Andrius Velička (born 5 April 1979) is a Lithuanian retired professional
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...
er who played as a
striker
Striker or The Strikers may refer to:
People
*A participant in a strike action
*A participant in a hunger strike
*Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant
*Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America
People wi ...
for clubs in Russia, Kazakhstan, Scotland, England, Norway and Azerbaijan in addition to his homeland. He also played for the Lithuania national team.
Club career
FBK Kaunas
Born in
Kaunas
Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Tra ...
,
Lithuanian SSR
The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; lt, Lietuvos Tarybų Socialistinė Respublika; russian: Литовская Советская Социалистическая Республика, Litovskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialistiche ...
, Soviet Union, Velička began his career at FBK Kaunas. He had spells on loan at Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala and Kazakhstani outfit
Irtysh Pavlodar
FC Irtysh Pavlodar ( kk, Ертіс Футбол Клубы, ''Ertis Fýtbol Klýby'') was a Kazakh professional football club based at the Central Stadium in Pavlodar. Irtysh won the Kazakhstan Premier league in 1993 (as ''Ansat''), 1997, 19 ...
. During his time in Kaunas he played over 150 games and scored over one hundred goals for the club.
Heart of Midlothian
Velička joined Heart of Midlothian in the summer of 2006 in a loan deal and made his debut on 9 September 2006 in an SPL against St Mirren during a 1–0 defeat, coming on as a substitute for Neil McCann. On 15 October, Velička scored two goals in the
Edinburgh derby
The Edinburgh derby is an informal title given to any football match played between Scottish clubs Heart of Midlothian (Hearts) and Hibernian (Hibs), the two oldest professional clubs based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The two clubs have a fierce r ...
against Hibernian, earning 10-man Hearts a draw.
He also scored in the 1–1 draw with Dunfermline Athletic on 28 October. He netted yet another Hearts goal at Celtic Park, in a 2–1 defeat to the league champions, however Velička became Hearts top goalscorer as a result of his goal. He scored his first
hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three.
Origin
The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wi ...
for Hearts in a 4–0
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Stranraer on 6 January 2007.
Initially, his loan deal at Hearts ended without being renewed but he returned for the 2007–08 season days later. In the early part of that season he was used as an impact substitution to great effect, scoring on numerous occasions after coming off the bench, in particular when scoring both goals in the 2–0 victory away to Celtic in the
Scottish League Cup
The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in exist ...
quarter final on 31 October. He netted the 500th goal Hearts have scored in the SPL against
Rangers
A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...
Rumours in the press linking Velička with a move to Norwegian club Viking FK proved true when it emerged that Hearts had accepted a bid of £1 million. On 26 February 2008 he signed a four-year contract with Viking and completed the move.
Velicka scored his first goal for Viking in his debut match against Hamarkameratene on 6 April 2008 but Viking lost the match 3–2, and Velicka stated that he could not be happy about his goal because of the team failing to win the match. He played 18 games and scored six goals in Norway
Rangers
On 14 June Viking accepted a bid believed to be around £1 million from
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...
side
Rangers
A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...
for Velička. They received permission to hold signing talks with a view to agreeing personal terms over a move. He signed a three-year contract on 16 June and became a Rangers player on 14 July on their tour of Germany a day after he finished the Norwegian spring part season with Viking FK.
Velička made his debut for the club in a
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 ...
qualifier on 30 July 2008 against his old team FBK Kaunas. He came on as a substitute in the second leg, and after missing an easy chance, Kaunas scored to knock Rangers out. Velička had a better time when he played his first league game for the club, scoring the winning goal in a 1–0 win over
Falkirk
Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow.
Falkirk had a ...
. Despite the goal and a start the following week against former club Hearts, Velička fell out of favour at Ibrox and did not make another first team appearance until an away league match at Falkirk in April 2009. His next start came the following weekend, against
Motherwell
Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lana ...
and he opened the scoring in the first two minutes of the match. He scored again the following week against Hibernian at
Easter Road
Easter Road is a football stadium located in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland, which is the home ground of Scottish Premiership club Hibernian (Hibs). The stadium currently has an all-seated capacity of , which makes it the fifth-large ...
in a 3–2 win for the Gers, and bagged his third in three games with a fine finish against St Mirren in the Scottish Cup. He then scored another against former club Hearts, to make it four goals in four starts.
Bristol City (loan)
On 17 August 2009 Velička joined Bristol City on a year-long loan, as his first team opportunities were limited at Rangers. He made his debut for City against Queens Park Rangers the following day as a 64th-minute substitute. He lasted just minutes before injuring himself and leaving the field on a stretcher with a suspected serious knee injury. The 2009–10 season for Velička was confirmed as over as scans showed he had suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
Aberdeen (loan)
On 31 August 2010 Velička joined
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), ...
on a season-long loan deal from Rangers. He scored his only goal for Aberdeen against Inverness Caledonian Thistle on 9 November 2010.
On 31 January 2011, it was announced that Velička had been released from his loan contract with Aberdeen and became a free agent.
Later career
On 11 February 2011 Velička joined FK Ekranas on a three-year deal. At the beginning of the 2013/2014 season Velička bought out the last six months of his contract at Lithuanian side FK Ekranas in order to return to Glasgow, Scotland.
International career
Velička made his international debut as an 80th-minute substitute, replacing Valdas Trakys, during a 1–1 draw against
Moldova
Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnist ...
in
Kaunas
Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Tra ...
on 16 August 1998. He had to wait almost four years for his second cap which came in April 2002, 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, and t ...
on 3 July 2003 in Valga, during a 5–1 win. He had been on the pitch five minutes before netting the third in the 72nd minute.Estonia 1–5 Lithuania Omnitel.net, 15 June 2008
International goals
''Scores and results list Lithuania's goal tally first ''
Honours
Club
Rangers
*
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Football League (SFL). It was abolished in 2013, when t ...
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...