Karolis Skinkys

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Karolis Skinkys
Karolis Skinkys.jpg
Karolis in Kerala, 2021
Born (1989-11-16) 16 November 1989 (age 32)
Marijampolė, Lithuania
NationalityLithuania
Alma materVytautas Magnus University
Employer
TitleSporting Director

Karolis Skinkys (born 16 November 1989) is a Lithuanian football executive, who currently works as the sporting director of the Indian Super League club Kerala Blasters FC.[1][2]

Early life and education[]

Karolis was born in 16 November 1989 in the Lithuvanian city Marijampolė. He completed his bachelor's as well as masters degree from the Vytautas Magnus University of Lithuania.[3]

Career[]

FK Suduva[]

In 2015, Karolis was appointed as the sporting director at FK Sūduva. During his tenure at Suduva, Karolis played an integral role in the process of team selection and internal leadership management.[4] Under his guidance, the club rose to the top of the A Lyga in 2017, 2018 and in 2019. Also in 2019, the club made history as they qualified for the following year's UEFA Champions League, the first time since its existence.[5] After working as the sporting director of Suduva for five years, he left the club in 2020.

Kerala Blasters[]

In March 2020, Kerala Blasters announced that they have appointed Karolis as their new sporting director.[6] Having failed to make it to the playoffs for the past three seasons in a row, the Kochi based club has been unable to replicate its initial success on the pitch.[7] It was with a plan of starting a new era at the club that the Blasters appointed Karolis as their first ever sporting director.[8] The first decision by Karolis at the club was the appointment of Kibu Vicuna as the new manager.[9] The club also mutually parted away with Sandesh Jhingan who has the most appearances for the club. Karolis successfully started to implement a new philosophy at the Blasters.[10] He appointed a new team of supporting staffs which included a tactical analyst and a fitness coach which was for the first time in the six years of existence of the club.[11] He decided to have a ground-up rebuild at the club and as a part of that, Karolis went for the young Indian players in the transfer market. Nishu Kumar was signed for a long four-year contract. Along with Nishu he was able to sign other youngsters including Givson Singh, Rohit Kumar, Ritwik Das, Puitea and Prabhsukhan Gill.[12] He also changed the foreign signing policy of the club. He was able to sign some high-profile players like Gary Hooper, Vicente Gómez, Costa Nhamoinesu and Bakary Kone within a limited budget.[13] Despite all of this, the Blasters had a poor season under the supervision of Karolis during his first year as the sporting director. The club parted ways with Kibu Vicuna and were only able to finish 10th place in the league table. "The performance of the team was affected by many details, some mistakes were there, some individual performances were not up to the mark, some mental issues. Kibu was a good professional and did his best, so if you ask me directly, is he the only reason, the answer is definitely no, there were many reasons"; said Karolis as a response when asked about the poor performance by the team.[14]

With a vision to restore normalcy at the club after a disastrous campaign, he appointed Ivan Vukomanović as the new head coach on 17 July 2021 ahead of the 2021–22 season.[15]

References[]

  1. ^ "ISL: Kerala Blasters appoint Karolis Skinkys as new sporting director". theweek.in. 13 March 2020. Archived from the original on 13 March 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  2. ^ "Karolis Skinkys named as the Sporting Director of Kerala Blasters FC". www.indiansuperleague.com. 16 March 2020. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  3. ^ "Karolis Skinkys: Who is the new Kerala Blasters sporting director". khelnow.com. 18 March 2020. Archived from the original on 17 October 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  4. ^ ""Sūduvos" direktorius K.Skinkys: apie nueitą kelią, V.Čeburiną ir Marijampolės stadiono ydas". www.15min.lt (in Lithuanian). 29 August 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  5. ^ ""6800 kilometrų karjeros šuolis: iš "Sūduvos" direktoriaus kėdės – į paslaptingąją Indiją". www.15min.lt (in Lithuanian). 15 March 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  6. ^ "ISL: Kerala Blasters FC announce appointment of sporting director". www.insidesport.co. 16 March 2020. Archived from the original on 17 October 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  7. ^ "Kerala Blasters' Karolis Skinkys wary of injuries in pre-season | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  8. ^ "Kerala Blasters' Karolis Skinkys: Changes to foreign player policy should be gradual | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Archived from the original on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  9. ^ "We'll get the best players available, says Kerala Blasters' new sporting director". www.onmanorama.com. 12 June 2020. Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  10. ^ "How Karolis Skinkys plans to kickstart a new era at Kerala Blasters". khelnow.com. 17 July 2020. Archived from the original on 9 October 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  11. ^ "Kerala Blasters' Karolis Skinkys: The potential for growth in Kerala is huge". www.goal.com. 19 June 2020. Archived from the original on 17 October 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  12. ^ "Karolis Skinkys - "We Have All The Ingredients For A Successful Season"". IFTWC - Indian Football Team for World Cup. Archived from the original on 24 October 2020. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  13. ^ "ISL 2020-21: 4 reasons why Kerala Blasters will be unstoppable this season". Sportskeeda.com. 6 October 2020. Archived from the original on 24 October 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  14. ^ "Skinkys: Every supporter of Kerala Blasters FC deserves better results and we will make it happen". Indian Super League. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  15. ^ Chatterjee, Sayan (5 June 2021). "ISL: All you need to know about new Kerala Blasters head coach Ivan Vukomanovic". thebridge.in. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
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