Valdemaras Martinkėnas (10 March 1965 – 20 July 2004) was a

Soviet 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, ...

and

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 ...

n professional

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 ...

er and coach.

Career

Born in

Alytus Alytus is a city with municipal rights in southern Lithuania. It is the capital of Alytus County. Its population in 2022 was 53,925. Alytus is the historical centre of the Dzūkija region. The city lies on the banks of the Nemunas River. The maj ...

, Martinkėnas was the goalkeeper for the Lithuanian national team in the years after independence from the USSR, appearing in most of the qualifying games for the

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the countr ...

. He won 19 caps for his country. He also won the Lithuanian league championship with Zalgiris Vilnius in 1991, and starred in

Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Union, Soviet Dynamo Sports Club, Dynamo Sports Soc ...

's 1992–93 Ukrainian league championship win. Later, he became goalkeeping coach to the Estonian national side. Martinkėnas died at the age of 39 in

Nova Gorica A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramati ...

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

, drowning in a strong current after having gone for a swim in a mountain river. He was the goalkeeping coach of

Flora Tallinn FC Flora, commonly known as Flora Tallinn, or simply as Flora, is a professional Football team, football club based in Tallinn, Estonia, that competes in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian football league system, Estonian football. The ...

at the time, and was in Slovenia preparing for their Champions League qualifier against NK Gorica.

Honours

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� ...

champion: 1991. * A Lyga bronze: 1990. *

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( uk, "Українська Прем'єр-ліга", ''Ukrayinska Premier Liha'') or UPL is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. As the Vyshcha Liha ( uk, Вища ліга, ''Top League'') ...

champion: 1993. * Ukrainian Premier League runner-up: 1992.

European club competitions

1989–90 UEFA Cup The 1989–90 UEFA Cup was won by Juventus on aggregate over Fiorentina. This was the first final between two Italian sides in the UEFA competitions history and the third between two clubs of the same country. It was the last season for which E ...

with

FK Žalgiris Vilnius FK or fk may refer to: In arts and entertainment: * Flyer Killer, fictional automated robots in the ''Terminator'' film franchise. * Fox Kids, a former American children's television programming block. * Funky Kong, a video game character. Place ...

: 4 games. *

1990–91 European Cup The 1990–91 European Cup was the 36th season of the European Cup, a tournament for men's football clubs in nations affiliated to the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). It was won for the first time by Red Star Belgrade on penaltie ...

with

FC Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society, the club as a separate business entity was offici ...

: 2 games.

External links

* * Soviet footballers Lithuanian footballers Lithuania men's international footballers Lithuanian expatriate footballers FK Žalgiris players FK Atlantas players FC Dynamo Kyiv players FC Dynamo-2 Kyiv players Ukrainian Premier League players Ukrainian First League players FC Wil players FC Haka players Veikkausliiga players FC KAMAZ Naberezhnye Chelny players Soviet Top League players Russian Premier League players FC Kuressaare players A Lyga players Lithuanian football managers Lithuanian expatriate football managers Expatriate footballers in Ukraine Expatriate footballers in Finland Lithuanian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Accidental deaths in Slovenia Deaths by drowning 1965 births 2004 deaths Sportspeople from Alytus FK Kareda Kaunas players Men's association football goalkeepers Expatriate footballers in Estonia Expatriate footballers in Russia Expatriate footballers in Switzerland {{Lithuania-footy-bio-stub