Aurelijus Skarbalius (; born 12 May 1973) is a Lithuanian 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 ...

manager and former player, who started his career as a winger, but played mostly as either left- or right-sided full-back. He is the Global Director of

Capelli Sport Capelli Sport is an American sportswear and footwear company based in New York, United States, subsidiary of the GMA Accessories Inc. Founded in 2011 by Lebanon-born and New York–based entrepreneur George Altirs, Capelli Sport also has locatio ...

, the owner of his former club

HB Køge HB Køge () is a professional Danish football club based primarily in the town of Herfølge, and secondly in the town of Køge, both in the Køge Municipality, part of 'Region of Zealand', in the eastern part of Zealand, south of Copenhagen. It ...

Club career

Auri started his career in Lithuanian clubs

Žalgiris Vilnius Žalgiris is the Lithuanian-language calque of the Polish placename ''Grunwald'', notable for the Battle of Grunwald (). Žalgiris may also refer to: Kaunas, Lithuania * BC Žalgiris, basketball club from Kaunas founded in 1944 * Žalgiris Kaunas, ...

and Inkaras Kaunas, before he was bought by

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

club

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a Danish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Brøndbyvester. Brøndby IF denotes the professional football section of Brøndbyernes ...

for $150,000 in 1995, after he and Inkaras met Brøndby in the 1995

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

. At Brøndby he immediately won silverware, as the club won three Danish championships in a row in the 1995–96, 1996–97, and 1997–98 seasons. Despite only playing 17 games over the three championship winning seasons, Auri earned himself a cult following in the stands during his early years at Brøndby, as he did not succeed in scoring any goals for the club. Apart from this, he was well liked for his high work ethics and team spirit. He was a part of Brøndby's first stint in the

1998–99 UEFA Champions League The 1998–99 UEFA Champions League was the 44th season of the UEFA Champions League, Europe's premier club football tournament, and the seventh since it was renamed from the "European Champion Clubs' Cup" or "European Cup". The competition was w ...

main tournament, with the job to mark

David Beckham Sir David Robert Joseph Beckham ( ; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Primarily a right winger and known for his range of passing, cross ...

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

and

Luís Figo Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo (; born 4 November 1972) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a winger for Sporting CP, Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Inter Milan. He won 127 caps for the Portugal national team, a one-t ...

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

. Skarbalius got his big breakthrough in the 2000–01 season, playing 28 of 33 games in the Superliga, and in the championship winning season of 2001–02 he scored his only two goals for Brøndby, one in the Superliga, and one in the UEFA Champions League qualification against

Dinamo Tirana Football Club Dinamo City, commonly referred to as Dinamo City and colloquially known as Dinamo, is an Albanian professional football club based out of Tirana. They compete in the Kategoria Superiore, the top tier of Albanian football. Founded i ...

. Incidentally Skarbalius was voted Brøndby's ''Player of the year 2002'' that season. Following the summer 2002 arrival of new manager

Michael Laudrup Michael Laudrup (, born 15 June 1964) is a Danish professional Association football, football coach and former player. Renowned for his composure, passing, vision, technical skills, ball control, and dribbling ability, Laudrup is widely regarded ...

, new player

Asbjørn Sennels Asbjørn Sennels (17 January 1979 – 9 July 2023) was a Danish professional footballer who played as a left-back. He made two appearances for the Denmark national team. Club career Born in Brabrand, Aarhus Municipality, Denmark, Sennels star ...

was bought for the left side of the defence in the following December. Sennels was a part of the Denmark national team at the time, and even though Sennels initially didn't find his feet at the club, Auri played the rest of the season as a substitute for the left and right side of the defence. Auri spent the next few years mainly on the bench in Brøndby, and for the last half of the 2004–05 season he was put on loan at Superliga

relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

battlers

Herfølge Boldklub Herfølge Boldklub was a Danish football club founded in 1921. It is based in Herfølge, a southern suburb of Køge in the eastern part of Zealand. In 2009, the club shared its licence, and merged its professional football with Køge BK to form ...

. Herfølge ended the season with relegation, and Auri returned to Brøndby to collect his 5th Danish championship title for Brøndby, for the games he played in the first half of the season. For the first half of the 2005–06 season Skarbalius only took part in three matches for a combined 72 minutes on the pitch, and his contract was mutually terminated of 31 December 2005 to allow Auri to become a playing assistant coach at Herfølge in the

Danish 1st Division The 1st Division (''1. Division'') is the second-highest football league in Denmark, also known as NordicBet Liga for sponsorship reasons. From 1945 to 1991, the 1. Division was the name of the highest level of football in Denmark. With the for ...

. Before leaving Brøndby he managed to become the most capped foreign player in the club's history with almost 200 appearances.

International career

Skarbalius is a former captain of the Lithuania national team, and he previously held the record number of appearances for Lithuania with 65 international

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

, during which he has scored five goals. He retired from international football in October 2005 after spending all 14 years with the national team since Lithuania gained independence.

Coaching career

In November 2006, he was promoted to head coach of the

Herfølge BK Herfølge is a suburb of the town of Køge, Denmark, located about 5 kilometers south of central Køge, and is a part of Køge Municipality. The suburb is connected to Køge and Næstved by the Lille Syd railway line. Herfølge Church Herføl ...

. When Herfølge in 2009 merged with

Køge Boldklub Køge Boldklub is a Danish football club from Køge, Zealand. History In 1954, the club became the first outside Copenhagen to win the Danish Championship. The club declared bankruptcy in February 2009, but continued as an amateur side in the ...

, Skarbalius continued as manager of the new club called

. On 8 June 2011, it was announced, that Auri would be taking the job as assistant manager for Henrik Jensen at his former club

starting in January 2012, but when Jensen was sacked on 24 October, Auri was appointed as caretaker manager for the remainder of 2011. In October 2012, with Brøndby last in the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Superliga table, Skarbalius was expected to be sacked soon, according to Danish bookmakers. However, he remained as head coach for the remainder of the season and on 20 May 2013 a new Superliga contract was secured in the last game away to Horsens. A new club board sacked him and sports director Ole Bjur on 10 June 2013 and Auri was replaced by

Thomas Frank Thomas Carr Frank (born March 21, 1965) is an American political analyst, historian, and journalist. He co-founded and edited '' The Baffler'' magazine. Frank is the author of the books '' What's the Matter with Kansas?'' (2004) and '' Listen, L ...

. In September 2013, he was announced as manager of minor Danish club Haslev FC. He managed Haslev until Christmas 2013, and in February 2014 he was announced as the replacement for the knee injured

Ove Christensen Ove Christensen (born 26 March 1950) is a Danish Association football, football manager who is currently the director of football of Denmark Series, Danish fourth tier club Silkeborg KFUM. He has managed a number of Danish Superliga clubs, and wo ...

Viborg FF Viborg Fodsports Forening (), also known as Viborg FF or VFF for short, is a Danish professional association football, football club based in the Central Denmark Region, Central Jutland city of Viborg, Denmark, Viborg. They compete in the Danish ...

. Skarbalius could not save the club from relegation, but in the following season he helped the team to promote to the

once again. However, following the promotion he left the club by mutual consent. In the autumn of 2015 Skarbalius became youth coach at

. When Brøndby-manager

resigned in March 2016 following criticism from the chairman, Skarbalius was once again made manager of the club. On 27 November 2017, it was announced that Skarbalius has signed a contract to become head coach of his first club

. He was sacked on 22 June 2018. In December 2018, Auri became head coach of

FK Trakai Futbolo Klubas Riteriai, also known as FK Riteriai or as Riteriai, is a Lithuanian professional football club based in Vilnius. Until 21 February 2019, the club was based in Trakai and was known as FK Trakai. The team won the 2024 I Lyga and ear ...

. After

2019–20 UEFA Europa League The 2019–20 UEFA Europa League was the 49th season of Europe's secondary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 11th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Sevilla FC, Sevill ...

first qualifying round, when the club had changed its name to

FK Riteriai Futbolo Klubas Riteriai, also known as FK Riteriai or as Riteriai, is a Lithuanian professional association football, football club based in Vilnius. Until 21 February 2019, the club was based in Trakai and was known as FK Trakai. The team won t ...

in the meantime, and had struggled against KÍ Klaksvík, he left the club team. On 5 December 2019, it was announced that Skarbalius would return as manager of

on 1 January 2020. In March 2021, the club confirmed that Skarbalius would be the club's Technical Director from the coming season. Three years later, in June 2024, Skarbalius became the club's Sports Director.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Lithuania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Skarbalius goal.''

Managerial statistics

Honours

Žalgiris Vilnius * Baltic Cup:

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

* Lithuanian Championship: 1991, 1992 *

Lithuanian Cup The Lithuanian Football Federation Cup (), 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 gains entitlement to participate in the ...

: 1993, 1994 Inkaras Kaunas * Lithuanian Championship: 1995 * Lithuanian Cup: 1995 Brøndby *

: 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2004–05 *

Danish Cup The Danish Cup (; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "single-elimination tournament, knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will ...

: 1997–98, 2002–03, 2004–05 Individual *

Player of the year: 2002 *

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. ...

Coach of the Month: May 2018

External links

Brøndby IF profileCareer stats
(not including European matches)
Interview with Auri
(In Danish)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skarbalius, Aurelijus 1973 births Living people Lithuanian men's footballers Footballers from Vilnius Men's association football fullbacks Lithuania men's international footballers FK Žalgiris players FK Inkaras Kaunas players A Lyga players Brøndby IF players Herfølge Boldklub players Danish Superliga players Lithuanian football managers Herfølge Boldklub managers HB Køge managers Brøndby IF managers FK Žalgiris managers Danish Superliga managers Viborg FF managers FK Riteriai managers A Lyga managers Danish 1st Division managers Lithuanian expatriate football managers Lithuanian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate football managers in Denmark