Arminas Narbekovas (born 28 January 1965 in

Gargždai Gargždai () is a city in western Lithuania located in Klaipėda County. The Minija River flows through the city.John S. Jaffer ShtetLinks: Gargzdai (Gorzd), LithuaniaJewishGen, Inc., the Home of Jewish Genealogy. Accessed June 18, 2011. Gargždai ...

) is a former

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 ...

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 ...

player. In 2003, he was selected by

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

as his country's Golden Player, the greatest player of the past 50 years.

Personal life

Arminas Narbekovas was born to a

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

father Andrey Narbekov and a Lithuanian mother.

Career

Narbekovas made his debut in 1983 with Žalgiris Vilnius, Lithuania's sole representative in the

Soviet Top League The Soviet Top League, known after 1970 as the Higher League (russian: Чемпионат СССР по футболу: Высшая лига), served as the top division of Soviet Union football from 1936 until 1991. The professional top level ...

, at the age of 18. In 1987, he finished second in league scoring with 16 goals while leading his club to a third-place finish, their best in history. Zalgiris would then participate in the

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 Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

for the first time, losing to

Austria Vienna Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (; known in English as Austria Vienna, and usually shortened to Austria (German: Österreich) in German-speaking countries, is an Austrian association football club from the capital city of Vienna. It has won the mos ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

would become Narbekovas' destination after Lithuanian players were allowed to move abroad. Arminas moved there in 1990 after a short stint with

Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (''FC Lokomotiv Moskva'', russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб "Локомотив" Москва, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москв ...

, since Lithuania was not a part of

yet and players from its clubs were not permitted to transfer. Narbekovas would spend the rest of his club career in Austria, with Austria Vienna until 1995 and then with Admira Wacker and a number of other lower division clubs.

International career

Although he never received a FIFA-sanctioned cap for the USSR national team, he did play for them, and win the gold medal, at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

. Narbekovas scored two goals in the tournament, including an

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

one in the semifinals against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, helping the Soviets to a 3–2 victory. Also, he represented USSR in

1987 Summer Universiade The 1987 Summer Universiade, also known as the XIV Summer Universiade, took place in Zagreb, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia. It involved participants from 111 countries and over 6,000 individual sportspersons and members of teams. Infrastructural cha ...

. Arminas first played for

in its first ever game as a newly independent country, on 27 May 1990 against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, and scored the first goal in the 2–2 tie. Unfortunately, injuries limited his career to just 13 caps and four goals for his country.

Honours

Club

Austria Wien *

Austrian Football Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

(3): 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93 *

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (german: ÖFB-Cup), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for 27th t ...

(2): 1991–92, 1993–94

International

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

**Gold medal:

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

Universiade The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

**Gold medal:

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

Individual

* Lithuanian Player of the Year: 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988 * UEFA Jubilee Awards Lithuanian Golden Player representative * Summer Universiade: 1987 top scorer

International goals

Lithuania

Soviet Union Olympic team

Honours

Narbekovas was named Lithuania's footballer of the year four times, from 1985 to 1988. In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's jubilee, he was selected by the

Lithuanian Football Federation The Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF) ( lt, Lietuvos futbolo federacija) is the governing body of football in Lithuania. The Federation is responsible for football development in the country and for the national teams, including the Lithuania ...

as the country's Golden Player – the greatest player of the last 50 years.Golden Players take centre stage

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Narbekovas, Arminas Lithuanian footballers Lithuania international footballers UEFA Golden Players FK Žalgiris players FK Žalgiris managers Soviet footballers Soviet expatriate footballers Soviet Top League players FC Lokomotiv Moscow players Olympic footballers of the Soviet Union Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Expatriate footballers in Austria Soviet expatriate sportspeople in Austria Lithuanian expatriate sportspeople in Austria FK Austria Wien players FC Admira Wacker Mödling players 1965 births Living people Olympic medalists in football People from Gargždai Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Association football midfielders Lithuanian football managers FK Atlantas managers FK Banga Gargždai managers Lithuanian people of Russian descent Volga Tatar people