Tomas Žvirgždauskas (born 18 March 1975) is a retired

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

defender from

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 ...

, who last played as defender for

Halmstads BK Halmstads Bollklubb, also known simply as Halmstad () or (especially locally) HBK or Bollklubben, is a Swedish Association football, football club located in Halmstad in the county of Halland. The club, formed 7 February 1914 and approved members ...

Career

His career started in Zalgiris Vilnius, where he won the Lithuanian league title twice. In 1995, he moved to Danish team, Naestved BK, but only played a few games before moving back to Zalgiris Vilnius the following year. His return to Lithuania was short, as he moved yet again shortly thereafter to the Polish Premier League and the team

Polonia Warszawa Polonia Warsaw ( pl, Polonia Warszawa, ), founded on 19 November 1911, is the oldest existing Varsovian sports club, best known for its football and basketball teams. It also has track and field, swimming, chess, mountain biking, and contract ...

in January 1997, where he won the title. He later played a short period for Widzew Lodz, then going on a trial at the Israeli club,

Hapoel Be'er Sheva Hapoel Be'er Sheva Football Club ( he, מועדון הכדורגל הפועל באר שבע, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Be'er Sheva'') is an Israeli football club from the city of Be'er Sheva, that competes in the Israeli Premier League. The cl ...

, but failed to get a contract. In September 2002, he signed a contract with the Swedish club,

. Žvirgždauskas formed along with

Tommy Jönsson Ulf Tommy Jönsson (born 4 March 1976) is a Swedish former footballer who played as defender. He represented Malmö FF and Halmstads BK during a career that spanned between 1992 and 2010. A full international in 2003, he won three caps for the S ...

a long lasting central defence at Halmstad, lasting until 2009 as

Johnny Lundberg Johnny Lundberg (born 15 April 1982) is a retired Swedish footballer who played for Landskrona BoIS, FC Nordsjælland, Halmstads BK and Sandnes Ulf as a defender. Career Starting his career in Landskrona BoIS at the age of 6, he then made his d ...

arrived at the club, he then created a defence with Lundberg, taking over Jönssons position on the left of the central part of the defence. As Lundberg suffered a severe injury in 2011, Žvirgždauskas had to pair up with rising talent

Richard Magyar Richard Göran Emil Magyar (; born 3 May 1991) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. In a 12-year career, he represented and captained both Halmstads BK and Hammarby IF in Allsvenskan, also spending time abroa ...

. Prior to the 2012 season Halmstads BK announced that they would not renew Žvirgždauskas contract and he would leave the club, he had then played 307 matches for Halmstads BK. In 2006, he received a 1-month ban after assaulting

IK Brage Idrottsklubben Brage, also known as IK Brage or simply Brage, is a Swedish football club located in Borlänge. The club is affiliated with Dalarnas Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Domnarvsvallen. The club colours, reflected in their ...

forward, Mats Theander, in a friendly match.

International career

Tomas Žvirgždauskas started his national career for

in 1998 with a friendly against

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

. Eventually becoming a starting player in the national team until his retiring in 2008. He however returned to the national team in 2011 for a friendly against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

and was an unused substitute in the

UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held over 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012, held in Poland and Ukraine. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held ...

match against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

at home. Žvirgždauskas have played 56 international games for Lithuania.

Personal life

He lives with his wife, Aorsra, and their two children, Patricia and Jostas. His father died in 1993 due to a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

. In his youth, he played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

. While his father wanted him to be a

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

, he stopped when his mother, a doctor, forbade him, due to her fear of seeing him get hurt. In every league he has played he has used nicknames rather than his own last name due to pronunciation difficulties, in Lithuania he was called ''Žvirgždas'', in Poland ''Zvirac'' and in Sweden ''Zvirre''.Magnusson, Calle: ''Profilen: Tomas Zvirgzdauskas'', p. 15. Tidningen HBK, 2009.

Honours

Club

; Zalgiris 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 Aukš� ...

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 Phil ...

, 1991–92 *

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 cup ...

: 1991, 1993, 1994 ;

Polonia Warsaw Polonia Warsaw ( pl, Polonia Warszawa, ), founded on 19 November 1911, is the oldest existing Varsovian sports club, best known for its football and basketball teams. It also has track and field, swimming, chess, mountain biking, and contract ...

: *

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 ...

: 2000 *

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 ...

: 2000 *

Ekstraklasa Cup The Ekstraklasa Cup ( pl, Puchar Ekstraklasy) was an elimination tournament for Polish football clubs who play in the Polish 1st Division Ekstraklasa. The Ekstraklasa Cup was the fourth attempt at introducing a League Cup competition in Poland. T ...

: 2000

References

External links

Club bio

Swedish FA bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zvirgzdauskas, Tomas 1975 births Living people Lithuanian footballers Lithuania international footballers Lithuania under-21 international footballers A Lyga players Danish Superliga players Ekstraklasa players Allsvenskan players Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate footballers in Poland Expatriate footballers in Sweden FK Žalgiris players Polonia Warsaw players Widzew Łódź players Næstved Boldklub players Halmstads BK players Lithuanian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Sportspeople from Vilnius Association football defenders Lithuanian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Lithuanian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden