FK Sūduva Marijampolė

FK Sūduva Marijampolė

Full name	Football Club Sūduva
Nickname(s)	Suvalkiečiai (Sudovians)
Founded	1921
Ground	Sūduva stadium
Ground Capacity	6,250
Chairman	Vidmantas Murauskas
Manager	Vladimir Cheburin
League	A Lyga
2016	3rd
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours Third colours

FK Sūduva is a professional football club based in city of Marijampolė, Lithuania. Founded in 1921, they currently play in the Lithuanian top division the A lyga.

The club has played in the A lyga since 2002 and have never been relegated from the Lithuanian top division. In 2006 the team won the Lithuanian Cup, a feat they repeated in 2009 with a 1–0 victory over Tauras in the final.^[1]

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

Name history

• 1941 - Žagrė
• 1942 - Sūduva
• 1945 - Žalgiris
• 1949 - Spartakas
• 1951 - Žalgiris
• 1952 - KTŪ Žalgiris
• 1963 - Sūduva
• 1993 - Sūduva-Žydrius
• 1994 - Sūduva

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 factory that supported it. It is more or less agreed that officially this club exists under the name of Sūduva since 1968.

During Soviet times it drifted between different local leagues, producing few footballers for above mentioned Žalgiris and slowly building local football community. Football was also actively played in 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 the 3rd place at local top division. The next year it played and lost the National Cup Final. That was more or less it.

1990- 2001

After the crash of 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 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 truly professional attitude. The worst was the season of 1998 / 1999. The team started well at the 2nd division but left it after half season because it had no funds. Well, 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 top division. It also reached the finals of National cup and gained the chance to take part in 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 killed Brann from Norway during its first European tie (3:2 both away and at home) and went to Glasgow to meet Celtic. This tie was not so successful (actually, the result is still featured in the statistics of Celtic as one of the biggest victories in Europe). But no one cared – the fundaments for the revival were laid.

Three more seasons at the middle of the table and the team reached the 3rd place – 30 years after the achievement of the same caliber. Repeating the history, club reached the finals of 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 one more time won the National Cup (2008). It went to play European cups every year receiving teams like Rapid, Red Bull and Club Brugge.

Year of 2013 saw new concept of the team. The budget is 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, few foreign players came to stand along those who left and the new blood.

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

2015 season Sūduva started with new head coach- Aleksandr Veselinovič. 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.

In the beginning of 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 were signed Croatian goalkeeper Ivan Kardum and Serbian midfielder Predrag Pavlović. ^[2]

Supporters

FK Sūduva supporters called Sūduvos Sakalai. ^[3]

Sponsors

Stadium

ARVI Football Arena

ARVI Football Arena

In 2008 Sūduva moved to a new stadium in Marijampolė ARVI Football Arena with a capacity of approximately 6,250 spectators. The stadium was built using funds from the European Union and opened on July 6, 2008. Near the arena you can find roof covered football field ARVI Football Indoor Arena containing 2500 seats. There football can be played whole year. There are two outdoor football fields near the arena as well.

Honours

Domestic

• A Lyga
  • 2nd place (2): 2007, 2010
  • 3rd place (4): 2005, 2009, 2011, 2012
• Lithuanian SSR Championship
  • 3rd place (1): 1975
• Lithuanian Cup
  • Winners (2): 2006, 2009
  • Runners-up (3): 1976, 2002, 2016
• Lithuanian Supercup
  • Winners (1): 2009
  • Runners-up (1): 2007

Continental

• Baltic League
  • Runners-up (1): 2010

^[4]

Participation in Lithuanian A League

Participation in Lithuanian Football Federation Cup

Participation in Europe cups

Season	Cup	Round	Club	Score	Aggregate
2002–03	UEFA Cup	QR	Brann	3–2, 3–2	6–4
		1R	Celtic	1–8, 0–2	1–10
2006–07	UEFA Cup	1Q	Rhyl	0–0, 2–1	2–1
		2Q	Club Brugge	0–2, 2–5	2–7
2007–08	UEFA Cup	1Q	Dungannon Swifts	0–1, 4–0	4–1
		2Q	Brann	1–2, 3–4	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	1–1, 0–4	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	FC Midtjylland	0–1, 0-1	0-2

Current squad

As of 7 September 2016.

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

No. Position Player 2 MF Valentin Baranovskij 3 DF Marius Činikas 5 DF Darius Isoda 6 MF Povilas Leimonas 7 MF Ernestas Veliulis 9 FW Leonid Akulinin 10 FW Tomas Radzinevičius 11 DF Andro Švrljuga 12 GK Ivan Kardum 14 MF Admir Kecap

No. Position Player 16 MF Paulius Janušauskas 17 MF Eligijus Jankauskas 19 DF Vaidas Slavickas 24 MF Nermin Jamak 28 GK Martynas Matuzas 33 DF Algis Jankauskas 45 FW Markas Kardokas 77 MF Predrag Pavlović 98 MF Domantas Antanavičius

Out on loan

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

No. Position Player GK Justinas Popiera (on loan to FBK Kaunas) FW Karolis Laukžemis (on loan to FK Jelgava)

International players

• Tomas Radzinevičius (Lithuania national football team)
• Vaidas Slavickas (Lithuania national football team)
• Ernestas Veliulis (Lithuania national football team)
• Darius Isoda (U-21)
• Eligijus Jankauskas (U-21)

All time top scorers

League top scorers by season

• 2001 – Tomas Radzinevičius 29
• 2002 – Tomas Radzinevičius 14
• 2003 – Tomas Radzinevičius 11
• 2004 – Tomas Radzinevičius 8
• 2005 – Tomas Radzinevičius 25
• 2006 – darius Maciulevičius 10
• 2007 – Jose Negreiros 13
• 2008 – Povilas Lukšys 11
• 2009 – Ričardas Beniušis 11
• 2010 – Povilas Lukšys 16
• 2011 – Povilas Lukšys 12
• 2012 – Rafael Ledesma 21
• 2013 - Nerijus Valskis 27
• 2014 - Tomas Radzinevičius 13
• 2015 - Tomas Radzinevičius 28

^[5]

Technical staff

Position	Name
Head coach	Vladimir Cheburin
Goalkeeping coach	Audrius Ramonas
Head physio	Nerijus Stepanauskas
Physio	Rimantas Česnulis
Assistant Coach	Eivinas Černiauskas

Player of the Year

Lists of the winners of Sūduva Marijampolė. Player of the Year Award instituted from 2008 as voted by fans:

• 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–Dec 31, 2003)
• Valdemaras Žilinskas (2004)
• Rino Lavezzini (2004–May 2, 2005)
• Algimantas Gabrys (May 10, 2005 – April 20, 2008)
• Igoris Pankratjevas (2008)
• Gediminas Jarmalavičius (2008–09)
• Donatas Vencevičius (Jan 29, 2010–Nov 19, 2010)
• Virginijus Liubšys (April 17, 2010 – July 6, 2012)
• Darius Gvildys (July 9, 2012– Sept, 2014)
• Aleksandar Veselinović (Dec 21, 2014 – Aug 31, 2016)
• Vladimir Cheburin ( Sep 8, 2016 -)

References

External links

• Official Website