he has scored five goals. He retired from international football in October 2005 after spending all 14 years with the national team since Lithuania gained independence.

Coaching career

In November 2006, he was promoted to head coach of the Herfølge BK. When Herfølge in 2009 merged with Køge Boldklub, Skarbalius continued as manager of the new club called HB Køge. On 8 June 2011, it was announced, that Auri would be taking the job as assistant manager for Henrik Jensen at his former club Brøndby IF starting in January 2012, but when Jensen was sacked on 24 October, Auri was appointed as caretaker manager for the remainder of 2011.

In October 2012, with Brøndby last in the 2012–13 Superliga table, Skarbalius was expected to be sacked soon, according to Danish bookmakers.[2] However, he remained as head coach for the remainder of the season and on 20 May 2013 a new Superliga contract was secured in the last game away to Horsens.[3] A new club board sacked him and sports director Ole Bjur on 10 June 2013 and Auri was replaced by Thomas Frank.[4]

In September 2013, he was announced as manager of minor Danish club Haslev FC.[5] He managed Haslev until Christmas 2013, and in February 2014 he was announced as the replacement for the knee injured Ove Christensen at Viborg FF.[6] Skarbalius could not save the club from relegation, but in the following season he helped the team to promote to the Danish Superliga once again. However, following the promotion he left the club by mutual consent.[7]

In the autumn of 2015 Skarbalius became youth coach at Brøndby IF. When Brøndby-manager Thomas Frank resigned in March 2016 following criticism from the chairman, Skarbalius was once again made manager of the club.[8]

On 27 November 2017, it was announced that Skarbalius has signed a contract to become head coach of his first club Žalgiris Vilnius.[9] He was sacked on 22 June 2018.[10]

In December 2018, Auri became head coach of FK Trakai.[11] After 2019–20 UEFA Europa League first qualifying round, when the club had changed its name to FK Riteriai in the meantime, and had struggled against KÍ Klaksvík, he left the club team.[12]

On 5 December 2019, it was announced that Skarbalius would return as manager of HB Køge on 1 January 2020.[13]

Career statistics
Scores and results list Lithuania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Skarbalius goal.
List of international goals scored by Aurelijus Skarbalius[14][15]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
117 November 1991Kretinga City Stadium, Kretinga, Lithuania Latvia1–11–11991 Baltic Cup
217 August 1994Eyravallen, Örebro, Sweden Sweden2–32–4Friendly
37 September 1994Republican Stadium, Kyiv, Ukraine Ukraine2–02–0UEFA Euro 1996 qualification
420 May 1995Daugava Stadium, Riga, Latvia Estonia1–07–01995 Baltic Cup
529 July 1995Žalgiris Stadium, Vilnius, Lithuania Belarus1–01–1Friendly

Managerial statistics
As of 26 May 2021
Team Nat From To Record
GWDLWin %
Herfølge Boldklub Denmark 1 January 2006 30 June 2009 90 49 18 23 054.44
HB Køge Denmark 1 July 2009 24 November 2011 82 28 13 41 034.15
Brøndby IF Denmark 25 November 2011 10 June 2013 59 18 19 22 030.51
Haslev FC Denmark 20 September 2013 3 November 2013 8 5 3 0 062.50
Viborg FF Denmark 10 February 2014 6 June 2015 49 18 18 13 036.73
Brøndby IF Denmark 9 March 2016 30 May 2016 15 7 2 6 046.67
Žalgiris Vilnius Lithuania 27 November 2017 22 June 2018 11 5 4 2 045.45
FK Trakai Lithuania 21 December 2018 18 July 2019 19 8 7 4 042.11
HB Køge Denmark 1 January 2020 31 May 2021 50 14 13 23 028.00
Total 383 152 97 134 039.69

Honours

Žalgiris Vilnius

Inkaras Kaunas

  • Lithuanian Championship: 1995
  • Lithuanian Cup: 1995

Brøndby

Individual

References
  1. "Interviu" (in Lithuanian). Futbolo.TV.
  2. Winther-Rasmussen, Michael (2 October 2012). "Bookmaker: Auri er brandvarm ... som fyringskandidat". Ekstra Bladet (in Danish). Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  3. Andersen, Jens (20 May 2013). "Brøndby redder livet i Superligaen - Horsens rykker ned". DR (in Danish). Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  4. Anker-Møller, Kristian (10 June 2013). "Thomas Frank ny cheftræner i Brøndby". bold.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  5. Ringstrøm, John (10 September 2013). "Auri bliver træner i Haslev". Sjællandske Nyheder (in Danish). Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  6. Houlind, Søren (10 February 2014). "Viborg med hemmelig Auri-afsløring". bold.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  7. "Auri Skarbalius stopper som cheftræner". Archived from the original on 20 June 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  8. Blond, Mikael (9 March 2016). "Auri overtager Brøndby-tøjlerne". bold.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  9. "FK "Žalgiris" turi naują vedlį" (in Lithuanian). FK Žalgiris. 27 November 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  10. Kamper, Anders (23 August 2018). "Auri fyret i Litauen". Sjællandske Nyheder (in Danish). Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  11. ""Trakams" naujajame sezone diriguos Aurelijus Skarbalius". Delfi (in Lithuanian). 21 December 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  12. "A.Skarbalius traukiasi iš "Riterių"". Futbolo Klubas Riteriai (in Lithuanian). 18 July 2019. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  13. "Auri Skarbalius er ny træner i HB Køge" (in Danish). bold.dk. 5 December 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  14. "Aurelijus Skarbalius - International Appearances". RSSSF. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  15. "Aurelijus Skarbalius". Soccer-DB. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  16. "Geriausias gegužės mėnesio treneris – A. Skarbalius" (in Lithuanian). Aukščiausia Lietuvos futbolo lyga. 28 May 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
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