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

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

n professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er and coach.

Career

Born in

Krokialaukis Krokialaukis is a small town in Alytus County in southern Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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 ...

, 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 soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

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

Dynamo Kyiv The Football Club 'Dynamo Kyiv', also known as Dynamo Kyiv, or simply Dynamo, ( ) 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 ...

'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 Nova Gorica () is a town in western Slovenia, on the border with Italy. It is the seat of the Municipality of Nova Gorica. Nova Gorica is a planned town, built according to the principles of modernist architecture after 1947, when the Treaty of pe ...

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

, drowning in a strong current after having gone for a swim in a mountain river. He was the goalkeeping coach of Flora Tallinn at the time, and was in Slovenia preparing for their Champions League qualifier against

NK Gorica Nogometno društvo Gorica, commonly referred to as ND Gorica or simply Gorica, is a Slovenian football club based in Nova Gorica that competes in the Slovenian Second League, the second tier of Slovenian football. They are one of the most succe ...

Honours

A Lyga The A Lyga is the top division of professional football in Lithuania. It is organized by Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF) (). History The first football league was established in Lithuania in 1924, and in various forms existed until 1939. ...

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

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

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

European club competitions

1989–90 UEFA Cup The 1989–90 UEFA Cup was the 19th season of the UEFA Cup, the secondary club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The final was played over two legs at the Stadio Comunale Vittorio Pozzo, Turi ...

with

FK Žalgiris Vilnius FK or fk may refer to: 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 * F ...

: 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 penalties ...

with

FC Dynamo Kyiv The Football Club 'Dynamo Kyiv', also known as Dynamo Kyiv, or simply Dynamo, ( ) 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 ...

: 2 games.

External links

* * Soviet men's footballers Lithuanian men's footballers Lithuania men's international footballers Lithuanian expatriate men's 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 men's footballers in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Lithuanian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Accidental deaths in Slovenia Deaths by drowning 1965 births 2004 deaths People from Alytus District Municipality Sportspeople from Alytus County FK Kareda Kaunas players Men's association football goalkeepers Expatriate men's footballers in Estonia Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland {{Lithuania-footy-bio-stub