Narbekovas, Arminas Andreevich

Born in the village of Gargzdai near Klaipeda . The Tatar nationality father, Andrei Narbekov, captain of the Soviet Army , served in the Lithuanian SSR after the war , participating in the defeat of the " forest brothers " detachments. After that, he settled in Gargzdai, where he married a local girl. Arminas is the 8th child in the family and the youngest.

In childhood, he dreamed of becoming a hockey goalkeeper, but in the end he chose football ^[1] . He began to play in the Gargzdai school team (the first coach was Mikhail Terentyev). After some time, the team won several zonal tournaments, including the Leather Ball zonal competitions. At the All-Union final in Zaporozhye, the team took second place, losing in a decisive match with a score of 0: 7 to a team from the Armenian SSR.

In 1977, by invitation, he moved to Panevezys , where a sports boarding school was opened some time ago. He studied with the coach Vytautas Blinstrubas. He was noticed by the head coach of Vilnius Zalgiris Benjaminas Zelkevicius and in 1983 moved to the main Lithuanian club, which by that time had won the right to play in the major league of the USSR championship.

He made his debut in the Premier League on April 19, 1983 in the away game against Torpedo (Kutaisi) , in which Zalgiris won 2-1. In that game, Narbekovas entered the field in the starting lineup and spent 74 minutes on the field. The next match was already played on June 7 (56 minutes, it came out at the base), in Minsk against Dynamo , where Zalgiris lost 0: 1. Then, for more than three months, he did not go on the field and was attracted to the games for the main squad only on September 18, when Zalgiris received another major league debutant - Chisinau “Nistru” . In that game, Narbekovas came on as a substitute in the 60th minute and scored a goal in the game. Until the end of the season, he spent another 5 games as the basis, scored 1 goal.

In the 1984 season, he played at the base more often - he went to the field 18 times, but did not score a single goal. The 1985 season also turned out unsuccessfully - missed several games due to injury, did not score for a long time. The first goal of the season was held only on July 13 in the away game against Torpedo (Kutaisi) , where in the end a draw was 1: 1. However, it was after this game that Narbekovas became free and began to score more often. In total, he spent 10 goals in the season, 5 of them in the last four games of the championship. This was the second result in the team, as Sigitas Jakubauskas with 12 goals became the club's top scorer. He was recognized as the footballer of the year of Lithuania.

The season of 1986 Narbekovas spent quite smoothly - 26 games out of 30, scored 10 goals and became the top scorer of Zalgiris.

In 1987, he won bronze medals of the All-Union Championship, scored 16 goals in the championship and became the second scorer of the season after Oleg Protasov . According to the results of the championship, he was included in the list of “33 best”. In the summer of 1987, for the victory at the Universiade he was awarded the title of master of sports of international class . On August 2, 1987, in a home game for the USSR Cup, he made “poker” against the team of the 2nd league “Oilman” (Ferghana) (the total score of the game was 8: 3).

In the same year he was called up to the USSR Olympic team, participated in the qualifying match for the Olympics in Seoul against the Swiss team. However, he soon dropped out of the cage due to an absurd incident in the restaurant when a visitor sat down with a beer and the head coach of the national team, Byshovets, decided that Narbekovas himself consumed the beer ^{[1] [2]} . Nevertheless, the player playing on the field proved the need for his presence in the team. As a result, Byshovets took him to the final tournament.

Olympic champion in the USSR national team - played all 6 matches in the final tournament, scored 2 goals. One of the goals spent in the most difficult semi-final against the Italian team. After this game, Narbekovas had an ankle swelling and his participation in the finals was in question. As a result, he entered the field in the first team, but spent only 1 time ^[3] . He was replaced by Yuri Savichev , who became the hero of the final match, scoring the winning goal for the Brazilians. For the victory at the Olympics he was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports.

In the same 1988, as part of the альalgiris, he made his debut in the 1988/89 UEFA Cup against the Austrian Austria. By the sum of two matches, альalgiris lost to the more experienced team, and Narbekovas was not able to score scored goals.

In the spring of 1990, together with Valdas Ivanauskas, he took part in the training of the USSR national team in Italian Chokka, where Lobanovsky prepared the team for the 1990 World Cup and counted on Lithuanian footballers. However, after the departure of the Lithuanian teams in early 1990 from the participants of the allied championship, these plans collapsed. Soon the Lithuanian team was convened, which on May 27, 1990 held a friendly match against the Georgian team. The meeting ended in a draw 2: 2, and Narbekovas became the author of the first goal of the national team.

The 1990 season, Narbekovas played in the newly formed Baltic League, where Zalgiris was much stronger than all the other teams. Unsatisfied with the level of the tournament, in the fall of 1990 he returned with several partners to the USSR championship, to the Moscow Lokomotiv, which was fighting for access to the big leagues. At the same time, Narbekovas was awaiting an invitation from Europe, and when an offer came from the Vienna Austria , which included 2 training matches in July 1990, he asked the railway coach Yuri Semin to let him go. He did not begin to obstruct, and Narbekovas, together with Valdas Ivanauskas, flew to Vienna in November 1990. Soon they, with the mediation of the ex-player of Daugava and the current player of Austria, Eugene Milevsky, entered into a contract with Austria. The transfer amount was not disclosed, but according to Narbekovas, they and Ivanauskas received extremely little for the legionnaire players ^[1] .

On November 10, 1990 he made his debut in a new team in a guest game against Sturm in the 19th round of the Austrian Championship . However, in this game, to help the team, although it spent all 90 minutes on the field, failed - “Austria” lost 0-1. The next match was more successful - the Forverts club was defeated with a score of 4: 1, and Narbekovas scored the ball in the 21st minute ^[4] . In the 22nd round, Narbekovas scored a hat-trick - in the away game against Vienna, he scored 3 out of 6 goals, and Austria won 6-2. In the spring part of the championship, he spent 9 games and scored 2 goals. In total, in the debut season for “Austria”, Arminas spent 13 games and scored 6 goals and celebrated with the team winning the champion's title.

The 1991/92 season also began successfully - Narbekovas constantly left in the first team, often scored, made his debut for the team in the first Champions League draw ^[5] . Also, the appointment of an ex-mentor of альalgiris Benjaminas Zelkevičius as an Austria coach, who helped the players in their adaptation, was also important. At the end of the season, playing for the Lithuanian national team in the qualifying match for the 1994 World Cup, he was injured and out of action for six months.

In the 1992/93 season, the first game was played only in March 1993. However, since that game I haven’t missed a single match and ended up playing 14 games in the season, scoring 6 goals ^[6] . The next season he was constantly in the main team, having spent a total of 48 matches in different tournaments for the season. Along with this, for the first time he did not become the champion of Austria, having won only the Cup of the country ^[7] (spent 90 minutes in the final, scored one of the team’s 4 goals).

The seasons 1994/95 and 1995/96 were less successful for Narbekovas - “Austria” still could not take the 1st place in the championship, in the national cup and European cups dropped out in the early stages. In total, he played 17 matches in Zalgiris and Austria, and scored 2 goals ^[8] .

In the 1996/97 season he moved to the Admira Wacker club. He immediately became a leading player in the new team, having played 50 games in the first 2 seasons and scored 9 goals in them. In the 1998/99 season, he played for the 2nd league club Sankt Pölten , where he also constantly went in the first team. In the 1999/00 season, he again played for Admira Wacker.

At the beginning of the 2000/01 season, he moved to the Hundsheim third division club, where he spent only six months, but managed to prove himself - he made a hat-trick in one of the games ^[9] . In January 2001 he moved to the Wiener Sport Club , which played a league below. In the spring of 2001, he helped the new team enter the Austrian regional league. In addition, the team gradually re-qualified as a libero, and so successfully played in this position that he was named the best player in the Austrian regional league 2001/02 ^[1] , and his club advanced to the 2nd league. The following season, Narbekovas won only 11 matches for Wiener Sport Club and in July 2003 moved to the White Star 5th League club.

During performances for the Wiener Sport Club, Narbekovas was again called up to the Lithuanian national team - in September 2001, he spent 88 minutes on the field in the qualifying game against the Italian national team. After this game, Narbekovas said goodbye to the team as a player. In total, he played 13 games in the Lithuanian national team and scored 4 goals.

In November 2003, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of UEFA , the Lithuanian Football Federation was selected as the best Lithuanian footballer in half a century.

In “White Star” he played only six months ^[10] and in the offseason 2003/04 he moved to another club of the fifth division, to “Grosweikersdorf”. He played in this team until November 2005. At the same time he was the head coach of the team, as he already had a coaching license in his hands ^[11] . In November 2005 he returned to Lithuania, where he accepted the invitation to become the president of альalgiris ^[12] . In October 2006, he replaced the head coach of Zalgiris Igor Pankratiev ^[13] . He worked at this post for a year, after which he was dismissed for unsatisfactory results (4th place in the championship) ^[14] .

For some time he worked as a children's coach, not wanting to return to big football. Then he went to Austria, where he continued to play for Grosweikersdorf in the 2008/09 season (while he was also the team’s coach). In 2009, he coached the amateur club Donau ^[15] .

In October 2008, the Department of Migration of Lithuania deprived Narbekovas of Lithuanian citizenship due to his adoption of Austrian citizenship ^[16] . However, after the intervention of the President of Lithuania, he was reinstated in citizenship in February 2009 as an exceptional case ^[17] .

In December 2009, he accepted the invitation from the management of the Banga club (Gargzdai) and led the main team. Two ex-goalkeepers of Zalgiris Vaidas Zhutautas and Algimantas Bryaunis became assistants to Narbekovas ^[18] .

Since 2010, he helped Raymondas Zhutautas in the Lithuanian national team , and after his change, Hungarian Laszlo Chaba ^{[19] [20]} .

July 23, 2012 became the head coach of Jurmala “ Spartak ” ^[21] . The contract was signed before the end of the 2012 season .

In 2013–2015 he coached the youth team of Lithuania (U21) ^[22] .

At the beginning of 2016, he opened his own football academy for young children in Lithuania ^[23] .

Team

• Olympic champion 1988
• USSR bronze medalist 1987
• Champion of Austria 1990/91, 1991/92, 1992/93
• Austria Cup Winner 1991/92, 1993/94
• Universiade Champion 1987
• Others - USSR Football Federation Cup, Austrian Super Cup

Personal

• Best Lithuanian footballer in half a century (selected by the Lithuanian Football Federation for the UEFA Golden player list)
• The best footballer of Lithuania (4): 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988
• In the lists of 33 best: 1987 (under number 2), 1988 (under number 3)
• Awarded the medal of the Lithuanian Academy of Physical Culture and Sports “For Contribution to Lithuanian Sports” (2005)
• The footprint of Narbekovas was made on a special plate in front of the building of the administration of the city of Gargzdai (2006)

Wife Rita. Son Arminas (04/19/1986), played in the youth team of "Austria" ^[26] , daughter of Claudia (1995).

• Page on the website of the Russian national football team
• Statistics of performances abroad