© EuroFootball.com
The former "Kaunas" and current Edinburgh "Hearts" striker was elected as the best footballer playing in Lithuania after a six-year break in the selection of the best footballer organized by the Lithuanian Football Federation.
Since mid-season, almost no one doubted that the Lithuanian champions would be "Kaunas", but no one dared to guess who would be the best player of the season. For the second time in his career, A. Velička, who represented "Kaunas" for the majority of this year's season, was named the best player of the season, writes the "Football Express" supplement of "Respublika".
In the elections conducted by the LFF competition manager Roma Pikčilingis, 140 out of 246 participating football specialists (first - 88 times; second - 36; third - 16) mentioned the surname of the latter footballer in the surveys. The last match in the "A League" was played by the Kaunas player on August 19th, and then he went to the "Hearts" team. In 24 matches played in the Lithuanian championship, the striker scored 14 goals and a month after moving to Scotland he topped the list of most productive players.
The closest competitor, who was the previous year's laureate from Panevezys "Ekrano", was surpassed by the player from Kaunas with 32 points. M. Savėnas' name was mentioned in the surveys by 155 respondents (first - 51 times; second - 63; third - 41).
In third place in the survey was the Marijampolės "Sūduvos" defender, who has won the award for the best footballer playing in Lithuania three times (in 1995, 1996, and 2003). He was mentioned in the surveys by 63 specialists.
The "Football Express" calculated the voting results of the "A League" and national team coaches, journalists. Only 6 respondents accurately identified the three: S. Paberžis from Vilnius, R. Kontrimas, R. Statkevičius, and V. Masaitis from Kaunas, A. Vyšniauskas from Alytus, and J. Šiaučiulis from Anykščiai.
The top 20 best footballers playing in Lithuania in 2006:
1. Andrius Velička ("Kaunas") 88 36 16 352
2. Mantas Savėnas ("Ekranas") 51 63 41 320
3. Darius Maciulevičius ("Sūduva") 16 27 20 122
4. Aivaras Laurišas ("Atlantas"/"Vilnius") 17 19 26 115
5. Aidas Preikšaitis ("Vėtra") 7 15 18 69
6. Ernestas Šetkus ("Žalgiris") 13 5 7 56
... (list continues)The best players trio by positions and nationality:
Goalkeepers:
1. (6) Ernestas Šetkus ("Žalgiris")
2. (18) Eduardas Kurskis ("Kaunas")
3. (20) Vaidas Žutautas ("Vėtra")
Defenders:
1. (9) Gediminas Paulauskas ("Ekranas")
2. (12) Tomas Kančelskis ("Kaunas")
3. (14) Arūnas Klimavičius ("Ekranas")
Midfielders:
1. (2) Mantas Savėnas ("Ekranas")
2. (3) Darius Maciulevičius ("Sūduva")
3. (5) Aidas Preikšaitis ("Vėtra")
Forwards:
1. (1) Andrius Velička ("Kaunas")
2. (4) Aivaras Laurišas ("Atlantas"/"Vilnius")
3. (7) Sergejus Kuznecovas (Vėtra")
Foreign players:
1. (7) Sergejus Kuznecovas ("Vėtra")
2. (8) Ilja Galiūza ("Šiauliai")
3. (13) Edinas Pehličius ("Kaunas")
