Edgaras Jankauskas (born 12 March 1975) is a Lithuanian football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

and former professional player. A powerful forward during his playing career, Jankauskas excelled in the physical side of the game. Other than in his native Lithuania, he played professionally in nine countries, and represented the Lithuania national team for almost 20 years. Whilst with

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, Jankauskas made history as the first Lithuanian footballer to win the Champions League, in 2004. Ten years later, he began working as a full-time manager.

Club career

Early years and Brugge

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 ...

, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic,

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, Jankauskas moved to local

FK Žalgiris Futbolo klubas Žalgiris, commonly known as FK Žalgiris, Žalgiris Vilnius or simply Žalgiris, is a Lithuanian professional association football, football club based in Vilnius. The club competes in the A Lyga, the top flight of Football in L ...

' youth ranks at 16, from neighbouring FK Panerys. In 1996 he joined

PFC CSKA Moscow Professional Football Club CSKA (russian: link=yes, Профессиональный футбольный клуб – ЦСКА, derived from the historical name 'Центральный спортивный клуб армии', English: ...

, and later spent a further year in the Russian capital with FC Torpedo. Jankauskas signed with Club Brugge KV in 1997, and helped the club win the

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 tea ...

in his first season. However, in January 2000, he became the most expensive Lithuanian player of all time when Real Sociedad paid €2.4 million for his services.

Portugal

After another year and a half in San Sebastián, Jankauskas was loaned to

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', Be ...

for the 2001–02 season, and the following year was signed by FC Porto, under manager José Mourinho. Although not always a regular starter, he made an important contribution to a side which conquered all in Portugal, winning the Primeira Liga and

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 sea ...

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

in 2002–03 and the national championship in the following campaign. Jankauskas also helped Porto to achieve European success and, while he missed selection for the

2003 UEFA Cup final The 2003 UEFA Cup Final was played on 21 May 2003 between Celtic of Scotland and Porto of Portugal. Porto won the match 3–2 in extra time thanks to a goal from Derlei. This was also the first game to use the silver goal rule, although it did ...

-winning squad, he was a substitute when the Dragons won the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

against

AS Monaco FC Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Frenc ...

in the following year.

Hearts and later career

After the departure of Mourinho, Jankauskas fell out of favor in Porto and joined OGC Nice on loan, but he failed to settle in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and eventually signed for Scottish Premier League club Heart of Midlothian – via

FBK Kaunas Kauno futbolo ir beisbolo klubas, commonly known as FBK Kaunas, was a Lithuanian football club from the city of Kaunas. History Banga Kaunas (1960–1993) Originally the team was founded in 1960 as Banga Kaunas and played its first three years ...

– in 2005. In a complex deal, he was loaned to Hearts at the behest of

Vladimir Romanov Vladimir Nikolayevich Romanov ( rus, Владимир Николаевич Романов, p=vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr nʲɪkɐˈlaɪvʲɪtɕ rɐˈmanəf, lt, Vladimiras Romanovas; born 15 June 1947)

, who controlled both clubs, and spent the next two seasons in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

. In 2005–06, Jankauskas' experience and goals helped Hearts to win the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Champions league qualification by finishing second in the league. The following campaign was less successful for him, as injuries and indifferent form limited his appearances; after his Kaunas and Hearts contracts expired in June 2007, he signed with

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

's AEK Larnaca FC. On 30 January 2008, Jankauskas joined Portuguese League team C.F. Os Belenenses. He terminated his contract after only a few months, moving to Latvia's

Skonto FC Skonto FC was a Latvian football club, active from 1991 until 2016. The club played at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Skonto won the Virsliga in the first 14 seasons of the league's resumption (15 in total), and often provided the core of the Latv ...

in the summer after claiming he wanted to play closer to his homeland. At the start of 2009, Jankauskas was working on obtaining his coaching badges, and pondering his retirement. In June, however, it was revealed that he would be heading to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

for a trial with Major League Soccer club

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compe ...

. On 28 June 2009, pending the arrival of his P1 Visa and ITC documents, a deal was arranged for the 34-year-old; his week 26 goal against the Kansas City Wizards was nominated for the

MLS Goal of the Year Award Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

. On 30 September 2010, Jankauskas was released by the Revolution. He moved to

FC Fakel Voronezh FC Fakel Voronezh (russian: Футбольный клуб "Факел" Воронеж) is a Soviet and Russian professional football club based in Voronezh. Founded in 1947, the club has played in the Soviet Top League and the Russian Premier Le ...

in the Russian second level shortly after, retiring after only a couple of months. In July 2012, Jankauskas returned to Hearts as an assistant manager, leaving his post at the end of the season.

International career

Jankauskas was an important part of the Lithuanian national side since 1991 when, at the age of just 16, he helped the country to the 1991 Baltic Cup, playing the last 30 minutes of the 4–1 final win against

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. He scored his first international goal on 5 October 1996, in a 1998 FIFA World Cup

qualifier In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", provi ...

against

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

(2–0), and went on to net a further nine in 56 appearances, in eighteen years of play (he did not appear for the national team, however, from 1992 to 1995). On 12 January 2016, after a brief spell at club level with FK Trakai, Jankauskas replaced

Igoris Pankratjevas Igoris Pankratjevas (born 9 August 1964) is a Lithuanian professional football coach and a former player. He made his debut in the Soviet Top League in 1983 for FK Žalgiris Vilnius. Igoris Pankratjevas coached several top Lithuanian football ...

at the helm of Lithuania. On 4 December 2018, he was dismissed.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Lithuania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Jankauskas goal.''

Managerial statistics

Honours

Žalgiris *

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� ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

, 1992 *

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 ...

1991, 1993, 1994 Club Brugge *

: 1997–98 * Belgian Supercup: 1998 Porto * Primeira Liga: 2002–03, 2003–04 *

: 2002–03 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...

: 2003 *

: 2003–04 *

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

: 2002–03 Hearts *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2005–06 Lithuania * Baltic Cup:

Individual * Lithuanian Player of the Year: 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2004

References

External links