Andrius Skerla (born 29 April 1977) is a Lithuanian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a defender. He began his career in Lithuania with Žalgiris Vilnius, where his performances drew the attention of Dutch club PSV. After making only 25 appearances for PSV, Skerla was signed by

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. Dunfermline ...

in 2000. He spent five seasons with the club playing in almost 200 matches for the Pars, including the 2004 Scottish Cup Final where he scored in the 3–1 defeat against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

. After leaving Dunfermline in 2005, his later career saw him return east, playing for

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n side

Tom Tomsk FC Tom Tomsk (russian: Футбольный клуб Томь Томск) is a Russian professional football club, based in the Siberian city of Tomsk. The team plays in Trud Stadium (Tomsk). History The team was previously named ''Burevestnik'' ...

, Vėtra in Lithuania,

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

clubs

Korona Kielce Korona Kielce, , (Korona – ''Crown'' – symbol of club and city, Kielce – name of city where club is based) is a Polish football club, which will compete in Ekstraklasa in the 2022–23 season. In the years 2002–08 the club ...

and

Jagiellonia Białystok Jagiellonia Białystok () is a Polish football club based in Białystok that plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top level of Polish football. The club was founded in 1920 by soldiers in the Reserve Battalion in Białystok. Jagiellonia play their home g ...

, before finishing his career with his home-town team, Žalgiris Vilnius. Skerla was

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

's most capped player of all time with 84 appearances, until he was surpassed by

Saulius Mikoliūnas Saulius Mikoliūnas (born 2 May 1984) is a Lithuanian professional footballer who plays as a right winger for A Lyga club Žalgiris and the Lithuania national team. He has previously played for Scottish Premier League club Heart of Midlot ...

in September 2020. Polonia Warszawa vs Jagiellonia Białystok 05-2011 3

Club career

Early career

Born in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

, Skerla started his career at local club Žalgiris Vilnius in 1995, before Dutch club

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, w ...

signed him in 1996. After an unsuccessful spell in the Netherlands, Skerla signed for

SPL SPL may refer to: Association football * Saudi Professional League * Scottish Premier League * SportPesa Premier League, Kenya * Singapore Premier League * RoboCup Standard Platform League, matches between autonomous robots Computing Program ...

side

Dunfermline Athletic

Skerla's time at Dunfermline was his most successful period of football. He was signed in 2000 by new manager

Jimmy Calderwood James Calderwood (born 28 February 1955) is a Scottish former football player and manager. Calderwood played for Birmingham City and Dutch clubs Sparta Rotterdam, Willem II Tilburg, Roda JC and Heracles Almelo. After retiring as a player, Cal ...

and was immediately put into the starting line up. After a successful first season at Dunfermline he was linked with numerous clubs including Scottish club

Glasgow Rangers Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Although not its official name, it is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers outside Scotland. The fou ...

, but Skerla insisted he wanted to stay at

East End Park East End Park, currently named KDM Group East End Park for sponsorship purposes, is a football stadium situated in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland with a seating capacity of . The stadium plays host to the home matches of Scottish Championship sid ...

. Skerla will most probably be remembered by the Pars fans, for scoring Dunfermline's only goal in the 2004 Scottish Cup Final defeat against

Tom Tomsk

In March 2005, Skerla announced he wished to leave Dunfermline as he decided to look for new challenges. After Russian side

Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (russian: Футбо́льный клуб Руби́н Каза́нь, ''Futbolny klub Rubin Kazan'' , Tatar: Рубин Казан) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the second-tier ...

had a bid failed because it did not meet Dunfermline's valuation of the player, Skerla re-iterated his decision that he wanted to move and eventually he moved to

for £200,000.

FK Vetra

After leaving Dunfermline for Russia, Skerla played for Lithuanian side

FK Vėtra FK Vėtra was a Lithuanian football team from the capital city of Vilnius. History The club was founded in 1997 and was initially based in Rūdiškės, a settlement in Trakai district, and moved in 2003 to Vilnius city with the purchase of ...

Korona Kielce

Later he played for

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 cl ...

team

Jagiellonia Białystok

Skerla played for

side

. Skerla scored in the 2010

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in football ( pl, Puchar Polski w piłce nożnej ) is an elimination tournament for Polish football clubs, held continuously from 1950, and is the second most important national title in Polish football after the Ekstraklasa title. ...

Final for Jagiellonia, helping them to secure their first senior trophy, as well as ensure they would compete in European competition for the first time in the 2010–11 season.

International career

Skerla marked his 50th appearance for

on 7 October 2006 with a first international goal against the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

. Skerla retired from International football on 11 October 2011 after a defeat to

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

Honours

Žalgiris Vilnius *

A Lyga The A Lyga is the top division of professional football in Lithuania. The A Lyga is an abbreviation of Aukščiausia lyga meaning Highest League. It is organized by Lithuanian Football Federation LFF ( lt, Lietuvos Futbolo Federacija). The Auk� ...

: 2013 *

Lithuanian Supercup The Lithuanian Supercup () or LFF Supercup is an annual football match contested between the champions of the previous A Lyga season and the holders of the Lithuanian Football Cup. It is organised by and named after Lithuanian Football Federation a ...

: 2013 *

Lithuanian Football Cup The Lithuanian Football Federation Cup ( lt, Lietuvos futbolo federacijos taurė), also known as Hegelmann LFF Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a Lithuanian football cup competition contested in a knockout tournament format. The winner of the cu ...

: 1996–97, (2011–12, 2012–13 PSV Eindhoven *

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

: 1999–2000 Jagiellonia Białystok *

: 2009–10 *

Polish SuperCup The Polish Super Cup (, ) is an annually held match between the champions of the Ekstraklasa and the Polish Cup winners or, if the Ekstraklasa champions also win the Polish Cup, the Cup's runners-up. As of 2021, the Polish Super Cup has been pl ...

: 2010

References

External links

*
Andrius Skerla career stats
at jagiellonia.neostrada.pl * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Skerla, Andrius 1977 births Living people Association football defenders Lithuanian footballers Lithuania international footballers PSV Eindhoven players Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players FC Tom Tomsk players Korona Kielce players Jagiellonia Białystok players FK Žalgiris players A Lyga players Eredivisie players Russian Premier League players Scottish Premier League players Lithuanian football managers Lithuanian expatriate footballers Lithuanian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Lithuanian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate footballers in Scotland Lithuanian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate footballers in Russia Lithuanian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate footballers in Poland