After two stints at the helm of the Lithuanian national soccer team, Algimantas Liubinskas aims to jump from the dugout to the benches of the Baltic state’s parliament.
“In life, you should never fear a challenge,” the 56-year-old said during a break from campaigning for tomorrow’s general election.
“Football, and sport in general, has always been the thing closest to my heart, so I never want to put it aside completely. This is just another way of doing it,” he said.
PHOTO: AFP
Liubinskas — who says his management models are Alex Ferguson, Luiz Felipe Scolari and Marcello Lippi — resigned as Lithuania coach in August after his second spell of five years in charge.
He quit under pressure from the national federation to choose between sport and politics, a tough decision which he says he regrets having had to make.
His campaign material plays heavily on his soccer image, showing him on the touchline in his manager’s kit.
“In politics, just like in sport, you have to be a team player,” he said. “When I was manager, I made the decisions, but we discussed everything. I think you can apply that in politics. You listen to what people want, discuss things, then make the decisions.”
Liubinskas is standing for the populist opposition Order and Justice Party, run by former president, Rolandas Paksas.
In 2004, Paksas suffered the ignominy of becoming the first ever European head of state to lose office through impeachment, after he was embroiled in a corruption scandal. He has always denied any wrongdoing, and now looks set for a comeback.
Liubinskas was tapped up by Order and Justice earlier this year.
“I liked a lot of what I saw in their manifesto, things such as the direct election of mayors, jury trials, and referendums,” he said.
Liubinskas began his career in the 1970s as a player with Vilnius side Zalgiris and in the 1980s managed the club in what was then the Soviet league. He got the Lithuania job in 1991, as the country regained independence after Soviet rule.
In 1995 he went back to club soccer following a spat with the national soccer federation, coaching sides at home and in Poland before returning to the national fold in 2002 as Olympic team manager.
He got the senior job back in 2003, and his squads notched up some qualifying upsets including holding Germany 1-1 ahead of Euro 2004, drawing 1-1 with Italy before the 2006 World Cup, and defeating Ukraine 2-0 before Euro 2008.
Valentinas Mazuronis, an Order and Justice kingpin who is tipped as a future prime minister, said it was an honor to have Liubinskas on board.
“Liubinskas has plenty of contacts, the human touch, and can be part of a winning team,” Mazuronis said.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
RSS