FK Riteriai

Futbolo Klubas Riteriai, also known as FK Riteriai or as Riteriai, is a Lithuanian professional football club based in Vilnius. The team has been playing in the top level of Lithuanian football, the A Lyga, since 2014. Until 21 February 2019, the club was based in Trakai and was known as FK Trakai.[2]

FK Riteriai
Full nameFutbolo Klubas Riteriai
Nickname(s)Riteriai (The Knights)
Founded2005 (2005)
GroundLFF Stadium
Capacity5,067
Coordinates54°40′07″N 25°17′39″E
ChairmanHugh Curran
ManagerTommi Pikkarainen[1]
LeagueA Lyga
20193rd
WebsiteClub website

The team's colors are yellow and blue. The club plays at LFF Stadium in Vilnius (capacity 5,067).

History
Logo of the team when it was known as FK Trakai.

2005–2013

The club was established in 2005 as a way to promote physical activity to children and the general society. In 2006, the club laid an artificial coverage stadium in The Manor[3] and started to play in the III Lyga Vilnius County. In 2008, they also played in the Sunday Football League. In 2010, they were admitted to the II Lyga South Zone, and in 2011, they were already in the I Lyga (second-tier division in Lithuania). Before the 2013 season, the club submitted an application to play in the A Lyga, as all three top finishers decided against seeking promotion, promising to play games in Vilnius before adequate infrastructure requirements could be fulfilled, but ultimately remained in the same tier.[4] They were promoted to A Lyga after finishing 3rd in the 2013 LFF I Lyga season. The club also reached the semi-finals of the 2013–14 Lithuanian Football Cup, before being eliminated by the eventual winners, Beever. During summer, the club organizes youth camps with invitees from AC Milan.[5]

2014–present

The club began preparation for the 2014 campaign by strengthening their first team, which included signing Lithuanian national team veterans, Paulius Grybauskas, Vytautas Lukša, Darius Miceika, and Tadas Labukas, as well as unveiling former star Edgaras Jankauskas as their new head coach.[6][7] They debuted in the A Lyga victoriously, beating Klaipėdos Granitas 2–0.[8] Throughout the season, the club's results plateaued, but they managed to climb up to second place around the mid-season break. Trakai continued to strengthen their core and staff personnel through mid-season. On 19 September 2014, another national team star, Deividas Česnauskis, was signed on.[9] Soon afterwards, the club was eliminated from the 2014–15 Lithuanian Football Cup by Šilas. With 7 matches remaining, Trakai was still in 2nd place in the league, but a losing streak followed. On 3 November 2014, Jankauskas was fired by the club.[10] Virmantas Lemežis took over as caretaker and managed to stabilize things. As a result, the team finished in 4th place, qualifying for the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League. On 27 November 2014, Trakai announced the signing of the former Ekranas manager, Valdas Urbonas, as development director, but during the club's season roundup event, he was announced as new manager for the upcoming season.[11][12] The Trakai reserve team also finished third in the A Lyga's reserves competitions that season.

In 2015, some veteran players left the team. On 2 July 2015, FK Trakai debuted in the UEFA Europa League qualification round against HB Torshavn from the Faroe Islands. Trakai won 7–1. However, it lost in the Europa League's second qualifying round to the Cypriot club Apollon Limassol. In the first leg, Trakai lost 4–0. In the second leg, they drew 0–0. In the 2015 A Lyga season, Trakai became the vice-champion of Lithuania and qualified to 2016–17 UEFA Europa League's first qualifying round. It was the most successful FK Trakai season. Before 2016 A Lyga's season, the top 2015 season defenders, Linas Klimavičius, Edvardas Gaurilovas, Nikolaz Apakitze, Sergej Shevchuk, Marius Šalkauskas, Ronald Solomin and Rokas Stanulevičius, left the team. But the team managed to keep last season's leaders, Yuri Mamaev, Marius Rapalis, and Deividas Česnauskis. Trakai saved the core of the team and signed contracts with a few newcomers. The team signed a legionnaire from Italy, Mattia Broli, and former Lithuanian national football players, Arūnas Klimavičius, and Martynas Dapkus.[13] In 2018, the team saw a change in coaching. In May, Oleg Vasilenko was fired,[14] and Kibu Vicuña was hired as the team's head coach.[15] He worked with the team in the Europa League tournament, but left in October and went to Wisła Płock.[16]

Stadium
Main article: LFF Stadium
LFF stadium's Eastern stand.

Since 2014, the club has played at LFF Stadium in Vilnius. The stadium, formerly known as Vėtra Stadium, was built in 2004 and holds up to 5,500 spectators. After the bankruptcy of the FK Vėtra football club, the Lithuanian Football Federation took control of the stadium. The stadium is under reconstruction in an effort to meet level 3 UEFA stadium status, with the capacity expected to be extended to 8,000.

Achievements

Season by season
Season Tier League Pos. LFF cup
2006 4 3 Lyga 4 -
2007 4 3 Lyga 8 -
2008 4 3 Lyga 7 -
2009 4 3 Lyga 13 -
2010 3 2 Lyga 4 -
2011 2 I Lyga 4 Fourth round
2012 2 I Lyga 4 Fourth round
2013 2 I Lyga 3 Semi-final
2014 1 A Lyga 4 Third round
2015 1 A Lyga 2 Final
2016 1 A Lyga 2 Round of 16
2017 1 A Lyga 3 Round of 8
2018 1 A Lyga 3 Round of 8
2019 1 A Lyga 3 Round of 16

Sponsors
Sponsors

Lit-invest
Esse
Ecoil
Compensa
TFK

Kit

FK Trakai uniform colors are yellow for home games. Away uniforms were black and red (like AC Milan) from 2014 till 2018. Since 2018, away uniforms have been dark blue.

2006–2013 (Home kit)
2006–2013 (Away kit)
From 2014 (Home kit)
From 2014 (Away kit)
From 2018 (Away kit)
Goalkeeper`s kit 2018 Home
Goalkeeper`s kit 2018 Away

Uniform manufacturers

European record
Accurate as of 10 August 2020
CompetitionPlayedWonDrewLostGFGAGDWin%
UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League 20 9 6 5 23 22 +1 045.00
Total 20 9 6 5 23 22 +1 045.00

Source: UEFA.com
Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal Difference. Defunct competitions indicated in italics.

Season Competition Round Opponent Home Away Aggregate
2015–16 UEFA Europa League 1Q HB Tórshavn 3–0 4–1 7–1
2Q Apollon Limassol 0–0 0–4 0–4
2016–17 UEFA Europa League 1Q Nõmme Kalju FC 2–1 1–4 3–5
2017–18 UEFA Europa League 1Q St Johnstone 1–0 2–1 3–1
2Q IFK Norrköping 2–1 1–2 3–3 (5–3 p)
3Q Shkëndija 2–1 0–3 2–4
2018–19 UEFA Europa League PR Cefn Druids 1–0 1−1 2–1
1Q Irtysh Pavlodar 0−0 1–0 1–0
2Q Partizan 1−1 0–1 1–2
2019–20 UEFA Europa League 1Q KÍ Klaksvík 1−1 0−0 1−1 (a)
2020–21 UEFA Europa League 1Q Derry City N/A N/A
Notes
  • PR: Preliminary round
  • 1Q: First qualifying round
  • 2Q: Second qualifying round
  • 3Q: Third qualifying round

Current squad
As of 8 August 2020

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK  LTU Geraldas Širvinskas
2 DF  FIN Akseli Kalermo
3 DF  LTU Deividas Malžinskas
5 DF  LTU Ričardas Šveikauskas
6 MF  LTU Valentin Jeriomenko
7 MF  LTU Dovydas Virkšas
8 MF  LTU Mindaugas Grigaravičius
9 FW  LTU Donatas Kazlauskas
10 MF  CIV Lajo Traoré
11 MF  LTU Dominyk Kodz
12 DF  NGA Godwin Bright Osuoha
13 MF  LTU Rokas Masenzovas
16 MF  LTU Matas Ramanauskas
No. Pos. Nation Player
18 DF  LTU Dominykas Barauskas
19 FW  LTU Gytis Paulauskas
20 DF  LTU Aleksandras Levšinas
27 MF  LTU Rokas Filipavičius
28 MF  LTU Juozas Lubas
30 MF  VEN Ángel Lezama
31 GK  LTU Lukas Paukštė
33 DF  LTU Valdemar Borovskij
44 MF  LTU Tomas Dombrauskis
50 MF  LTU Justinas Marazas
79 MF  LTU Valdas Paulauskas
88 GK  LTU Tadas Simaitis
93 FW  BRA Michael Thuíque
99 GK  LTU Vincentas Šarkauskas

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player

Notable players

Players who have either appeared in at least one match for their respective national teams at any time or received an individual award while at the club. Players whose names are listed in bold represented their countries while playing for FK Trakai or FK Riteriai.

Ireland
  • Caolan McKeever

|}

Trakai Player of the Year

Since 2014, a Player of the Year award is presented during an annual season closeup event. From 2014–16, nominees were elected by Trakai players. However, since 2017, the award is determined by using InStat data.

Year Winner
2014 Vytautas Lukša[12]
2015 Yuri Mamaev
2016 Arūnas Klimavičius
2017 Mykhailo Shyshka
2018 Donatas Kazlauskas[17]

Staff
Position Name
President Jan Nevoina
Sporting director
Director Vladimiras Buzmakovas
Head coach Tommi Pikkarainen
Assistant manager Vaidas Sabaliauskas
Assistant manager Gintaras Rimkus
Fitness coach Arnas Juozaitis
Goalkeeping coach Mindaugas Malinauskas

Academy

FK Riteriai have their own football academy, which is closely related with AC Milan and called Talentų futbolo akademija.[18] It was opened in 2013.[19]

Managers
Name Period
Edgaras Jankauskas Feb, 2014 – Nov, 2014
Virmantas Lemežis Nov, 2014 – Dec, 2014
Valdas Urbonas Jan, 2015 – Jul, 2016
Albert Rybak Jul, 2016 – Aug, 2016
Serhiy Kovalets Aug, 2016 – Jan, 2017
Oleg Vasilenko Jan, 2017 – May, 2018
Virmantas Lemežis May, 2018 – Jun, 2018
Kibu Vicuña Jun, 2018 – Oct, 2018
Albert Rybak Oct, 2018 – Dec, 2018
Aurelijus Skarbalius Dec, 2018 – Jul, 2019.[20]
Albert Rybak Jul, 2019 – Nov, 2019
Mindaugas Čepas Jan, 2020 – Jun,2020[21]
Janusz Niedzvied Jul, 2020 – Aug,2020
Tommi Pikkarainen Aug, 2020 –
gollark: Isn't that basically the worst way to get water?
gollark: No, do NOT launch your ideology everywhere without beta testing!
gollark: What? No. It correlates with relevant stuff quite well.
gollark: Technically, IQ is defined relatively, so it'll have to continually cull the population.
gollark: There is always a bigger idiot.

References

Notes

    Sources
    1. https://fkriteriai.lt/2020/08/riterius-treniruos-specialistas-is-suomijos/
    2. "Oficialu. "Trakai" tampa "Riteriais"". fkriteriai.lt (in Lithuanian). 19 February 2019. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
    3. http://www.tfk.lt/lt/apie_kluba/apie/index.php
    4. "Sezono viduryje tikrai nebankrutuosime". sportas.info (in Lithuanian). 15 February 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
    5. Futbolo žvaigždžių paieška. // Veidas.lt, 2011-08-09.
    6. "Senosios sostinės riteriai pasiruošę šturmuoti A lygą" (in Lithuanian). A Lyga. 27 February 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
    7. ""Trakų" futbolininkams pristatytas naujasis treneris E.Jankauskas" (in Lithuanian). A Lyga. 4 March 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
    8. "Debiutantų dvikovoje triumfavo "Trakai"" (in Lithuanian). A Lyga. 10 March 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
    9. "Deividas Česnauskis prisijungė prie "Trakų"" (in Lithuanian). A Lyga. 19 September 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
    10. "Oficialu: "Trakai" atleido trenerį E.Jankauską". Eurofootball.lt (in Lithuanian). 3 November 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
    11. "Prie "Trakų" klubo prisijungė buvęs "Ekrano" treneris V. Urbonas". DELFI (in Lithuanian). 28 November 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
    12. "V. Urbonas paskirtas "Trakų" klubo vyriausiuoju treneriu". DELFI (in Lithuanian). 10 December 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
    13. http://fkt.lt/kita-sezona-riteriu-garbe-gins-a-klimavicius-ir-m-dapkus/
    14. ""Trakai" turės naują trenerį. Su O.Vasilenka nutraukta sutartis". futbolas.lt. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
    15. "Futbolo Klubas Trakai " "Trakams" vadovaus specialistas iš Ispanijos". fkt.lt. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
    16. http://www.fkt.lt/7125-2/
    17. ""Trakų" sezono uždarymo šventėje – apdovanoti geriausieji, pagerbtas D.Česnauskis" (in Lithuanian). FK Trakai. 14 November 2018. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
    18. "Talentų Futbolo Akademija". tfamilanas.lt. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
    19. "Italijos grandas "Milan" Lietuvoje atidarė savo futbolo akademiją". 15min.lt/sportas. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
    20. http://fkriteriai.lt/2019/07/a-skarbalius-traukiasi-is-riteriu/
    21. http://fkriteriai.lt/2020/01/riterius-treniruos-m-cepas/
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