FK Sūduva

FK Sūduva is a professional football club based in the city of Marijampolė, Lithuania. Founded in 1968. The club are the defending football champions of Lithuania.

FK Sūduva

Full name	Football Club Sūduva
Nickname(s)	Sūduviečiai (Sudovians)
Founded	1968 (1968)
Ground	Hikvision Arena
Capacity	6,250
Chairman	Vidmantas Murauskas
Manager	Saulius Širmelis
League	A Lyga
2019	Champions
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours

The club have been playing in the A Lyga since 2002. In 2006, the team won its first trophy – the Lithuanian Cup, a feat they repeated in 2009.[1] In 2017, Sūduva won the A Lyga for the first time in its history, and repeated the triumph in 2018 and 2019.

The team's colours are white and red. The club plays at Hikvision Arena in Marijampolė (capacity 6,250).

Name history

• 1968 – Sūduva Kapsukas
• 1993 – Sūduva-Žydrius (after the Žydrius automotive parts company)
• 1994 – Sūduva Marijampolė

History

Soviet times

Sūduva is one of the oldest and still functioning clubs in Lithuania. It is not so easy to trace its history, as in Soviet times it often changed names with every new owner that supported it. It is more or less agreed that officially this club has existed under the name of Sūduva since 1968. This date (1968) known, because officially was founded Sūduva as football club.

During Soviet times it drifted between different local leagues, producing few footballers for the above-mentioned Žalgiris and slowly building a local football community. Football was also actively played in a few smaller towns around Marijampolė, thus making the community of football lovers even stronger. Actually, it was stronger than the club itself, and those who follow the team today are adding to the old tradition.

The biggest achievement of the club during Soviet times came in 1975 when Sūduva reached 3rd place at the local top division. The next year it played and lost the National Cup Final. That was more or less it.

1990–2001

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union Sūduva got few chances to go up. It played the only Baltic championship in 1990 with teams from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Next year it tried the Lithuanian top division. Both efforts were terrible – Sūduva finished both championships as the last team collecting 7 points at the Baltic championship and only 2 at the Lithuanian league.

Later the team navigated between the 2nd and the 3rd divisions for some 10 years without decent funds or a truly professional attitude. The worst was the season of 1998 / 1999. The team started well at the 2nd division but left it after half a season because it had no funds. It was not the end. The football traditions were too strong.

The team recovered next season at the 3rd division, won it the following year, went up and won again. This rise continues up to this day.

2002–present

The season of 2002 shaped the future. The team reached the top division. It also reached the finals of the National Cup and gained the chance to take part in the UEFA Cup. But the most important thing was that it also got new owners who were determined to create a normally functioning and financially predictable club. The European campaign of that year added some good emotions to the general hype.

The semi-professional team vanquished Brann from Norway during its first European match (3–2 both away and at home) and went to Glasgow to meet Celtic. This match was not so successful (actually, the result is still featured in the statistics of Celtic as one of the biggest victories in Europe).

Three more seasons at the middle of the table and the team reached 3rd place – 30 years after the achievement of the same caliber. Repeating that history, the club reached the finals of the National Cup the following year. Only this time the Cup went to Marijampolė.

Since that year Sūduva have been one of the most stable clubs of the country – both financially and on the league table. It reached 2nd position twice (2007 and 2010), 3rd position – three times (2009, 2011 and 2012) and won the National Cup one more time (2008). It went to play European cups every year receiving teams like Rapid, Red Bull and Club Brugge.

The year 2013 saw a new concept of the team. The budget was still stable but it went down. So the team expressed the wish to put more stress on integration of young local boys into the main team. Some important players of the earlier seasons left; a few foreign players came to stand along those who left and the new blood.

So that was the year of experiments. The team was much younger, less experienced and clearly weaker. It was many seasons before Sūduva was a clear member of 2–4 teams that were clear leaders of the championship. The question was only about what kind of medals each team would get. That year the situation was much tougher for Sūduva. It was clear that the team would need a lot of effort and luck if it wanted to get its traditional silver or bronze.

In the 2015 season, Sūduva started with a new head coach – Aleksandr Veselinovič. The new coach totally changed the team style from defending to attacking. In the last season game against Atlantas Sūduva needed at least a draw. Sūduva conceded a goal in the 86th minute and lost 3rd place to Atlantas.

Kardum

Jankauskas

Leimonas

Živanović

Švrljuga

Slavickas

Acevedo

Verbickas

Matulevičius

Topčagić

Cicilia

Starting line-up for the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round home match against APOEL FC won by FK Suduva 3–1.[2]

At the beginning of the 2016 season, Sūduva recalled former team players Marius Činikas and Martynas Matuzas. Multiple A Lyga champions Algis Jankauskas, Andro Švrljuga and Paulius Janušauskas were signed as well. Also signed were Croatian goalkeeper Ivan Kardum, Serbian forward Admir Kecap, Bosnian-Herzegovinian defensive midfielder Nermin Jamak and Serbian midfielder Predrag Pavlović. Sūduva finished season 3rd, also played in the Cup final the same year. [3]

In 2017, FK Sūduva became the first Lithuanian football club after Žalgiris Vilnius and FK Ekranas to pass three qualifying rounds in European competition in the 2017–18 Europa League. FK Sūduva eliminated Shakhtyor Soligorsk , FK Liepāja and FC Sion.

In the same season, for the first time, FK Sūduva won the A Lyga.

In 2018, FK Sūduva played in the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League. In the first round, Sūduva advanced over APOEL FC by scoring 3 consecutive goals in the first 18 minutes of play. In the second qualification round they lost to Red Star Belgrade. After that, they had a chance to play in the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League. They won against FK Spartaks Jūrmala in 3Q, but lost to Celtic Glasgow in the play-off stage. In the same season, Sūduva won the A Lyga the second time in a row.

In the 2019 season, the club won the A Lyga, LFF Cup and the Supercup. Despite the success, the club's main sponsors, ARVI Group announced on 11 December 2019 that it will no longer sponsor the Sūduva club. The ARVI Arena, the main football ground named after the sponsor, had the sponsor signboards removed and the stadium was renamed to Marijampolė Football Arena (at least temporarily until another sponsor appears).[4] At the end of the season, Kazakh head coach Vladimir Cheburin announced his intentions to return to Kazakhstan, and did not renew his contract. Cheburin was attributed to a lot of club's success over the past 3 seasons.

In January 2020, Heimo Pfeifenberger became the new head coach,[5] however amidst COVID-19 pandemic, Heimo's and the club's views on player salaries and remote training have become different, and on 14 April the club terminated the contract.[6][7][8]

Supporters

FK Sūduva supporters are called "Sūduvos Sakalai" (eng. Falcons of Sūduva).

The majority of FK Sūduva supporters have a strong connection with the fans of Scottish football club St Mirren F.C., the supporters will gather on the last Saturday of March every year (as of 2015) to play a game of football together and go for drinks afterwards.

Kit

Traditional home kit are white colour with red signs.

Away kits are usually red. Shirts, shorts and socks. With white signs.

Goalkeepers kit was yellow colour with black signs and details (in 2018). In the 2019 season kits is light green (or black in alternative).

Joma is a kit sponsor since the 2014 season.

Home kit

Away kit

Alternative kit

2018 (GK kit)

2019 (GK kit)

Stadium

Main article: Sūduva Stadium

In 2008, Sūduva moved to a new stadium in Marijampolė, the Marijampolės futbolo arena with a capacity of approximately 6,250 spectators. The stadium was built using funds from the European Union and opened on 6 July 2008. Beginning from the 2011 season, the stadium was named ARVI Football Arena after the sponsoring rights were bought by ARVI Enterprises Group. Near the arena you can find the roof-covered football field Marijampolė Football Indoor Arena, containing 2500 seats. There football can be played all year. There are two outdoor football fields near the arena as well.

A panorama of ARVI Football Arena.

Honours

• Lithuanian Championship:
• A Lyga
  • 1st place (3): 2017, 2018, 2019
  • 2nd place (2): 2007, 2010
  • 3rd place (5): 2005, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2016
• Lithuanian Cup
  • Winners (3): 2006, 2009, 2019
  • Runners-up (3): 1976, 2002, 2016
• Lithuanian Supercup
  • Winners (3): 2009, 2018, 2019
  • Runners-up (2): 2007, 2020

Soviet Championship:

• Lithuanian SSR Championship
  • 3rd place (1): 1975

Continental

• Baltic League*
  • Runners-up (1): 2009–10[9]

Current squad

As of 14 August 2020[10]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 6 MF  LTU Povilas Leimonas 7 FW  LTU Eligijus Jankauskas 8 MF  BRA Renan Oliveira 9 FW  AUT Mihret Topčagić 10 DF  BIH Semir Kerla 11 DF  CRO Andro Švrljuga 12 GK  CRO Ivan Kardum 13 GK  LTU Ignas Plūkas 14 MF  LTU Saulius Vikertas 15 DF  SRB Aleksandar Živanović 17 MF  LTU Giedrius Matulevičius 18 DF  AUT Thomas Salamon 19 DF  LTU Vaidas Slavickas

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 FW  LVA Valērijs Šabala 23 DF  LTU Arnas Paura 25 MF  CRO Domagoj Pušić 27 DF  LTU Modestas Vainikaitis 30 DF  SVK Ivan Hladík 32 MF  LVA Gļebs Kļuškins 77 FW  CRO Josip Tadić 80 DF  UKR Yevhen Yefremov 82 DF  LTU Algis Jankauskas (captain) 99 GK  LTU Vilius Stebrys ?? MF  USA Chris Goslin

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

International players

• Vaidas Slavickas (Lithuania national football team)
• Algis Jankauskas (Lithuania national football team)
• Povilas Leimonas (Lithuania national football team)
• Ovidijus Verbickas (Lithuania national football team)
• Gratas Sirgėdas (Lithuania national football team)
• Giedrius Matulevičius (Lithuania national football team)
• Paulius Golubickas (Lithuania national football team)

Notable players

Players who have either appeared for their respective national team at any time or received an individual award while at the club. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries while playing for FK Sūduva.

Lithuania Džiugas Bartkus Ričardas Beniušis Valdemar Borovskij Karolis Chvedukas Artūras Fomenka Dominykas Galkevičius Darius Gvildys Algis Jankauskas Tadas Kijanskas Povilas Lukšys Darius Maciulevičius Tomas Mikuckis Povilas Leimonas Vytautas Andriuškevičius

Ramūnas Radavičius Tomas Radzinevičius Nerijus Radžius Tomas Ražanauskas Mantas Samusiovas Vaidas Slavickas Nerijus Valskis Ovidijus Verbickas Irmantas Zelmikas Karolis Laukžemis Paulius Golubickas Europe Andro Švrljuga Daniel Offenbacher Ivans Lukjanovs Semir Kerla Vital Hayduchyk Predrag Pavlović South America Gerson Acevedo Rafael Gaúcho Willer Souza Oliveira

CONCACAF Tosaint Ricketts Sandro Grande Rigino Cicilia Jeremy de Nooijer Radanfah Abu Bakr Africa Henri Junior Ndong Eugene Sseppuya Sérgio Semedo

Sūduva B

Sūduva B team play in Second league (Southern Zone) since 2016. In 2019 season was in 13th position from 13 teams.[11]

Technical staff

Position	Name
Head coach	Saulius Širmelis
Goalkeeping coach	Audrius Ramonas
Head physio	Nerijus Stepanauskas
Physio	Rimantas Česnulis
Assistant Coach	Eivinas Černiauskas
2nd Assistant Coach/Video Analyst	Philipp Pürzl

Seasons

Results of league and cup competitions by season

Season	League										Domestic Cup		Europe		Other		League top goalscorer
	Div	T	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	Pos	Competition	Result	Competition	Result	Competition	Result	Name(s)	Goals
1990	Baltic League	I	32	1	5	26	13	69	7	17th	LFF Cup	R32	—	—	—	—	—	—
1991	LFF Lyga	I	14	0	2	12	5	44	2	15th ↓	LFF Cup	QF	—	—	—	—	—	—
1991–92	I Lyga	II	28	7	6	15	24	45	20	11th	LFF Cup	R32	—	—	—	—	—	—
1992–93	I Lyga	II	24	1	1	24	13	82	3	14th ↓	LFF Cup	R32	—	—	—	—	—	—
1993–94	II Lyga South Zone	III					44	23	26	3rd	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1994–95	III Lyga	III	22	11	6	5	31	24	28	2nd ↑	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1995–96	II Lyga	II	24	9	4	11	35	37	31	8th	LFF Cup	R64	—	—	—	—	—	—
1996–97	II Lyga	II	30	17	4	9	48	32	55	4th	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1997–98	I Lyga	II	26	9	3	14	31	49	30	10th	LFF Cup	R16	—	—	—	—	—	—
1998–99	II Lyga	II	14	7	1	6	23	17	22	11th[12]	LFF Cup	R32	—	—	—	—	—	—
1999	II Lyga South Zone	III	10	8	1	1	39	9	25	2nd	— |rowspan="2"| —	—	—	—	—	—	—
2000	II Lyga South Zone	III	16+1[13]	14+1	1	1	48+3	8+2	43	1st ↑		— |rowspan="2"| —	— |rowspan="2"| —	— |rowspan="2"| —
											— |rowspan="2"| —
2001	I Lyga	II	30	22	1	7	93	42	67	2nd ↑		— |rowspan="2"| —	— |rowspan="2"| —	Tomas Radzinevičius	29
											LFF Cup					F
2002	A Lyga	I	32	11	8	13	44	50	41	6th		UEFA Cup	1R	— |rowspan="2"| —	Tomas Radzinevičius		14
											LFF Cup					R16
2003	A Lyga	I	28	8	8	12	39	45	32	6th		— |rowspan="2"| —	— |rowspan="2"| —	Tomas Radzinevičius	11
											LFF Cup					SF
2004	A Lyga	I	28	5	7	16	31	55	22	7th	LFF Cup	QF	—	—	—	—	Tomas Radzinevičius	8
2005	A Lyga	I	36	16	11	9	67	43	59	3rd	LFF Cup	QF	—	—	—	—	Tomas Radzinevičius	25
2006	A Lyga	I	36	15	8	13	48	44	53	5th	LFF Cup	W	UEFA Cup	2Q	—	—	Darius Maciulevičius	10
2007	A Lyga	I	36	20	8	8	66	34	68	2nd	LFF Cup	QF	UEFA Cup	2Q	LFF Supercup	F	Jose Negreiros	13
2008	A Lyga	I	28	11	6	8	35	25	48	4th			UEFA Cup	2Q	Baltic League	QF	Povilas Lukšys	11
											LFF Cup	W
2009	A Lyga	I	28	14	11	3	55	22	53	3rd			UEFA Europa League	2Q	LFF Supercup	W	Ričardas Beniušis	11
											LFF Cup	SF			Baltic League	F
2010	A Lyga	I	27	16	8	3	56	16	56	2nd			UEFA Europa League	2Q			Povilas Lukšys	16
											LFF Cup	QF			Baltic League	R16
2011	A Lyga	I	33	19	8	6	70	19	65	3rd			UEFA Europa League	2Q	— |rowspan="2"| —	Tadas Eliošius	13
											LFF Cup	SF
2012	A Lyga	I	36	21	7	8	77	37	70	3rd			UEFA Europa League	2Q	— |rowspan="2"| —	Rafael Ledesma	21
											LFF Cup	R16
2013	A Lyga	I	32	18	8	6	73	33	62	4th			UEFA Europa League	1Q	— |rowspan="2"| —	Nerijus Valskis	27
											LFF Cup	R16
2014	A Lyga	I	36	17	11	8	70	38	62	5th			— |rowspan="2"| —	— |rowspan="2"| —	Tomas Radzinevičius	13
											LFF Cup	QF
2015	A Lyga	I	36	21	4	11	76	34	67	4th			— |rowspan="2"| —	— |rowspan="2"| —	Tomas Radzinevičius	28
											LFF Cup	SF
2016	A Lyga	I	33	17	7	9	55	41	58	3rd			UEFA Europa League	1Q	— |rowspan="2"| —	Tomas Radzinevičius	14
											LFF Cup	F
2017	A Lyga	I	33	21	8	4	73	31	71	1st	LFF Cup	SF	UEFA Europa League	PO	—	—	Karolis Laukžemis	14
2018	A Lyga	I	33	24	5	4	72	20	77	1st	LFF Cup	QF	UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League	2Q PO	LFF Supercup	W	Gerson Acevedo	10
2019	A Lyga	I	33	29	0	4	95	24	87	1st	LFF Cup	W	UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League	1Q PO	LFF Supercup	W	Mihret Topčagić	20

Participation in Europe cups

Accurate as of August 29, 2019

Competition	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	GF	GA	GD	Win%
UEFA Champions League	6	1	1	4	4	9	−5	016.67
UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League	46	15	12	19	59	70	−11	032.61
Total	52	16	13	23	63	79	−16	030.77

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	Cup	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2002–03	UEFA Cup	QR	Brann	3–2	3–2	6–4
		1R	Celtic	0–2	1–8	1–10
2006–07	UEFA Cup	1Q	Rhyl	2–1	0–0	2–1
		2Q	Club Brugge	0–2	2–5	2–7
2007–08	UEFA Cup	1Q	Dungannon Swifts	4–0	0–1	4–1
		2Q	Brann	3–4	1–2	4–6
2008–09	UEFA Cup	1Q	TNS	1–0	1–0	2–0
		2Q	Red Bull Salzburg	1–4	1–0	2–4
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	2Q	Randers	0–1	1–1	1–2
2010–11	UEFA Europa League	2Q	Rapid Wien	0–2	2–4	2–6
2011–12	UEFA Europa League	2Q	Elfsborg	1–1	0–3	1–4
2012–13	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Daugava	0–1	3–2	3–3 (a)
		2Q	Vojvodina	0–4	1–1	1–5
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Horizont Turnovo	2–2	2–2	4–4 (4–5 p)
2016–17	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Midtjylland	0–1	0–1	0–2
2017–18	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Shakhtyor Soligorsk	2–1	0–0	2–1
		2Q	Liepāja	0–1	2–0	2–1
		3Q	Sion	3–0	1–1	4–1
		PO	Ludogorets Razgrad	0–0	0–2	0–2
2018–19	UEFA Champions League	1Q	APOEL	3–1	0–1	3–2
		2Q	Red Star Belgrade	0–2	0–3	0–5
	UEFA Europa League	3Q	FK Spartaks Jūrmala	0–0	1–0	1–0
		PO	Celtic	1–1	0–3	1–4
2019–20	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Red Star Belgrade	0–0	1–2	1–2
	UEFA Europa League	2Q	Tre Penne	5–0	5–0	10–0
		3Q	Maccabi Tel Aviv	2–1	2–1	4–2
		PO	Ferencváros	0–0	2–4	2–4
2020–21	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Flora	N/A		N/A

Individual awards

Domestic

A Lyga top scorers Season Name Goals 2010 Povilas Lukšys 16 2013 Nerijus Valskis 27 2015 Tomas Radzinevičius 28 A Lyga Player of the Year Year Name 2002 Tomas Radzinevičius 2013 Nerijus Valskis 2015 Tomas Radzinevičius 2017 Karolis Laukžemis 2018 Ovidijus Verbickas 2019 Semir Kerla

Lithuanian SSR Championship top scorers Season Name Goals 1975 Eugenijus Kurguznikovas 17 Fk Suduva "Player of the Year" Lists of the winners of Sūduva Marijampolė Player of the Year Award instituted from 2008 as voted by fans:[14] 2008: Darius Maciulevičius 2009: Ramūnas Radavičius 2010: Vaidas Slavickas 2011: Vaidas Slavickas 2012: Rafael Ledesma 2013: Nerijus Valskis 2014: Džiugas Bartkus 2015: Tomas Radzinevičius

Managers

• Jonas Kaupaitis (1968–73)
• Mantas Valukonis (1991)
• Saulius Stankūnas (1991–03)
• Algimantas Gabrys (2003 – 31 December 2003)
• Valdemaras Žilinskas (2004)
• Rino Lavezzini (2004 – 2 May 2005)
• Algimantas Gabrys (10 May 2005 – 20 April 2008)
• Igoris Pankratjevas (2008)
• Gediminas Jarmalavičius (2008–09)
• Donatas Vencevičius (29 January 2010 – 19 November 2010)
• Virginijus Liubšys (17 April 2010 – 6 July 2012)
• Darius Gvildys (9 July 2012 – Sept 2014)
• Aleksandar Veselinović (21 December 2014 – 31 August 2016)
• Vladimir Cheburin (8 September 2016 – 22 December 2019)[15]
• Heimo Pfeifenberger (8 January 2020 - 14 April 2020)[16]
• Saulius Širmelis (23 May 2020 - )[17]

References

1. "Sūduva celebrate Lithuanian Cup spoils". UEFA. 16 May 2009. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
4. "Atnaujinama "Sūduvos" namų tvirtovė liko be pavadinimo: atsitraukė rėmėjas". 15min.lt/sportas.
5. ""Sūduvą" treniruos austras H. Pfeifenbergeris – FK Sūduva".
6. "V.Murauskas apie H.Pfeifenbergerio atleidimą: "Sutartis nutraukta dėl neįgyvendintų sutarties sąlygų"".
7. "H.Pfeifenbergerio atleidimo priežastis – žaidėjų užstojimas dėl mažinamų algų?".
8. ""Sūduva" atleido H. Pfeifenbergerį".
9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 28 January 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
10. "Komanda" (in Lithuanian). FK Sūduva. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
11. "FK Sūduva B - Lietuvos Futbolas". lietuvosfutbolas.lt.
12. Club decided to withdraw from the competitions after half of the season, but they results were left
13. Additional game was played to determine winner of the competition, as Sūduva and Sveikata finished with identical number of victories, draws and defeats. Sūduva won it 3–2.
14. "Lithuania - M. Kuklys - Profile with news, career statistics and history - Soccerway". int.soccerway.com.
15. ""Sūduvos" pergalių architektas nepratęsė sutarties | A Lyga | Aukščiausia Lietuvos futbolo lyga". alyga.lt.
16. ""Sūduvą" treniruos austras H. Pfeifenbergeris – FK Sūduva".
17. https://lff.lt/news/10812/suduva-treniruos-s-sirmelis/

External links

• Official website
• Sūduva official facebook page
• alyga.lt official page
• lietuvosfutbolas.lt official page
• Soccerway FK Sūduva
• UEFA official page