Algimantas Liubinskas

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Algimantas Liubinskas (born November 4, 1951 in Kybartai, Lithuania) has been the Lithuania national football team coach since 2003, and is best known for leading Lithuania to a 1-1 draw against Germany in UEFA EURO 2004 qualification.

At 31, Liubinskas became the youngest ever coach of the Soviet Supreme League team Žalgiris Vilnius (which he coached from April of 1983 to April of 1985).

He became the first coach to take charge of the Lithuanian national team after independence in 1992. Despite wins against Slovenia and Ukraine in 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Liubinskas was fired in 1995 after an argument with the Lithuanian Football Federation. His next job saw him move back into club football as he won the 1996/97 Lithuanian title with FK Kareda Šiauliai, but subsequent spells at FK Panerys Vilnius, Ekranas Panevėžys, and Polish side Jagiellonia Bialystok were less successful. He returned to coaching in 2002, as Lithuania's Under-21 coach, and was handed the senior team job the following year. In this position, he replaced Benjaminas Zelkevičius, who had been Liubinskas' replacement in 1995.

Prior to his coaching career, Liubinskas played 62 games for Žalgiris Vilnius from 1973 until 1974.