Mindaugas Nikoličius (born 5 October 1983) is a Lithuanian

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 ...

executive who is the

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The ...

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

club

Widzew Łódź RTS Widzew Łódź () is a Polish football (soccer), football club based in Łódź. The club was founded in 1910. Its official colours are red and white, hence their nicknames ''Czerwona Armia'' (Red Army) and ''Czerwono-biało-czerwoni'' (Red-wh ...

Early life

Nikoličius initially studied law prior to becoming a sports manager.

Career

In 2005, Nikoličius became the team manager of the Lithuania national team. The following year, he was appointed as sporting director of Scottish side Hearts, where he stayed until the end of 2008. From 2010 to 2017, he was the sporting director of Lithuanian outfit Žalgiris, and oversaw the club win 15 domestic competitions during his tenure. In 2018, he was appointed as sporting director and vice-chairman of Croatian side Gorica, helping the club achieve promotion. In 2021, he joined fellow

Croatian Football League The Hrvatska nogometna liga (; ), abbreviated as HNL and also known for sponsorship reasons as the SuperSport HNL, is a professional association football league in Croatia and the highest level of the Croatian football league system. Establish ...

club

Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, the club's home ...

's executive staff. On 5 March 2025, he was announced as the new sporting director of Polish

club

Personal life

Nikoličius married a Croatian woman and has a daughter.

References

Living people 1983 births People from Neringa Municipality 21st-century Lithuanian lawyers Association football club directors Association football executives Lithuanian football chairmen and investors Lithuanian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Lithuanian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Lithuanian expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Lithuanian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Heart of Midlothian F.C. non-playing staff HNK Hajduk Split non-playing staff {{Lithuania-footy-bio-stub