Nerijus Valskis (born 4 August 1987) is a Lithuanian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a forward.

Club career

Earlier career

Valskis began his senior club career in 2005 at

FK Žalgiris Futbolo klubas Žalgiris, commonly known as FK Žalgiris, Žalgiris Vilnius or simply Žalgiris, is a Lithuanian professional association football, football club based in Vilnius. The club competes in the A Lyga, the top flight of Football in L ...

of Lithuanian

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. ...

, where he made 11 appearances before moving to Kauno Jėgeriai. During 2007–2008 season, he appeared for FK Šilutė and scored 4 goals in 37 league matches. He later moved to another

outfit

FBK Kaunas Kauno futbolo ir beisbolo klubas, commonly known as FBK Kaunas, was a Lithuanian football club from the city of Kaunas. History Banga Kaunas (1960–1993) The roots of the club can be traced back to 1960 when Banga Kaunas was founded and they p ...

, where he scored 17 goals in two different seasons (2008 and 2010).

Belarus and Latvia

In 2009, he arrived in

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

and signed with

Belarusian Premier League The Belarusian Premier League (, ''Vyšejšaja Liha'' or ''Vysheyshaya Liga''; ; "Top League"), also called the BETERA Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Belarus and the highest level of the B ...

side FC Smorgon. In 2011, he played for FC Smorgon in the Latvian Higher League where he scored 8 goals in 27 league matches. He then came back to

with

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

and he was in the 2011–12 Belarusian Cup Runners-up squad.

Lithuania

After several successful stints in foreign clubs, he returned to Lithuania and signed with giants FK Sūduva. During the 2013 A Lyga season, while playing for Sūduva, Valskis was awarded the Best Player and was also the league's leading scorer with 27 goals.

Poland

In 2014, Valskis signed for CS Universitatea Craiova of Romanian

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

and appeared in 15 league games before moving to Polish club

Wigry Suwałki Wigry Suwałki is a Polish football club based in Suwałki, Podlaskie Voivodeship. In the 2025–26 season, they compete in group I of the III liga. They play their home games at the . Players Current squad Ou ...

Back to Lithuania

He returned to Lithuania with FK Riteriai during the 2015–2016 season. With the club, He scored 24 goals in 43 league matches. Valskis was in FK Riteriai's squad in that season, which finished runners-up in their domestic tournaments;

, Lithuanian Supercup and

Lithuanian Football 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 th ...

More foreign stints

He went to Israel and played for Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv in the 2017–2018 season. Valskis was part of Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv squad which won the Israeli State Cup in 2017. Valskis in 2018, moved to Thailand and appeared with Ratchaburi Mitr Phol in 15 Thai League 1 matches, scoring 9 goals.

Israel

After his previous appearances with Israeli side Bnei Yehuda, Valskis again came back to

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League (, Ligat HaAl, ) is a professional association football league in Israel and the highest level of the Israeli football league system. The league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and rele ...

with Hapoel Tel Aviv in 2019. He signed for Hapoel Tel Aviv on a short-term contract until the end of the 2018–19 Israeli Premier League season. He scored only 1 goal in 10 league matches before moving to India.

India

Following his second stint in Israel, Valskis joined

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is a professional association football league in India and the highest level of the Indian football league system. Administered by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its commercial partner Football Sport ...

side Chennaiyin in July 2019. In his debut season in India, Valskis was the league's top goal scorer with 15 goals, winning the ISL golden boot. His goals helped to lead the club to the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the Super League on 14 March 2020; he scored in the showpiece match but Chennaiyin lost 3–1 to ATK. On 21 August 2020, after parting ways with Chennaiyin, Valskis signed a two-year contract with fellow Super League club

Jamshedpur FC Jamshedpur Football Club (, ) is an Indian professional association football, football club based in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, that competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top flight of Indian football league system, Indian football. Founde ...

, reuniting with former boss Owen Coyle. He scored 8 goals for Jamshedpur in the 2020–21 Indian Super League season. He returned to Chennaiyin on 1 January 2022 in the mid season of ISL 2021–22.

Retirement from professional football

On 26 February 2024, Valskis announced his retirement from professional football.

International career

While playing for FK Sūduva, Valskis was called up in the national squad of

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 ...

in 2013. He made his debut on 11 October, against

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

in a

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

qualification match. He scored his only goal for his country against

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

in the 2016 Baltic Cup. In that competition, Lithuania finished as the Runners-up. From 2013, he has appeared in 24 international matches and represented Lithuania in competitions like Baltic Cup and

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

alongside Euro Cup,

and

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

qualifiers.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

:''As of match played 29 May 2016. Lithuania score listed first, score column indicates score after each Valskis goal.''

Honours

FBK Kaunas * Latvian Football Cup: 2007–08 *

Baltic League The Baltic League (officially known as the Triobet Baltic League) was a Baltic men's football club tournament held four times between the top club sides from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Launched in 2007 inspired by the now defunct Scandinavi ...

: 2008 Liepājas Metalurgs * Latvian Football Cup runner-up: 2010–11 Minsk *

Belarusian Cup The Belarusian Cup () is an annual association football knock-out cup competition for men's football clubs of Belarus, organized by the Football Federation of Belarus. Belarusian Cup was established in 1992. Each year the winning team qualifies f ...

runner-up: 2011–12 Riteriai *

runner-up: 2015, 2016 * Lithuanian Cup runner-up:

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

* Lithuanian Supercup runner-up: 2016 Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv *

Israel State Cup The Israel State Cup (, ''Gvia HaMedina''), is a knockout cup competition in Israeli football, run by the Israel Football Association (IFA). The State Cup was first held in 1928 as the People's Cup. Because it involves clubs of all standards ...

: 2016–17 * Israel Super Cup runner-up:

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Chennaiyin *

runner-up: 2019–20 Lithuania * Baltic Cup runner-up: 2016 Individual *

top scorer: 2013 (27 goals) * A Lyga Best Player: 2013 *

Golden Boot: 2019–20

References

External links