FK Žalgiris

FK Žalgiris.

The initial version of the club was played in 1946 as a national team of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic when it participated in USSR Group III Zone 4 championship. It was also one of the teams that played for some or more of the Soviet republics. The team consisted from Spartakas Kaunas and Dinamo Kaunas players. Their first game was against Moscow Stroitel, which ended in a 1-1 draw. They were under the direction of French Coach Emil Pastor. The following year, they placed with a fourth place finish in the RSFSR Western Zone championship.

The club is believed to have been established in 1947, when it was relocated to Kaunas into Vilnius and its name change in 1947 to Dinamo Vilnius. The first official game of the newly formed club was played on the 16th of May 1947 in the match against Lokomotiv Moscow, who managed to beat local team 2 - 1. Steponas Petraitis scored their first ever official club goal on that day, beating goalkeepers at a penalty spot in the 44th minute. The following year, the they changed the name of their club as Spartakas Vilnius and used this name until the end of the 1961 season. In 1962 the club changed its nickname to Zalgiris.

Zalgiris was a member of the Soviet Union football league system from 1947 until 1989. The team was promoted to the top division in 1952, but finished last the following season.

Prior to the beginning of the 1983 season of Soviet Top League, players initiated a group that called for that trainer Benjaminas Zelkevicius, and the request of the players was granted when, Algimantas Liubinskas became the coach. Start took a step back. Similar result of 0-0 was taken place on the pitch in Tashkent with Pakhtakor as well as with Zenit, in Leningrad with Zenit as well as with Zenit, and in Vilnius and Vilnius with Dynamo. In the fourth game this season, with Neftchi in Baku Grazulis scored a goal with 1-0 and secured victory. There were wins and losses however, Zalgiris won the opening round. They finished in first place. Zalgiris did not make it to the top, but the fifth position is the most prestigious achievement in Lithuanian football at the moment and offers a lot of chance for the to come in the near future. Arminas Narbekovas Romas Mazeikis as well as Vladimiras Buzmakovas succeeded in the team during that time.

In the 1984 Soviet Top League season, Zalgiris placed 9th out of 18 teams, however they enjoyed victories against FC Dynamo Kyiv (1-0 at home), FC Spartak Moscow (twice 2 - 1), FC Dynamo Moscow (1-0 at home and 2:1 to Moscow). and Valdas Ivanauskas was the first player to make his debut in the team.

The most successful year for the club was 1987, when they placed 3rd on the Soviet Top League and qualified for the 1988-89 UEFA Cup where they played against Austria Wien, while also for the first time in the club's history, reaching the semi-finals of the 1987-1988 Soviet Cup (after being eliminated in the quarter-finals in the 1955 campaign, 1959-60, 1964) and the 1987 USSR Federation Cup. The club played for their country in the Soviet Union at 1987 Summer Universiade that they won by beating their South Korean team. The following season, they were fifth in the league and were selected for UEFA Cup where they faced IFK Goteborg in the first round, and Red Star Belgrade in the second. In 1988, a number of Zalgiris players were awarded medals by their USSR national teams. Vyacheslav Sukristov won the silver medals at UEFA Euro 1988, and Arminas Narbekovas as well as Arvydas Janonis returned with silver medals at in the 1988 Summer Olympics. The club ended 1989 fourth and for the third time consecutively, they qualified for the UEFA Cup. They played one game in the 1990 season at the beginning of the season, but then pulled out in the wake of Lithuania's regaining its independence. The club then became part of in the Baltic League which consisted of clubs from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. They did not get their spot in the UEFA Cup, which was given to Chornomorets Odesa.

After the declaration of Lithuania's independence the 11th March 1990, Zalgiris resigned from the Soviet Top League with immediate beginning. However, despite the majority of the top players, including Arminas Narbekovas Valdas Ivanauskas Igoris Pankratjevas, Vyacheslav Sukristov and Robertas Fridrikas, who had left the club, Zalgiris was still the favorite to win the Lithuanian title, and also won the A Lyga regular season having only lost once in the 32 games. The title, however, was decided by a knock-out contest, in which Zalgiris fell in the semi-finals against Ekranas Panevezys, but was able to secure the third spot.

Green and whites won the first A Lyga title the following season, when they took the title in the regular season. They got revenge against Ekranas losing to their semi-final opponents and defeated the final Lietuvos Makabi Vilnius 3-1 with Ricardas Zdancius scoring a hat-trick. Zalgiris added a second win in the following year when they won the Lithuanian cup.

In 1991, there were two major modifications to the league's format The knock-out competition was eliminated, and the league was reorganized so that it could play from the fall until the spring. Zalgiris beat the challenge of Panerys Vilnius to retain their title by just one point. The team did not have a double this year's championship, however Lietuvos Makabi took revenge for the defeat they suffered in last year's league final, and defeated Zalgiris during the championship game by a score of 1-0. It was in the summer of 1992 that Zalgiris began their journey as a team in the UEFA Champions League. Europe's top players proved brutal: PSV Eindhoven hammered Zalgiris 8-0 in aggregate in the opening round.

In the 1992-93 season, things turned differently when it came to national championships. Having been beaten to the national title by FK Ekranas by three points Zalgiris returned to the cup and defeated Sirijus Klaipeda 1-0 in the final due to an extra-time goal scored by Aurelijus Skarbalius. The same thing happened during the 1993-94 season, in which ROMAR Mazeikiai narrowly beat Vilnius team to win the title, while Zalgiris held on to the cup after defeating FK Ekranas 4-2 in the final. Darius Maciulevicius was the star of the day with an hat-trick, as well Aidas Preiksaitis added another from the penalty spot.

The 1994-95 season was an unbeatable season for the team of the capital. Zalgiris as well as Inkaras Kaunas finished the league tied on points at the top of the table and an the extra game on neutral ground was planned to be played. Inkaras Kaunas beat Zalgiris 2-0 in Panevezys and then, four days later, the two teams were in Klaipeda to play in the cup final. Inkaras did come out better than Zalgiris since the former Zalgiris player Eimantas Poderis scored two goals in the 2-1 win for Kaunas the team. The 1995-96 season was not a year of silverware, either. The free-scoring Zalgiris team scored the score of 106 goals over just 28 games however they only managed to take third position, which was just six points ahead of the champions Inkaras Kaunas. At this point Edgaras Jankauskas was top scorer A Lyga with 25 goals. Later, he was sold for CSKA Moscow.

The team's performance was not great in the cup , too as Vilnius team lost to Kareda Siauliai in the semi-finals and were unable to make an elimination match for the very first time in the past six years. Zalgiris won the cup again in the 1996-97 as Donatas Vencevicius's goal was enough to defeat The Inkaras team in the final, but was forced to settle for second place in the league after Kareda won the trophy with a margin of 8 points. The whites and greens put up an even greater effort in 1997-98 but Kareda demonstrated that its success has been a result of hard work by defending their title.

The title that was elusive finally arrived in the 1998-99 season, which was the final one that was played from the fall until spring. Defense was the main factor in the success of the team as Zalgiris only conceded 8 goals over 23 games and never lost any league game during the season. The results were not as good in the cup , as Kareda eliminated Zalgiris 7-0 in aggregate in the semi-finals. The league title enabled Zalgiris to try again at the UEFA Champions League and this time Vilnius was eliminated by Armenian champions Araks Ararat before succumbing to the defeat of the semi-finalists of last season's Dynamo Kyiv in the second round.

At the turn century, a new powerhouse emerged at the top of Lithuanian football. It was FBK Kaunas. In the name of Zalgiris Kaunas they won the short-term league in 1999. They followed with consecutive victories in 2001, 2000 2002, 2003 and 2004. Zalgiris however declined and the winning the cup final in 2003 was the only silverware the club had during the 2000s. In the league, Zalgiris began to suffer too. Although in 1999 and 2000 green and whites placed second, in 2001 they were falling to third in 2002, then to fourth in 2002 and 2005 to impossible lowest of eighth. Zalgiris was not the most powerful club in central Europe because newly arrived players Vetra as well as FC Vilnius were clearly having more fun on the field.

Although they were always present in European tournaments, the results were not always encouraging, with cumulative losses of two-and-7 against Ruch Chorzow and 0-7 against Maccabi Tel Aviv. Budapest Honved and Portadown were the only teams that were eliminated in the finals of Zalgiris between 2000 between 2000 and 2004. In 2005, the UEFA Intertoto Cup thus stood out as a significant victory as green and white were able to beat three teams namely Lisburn Distillery, Dinaburg and Egaleo and were then removed from the competition by CFR Cluj.

The noughties' struggles culminated in the year 2008. A fifth place finish in the league might have been considered appropriate for the situation (20 points difference between fourth and Suduva was much more difficult to swallow) however, as the country's economy prepared for the inevitable economic crisis budgets were cut, and the uncertainty grew Zalgiris suffered a huge hit when manager Vadim Kastujev was detained in Moscow. The club, which was stripped of its funds, survived until the close of the season, but was unable to satisfy the licensing requirements for top-flight contests during 2009. The future of the old club was uncertain, Zalgiris' fans formed the new club based in Phoenix named VMFD Zalgiris which had the same staff and players after a failed application for a Lyga license, it was able to join the second division.

An absence from the top flight proved challenging. Zalgiris placed sixth in the seven-team league. They were exiled from the competition in round of 16. They were defeated by the Sakuona Plikiai the team from an area with a population that is only 600. Despite this, Zalgiris was promoted up to A Lyga as the number of top-flight teams was increased. Several other clubs refused to sign due to the financial burden. Zalgiris finished the season in third place which was their best since 2001.

Its fortunes at Zalgiris were a steep climb from there. The club was afflicted with FBK Kaunas in complete turmoil and Vetra insolvent Ekranas over the course of a few years, Zalgiris became the undisputed leader for Lithuanian football. The green and whites were getting closer, however: Zalgiris took second in 2011, eight points behind but then closed the gap to one point in 2012. Additionally, in 2012, the Vilnius team finally finished their trophy drought of nine years and won the Lithuanian Football Cup, beating Ekranas with penalties after the draw. In the same year, Zalgiris return to European competitions, but the UEFA Europa League campaign proved to be brief: following a an 1-1 draw the team was eliminated in Vilnius, Admira Wacker Modling defeated Zalgiris 5-1 at the end of their qualifying round.

Zalgiris were thought to be a strong contender to win the title prior to the 2013 season began and for the majority of the season, it seemed like they would easily win the finals. Zalgiris held a lead of 11 points over Atlantas, who were second Atlantas with just five games remaining however four draws were followed, and prior to the final game of the season, the gap at the top diminished to three points. In the final game of good form Zalgiris did not prove to be a challenge against Suduva and throughout the game, the prospect of a an end-of-season decider at a neutral stadium appeared to be quite likely. In a highly tense environment, it was Atlantas that let it slide as they were able to draw the match with Banga Gargzdai. Zalgiris were ecstatic about their first title in 14 years. The victory in the Cup finale against Siauliai signified that the double was achieved, the first time since 1991. The year's success was followed by a successful performance in the UEFA Europa League where Vilnius was eliminated by St. Patrick's Athletic, Pyunik Yerevan, and Lech Poznan before losing out to Red Bull Salzburg.

In 2014, defending the title was a far easier task. Zalgiris ended the season 18 points ahead from second placed Kruoja Pakruojis (the most significant scoring margin for the league in) and also won the title at the 3rd time in a series, defeating Banga Gargzdai 2-1 in the final. Zalgiris made a return into the UEFA Champions League after fourteen-year absence but it did not provide much satisfaction in the end as Dinamo Zagreb beat Zalgiris 4-0 on aggregate in the second qualifying round.

In May of 2015, Zalgiris was awarded the Lithuanian cup for the record-breaking fourth time in a series, defeating Atlantas by 2-0 during the championship final. UEFA Champions League campaign was only two matches as Malmo took the match in Vilnius 1-1 after a goalless opening game in Sweden. Zalgiris ended the season on top in the table, 10 points ahead of second-placed Trakai and claiming their third consecutive title.

The 2016 campaign saw Zalgiris maintained its supremacy in Lithuanian football, winning a the fourth consecutive league title and, most importantly two cup victories. LFF Cup was rescheduled to take place from the spring to autumn in the year. Consequently, two tournaments were played in that season. Zalgiris took the lead in the first final in May, with a 1-0 extra time victory against Trakai and then followed that with a 2-0 win against Suduva on September. European experience was painful as after an uncontested draw in the opening game of the final in Vilnius Zalgiris was just a hair away of eliminating Astana and then conceded an injury time goal and be defeated by 2-1.

For the season of 2017, Zalgiris were unable to make the cut for the Champions League's qualifying rounds again in 2017. Their their impressive win in the first leg against Ludogorets Razgrad and an early goal scored by Serge Nyuiadzi in the second match were wiped out by four consecutive goals scored by the Bulgarian team. In September of 2017, Zalgiris reached the seventh consecutive final of the cup, and they fell to Stumbras who were at their very first final. Zalgiris did not win the title of league champions, and had the highest position in the standings up to October 2017 however a late march by Suduva resulted in them winning their first championship ever.

In the season of 2018, Zalgiris finished in second position after Suduva held on to their league title. Zalgiris won the cup in a rerun of the final last year when they beat Stumbras. In the UEFA Europa League, Zalgiris advanced to the third qualifying round in which they fell to Spain's Sevilla in what was their most impressive result on the field in European tournament since 2013,, when they made it to the play-off round of qualification for the UEFA Europa League.

In November of 2018, Zalgiris announced that Deividas Cesnauskis and Deividas Semberas joined the club. Cesnauskis was named director of sports while Semberas director of operations for sports.

In the 2019 preseason, the head coach Valdas Urbonas signed a contract with the Lithuanian Football Federation and became the head coach of the Lithuania the national team. Zalgiris was then named Marek Zub who had been previously working at Zalgiris, as the club's head coach. On the 15th of July 2019, Zub quit Zalgiris. Joao Luis Martins was made available following the dissolution FC Stumbras, took on the role as the head coach on a temporary basis until the conclusion in the current season.

In January of 2020, Zalgiris announced the appointment of Juan Ferrando as head coach. But, Ferrando was forced to withdraw due to health problems. In the same month, Alyaksey Bha was named the new team's head coach. He began his tenure with win in the Lithuanian Supercup on 29 February against champions FK Suduva. Zalgiris was later crowned his first title in 2020 A Lyga.

In July 2022, following defeating Malmo by 3-0 during the Champions League second qualifying round, Zalgiris made history by guaranteeing themselves group stage soccer for the duration of the season. They faced Ludogorets at the Play-off match of the Europa League, but lost by a score of 1-0 and then fell into the Conference League group stage. It was their first Lithuanian club to be selected for the groups stages of an UEFA tournament for clubs.

Zalgiris were then relegated to Group H along with Swiss veteran Basel, Slovakian champions Slovan Bratislava and Armenian champions Pyunik.

For the majority of time Zalgiris was playing at Zalgiris Stadium. It was the largest stadium in Lithuania and could hold the capacity of 14,029.

Since 2011, Zalgiris plays at LFF Stadium (Lithuanian Soccer Federation Stadium). The stadium, previously called Vetra Stadium, was built in 2004 and can accommodate about 5,000 spectators.

Following the collapse of FK Vetra football club, LFF took over the stadium.

It is located near Vilnius Old Town, 400 metres higher up Ausros vartu along with Liepkalnio streets, which are located near Vilnius Old Town. Gate of Dawn (Lithuanian: Ausros vartai)

Officially, the club for Zalgiris supporters is called Pietu IV. Pietu IV's members Pietu IV cheer on Zalgiris in every game in Lithuania and throughout Europe and will never leave the team on their own. The community is united through their loyalty and love for Zalgiris. Pietu IV has been the chief of organized support in Baltic states.

The official date for Pietu IV is regarded as October, 1985. Since then, fans have been cheering for the team with songs while waving flags, and performing amazing choreography. Fans assisted Zalgiris to get through the economic crisis. In times of financial hardship, they held diverse events and raised enough money to keep the club. Pietu IV, along with the club's managers of the club were the founders of Zalgiris Vilnius.

Zalgiris supporters have friendly relationships with Atlantas fans. Atlantas. Internationally, there are strong connections with fans from Dynamo Kyiv, Karpaty Lviv and Dinamo Tbilisi.

Since the inception that the club was founded, Zalgiris colours were blue either red or occasionally orange. In the 1980s , green or white jerseys were introduced which established the the tradition of green and white. Since then the kits are typically an alternating white and green jersey, as well as a green/white version of socks and shorts. In the past , there are also checkered green-white jersey designs. Away kits are typically basic either green or white.

Detail of the players as below mentioned.

• 1990 Lithuanian football championship – 3rd
• 1991 Lithuanian football championship – 1st
• 1991–92 LFF Lyga – 1st
• 1992–93 LFF Lyga – 2nd
• 1993–94 LFF Lyga – 2nd
• 1994–95 LFF Lyga – 2nd
• 1995–96 LFF Lyga – 3rd
• 1996–97 LFF Lyga – 2nd
• 1997–98 LFF Lyga – 2nd
• 1998–99 LFF Lyga – 1st
• 1999 A Lyga – 2nd
• 2000 A Lyga – 2nd
• 2001 A Lyga – 3rd
• 2002 A Lyga – 4th
• 2003 A Lyga – 4th
• 2004 A Lyga – 4th
• 2005 A Lyga – 8th
• 2006 A Lyga – 4th
• 2007 A Lyga – 4th
• 2008 A Lyga – 5th
• 2009 I Lyga – 6th
• 2010 A Lyga – 3rd
• 2011 A Lyga – 2nd
• 2012 A Lyga – 2nd
• 2013 A Lyga – 1st
• 2014 A Lyga – 1st
• 2015 A Lyga – 1st
• 2016 A Lyga – 1st
• 2017 A Lyga – 2nd
• 2018 A Lyga – 2nd
• 2019 A Lyga – 2nd
• 2020 A Lyga – 1st
• 2021 A Lyga – 1st

Correct as of 2 February 2021.

Ranking 20/21	Ranking 19/20	Club	20/21 Coeff.
166	232	Dinamo Tbilisi	6.500
	179	Alashkert
	258	Honvéd
	181	Žalgiris

As per detail below.

As per detail below,

 Lithuanian Championship:

• Champions – 9

1991, 1991–92, 1998–99, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2020, 2021

• Runners-up – 12

1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1999, 2000, 2011, 2012, 2017, 2018, 2019

• 3rd place – 4

1990, 1995–96, 2001, 2010

Lithuanian Cup:

• Winners – 13

1991, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1996–97, 2003, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016, 2018, 2021

• Finalists – 6

1990, 1992, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2017

Lithuanian Super Cup:

• Winners – 7

2003, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020

 Soviet Championship:

Soviet Top League:

• 3rd place – 1

1987

Soviet First League:

• Champions – 1

1982

• Runners-up – 3

1952, 1954, 1966

• 3rd place – 1

1950

Soviet Second League:

• Runners-up – 1

1977

Baltic League:

• Champions – 1
  • 1990

Summer Universiade:

• Champions – 1
  • 1987

Intertoto Cup:

• Semi-finalists – 1
  • 2005

As per detail below.

Lithuanian Footballer of the Year

A Lyga Player of the Year

A Lyga Golden Boot

UEFA's Golden Player

•  Arminas Narbekovas

Lists of the winners of Zalgiris Player of the Year Award instituted from 2004 and voted on by the members of the official Zalgiris supporters club. Pietu IV:

Year Winner 2004  Mindaugas Malinauskas 2005  Virmantas Lemežis 2006  Igoris Morinas 2007  Igoris Morinas 2008  Igoris Morinas 2009  Edgaras Mastianica 2010  Pavel Komolov 2011  Marius Rapalis

Year Winner 2012  Kamil BiliÅ„ski 2013  Mantas Kuklys 2014  Deividas Šemberas 2015  Andro Švrljuga 2016  Andrija KaluÄ‘erović 2017  Mamadou Mbodj 2018  Liviu Antal 2019  Tomislav Kiš

Year Winner 2020  Saulius MikoliÅ«nas 2021  Hugo Vidémont

FK Zalgiris players who have been part of their national team at any point or won an individual award during their time playing for the club. The names of players who are in bold have represented their countries when being at Zalgiris.

Lithuania

Africa

European Union

Non-EU

•  Voldemaras Jaškevičius (1947)
•  Jaroslavas Citavičius (1947–1948)
•  Georgy Glazkov (1948–1951)
•  Andrey Protasov (1951)
•  Jurij Chodotov (1952–1953)
•  Stasys Paberžis (1953–1957)
•  Vytautas Saunoris (1958–1960)
•  Zenonas Ganusauskas (1961–1962)
•  Serafim Kholodkov (1963–1965)
•  Juozas Vaškelis (1966–1967)
•  Algirdas Vosylius (1968–1971)
•  Serafim Kholodkov (1971–1973)
•  Algirdas Klimkevičius (1974–1976)
•  Benjaminas Zelkevičius (1 Jan 1977 – 1 May 1983)
•  Algimantas Liubinskas (1 Jan 1983 – 31 Dec 1985)
• / Benjaminas Zelkevičius (1 April 1985 – 1 Oct 1991)
•  Vytautas Jančiauskas (1991–92)
•  Benjaminas Zelkevičius (1 Oct 1992 – 30 June 1995)
•  Eugenijus Riabovas (1996–2001)
•  KÄ™stutis Latoža (2002)
•  Eugenijus Riabovas (2003–2004)
•  KÄ™stutis Latoža (2004–2005)
•  Saulius Širmelis (2005)
•  Arminas Narbekovas (30 Nov 2005 – 30 Nov 2006)
•  Igoris Pankratjevas (2006)
•  Viatscheslav Mogilniy (2008)
•  Mindaugas ÄŒepas (2008–2009)
•  Igoris Pankratjevas (1 Jul 2009 – 31 Dec 2010)
•  Vitalijus Stankevičius (1 Jan 2011 – 31 Dec 2011)
•  Damir Petravić (4 Jan 2012 – 8 Aug 2012)
•  Marek Zub (8 Aug 2012 – Dec 2014)
•  Valdas Dambrauskas (17 Dec 2014 – 23 Oct 2017)
•  Aleksandr Brazevich (24 Oct 2017 – 24 Nov 2017)
•  Aurelijus Skarbalius (27 Nov 2017 – 22 Jun 2018)
•  Valdas Urbonas (23 Jun 2018 – 2 Feb 2019)
•  Marek Zub (13 Feb 2019 – 15 July 2019)
•  João Luís Martins (15 July 2019 – 27 November 2019)
•  Alyaksey Baha (19 January 2020 – 21 December 2020)
•  Vladimir Cheburin (11 January 2021 – )