FK Sūduva Marijampolė

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FK Sūduva
Full name Football Club Sūduva
Nickname(s) Suvalkiečiai (Sudovians)
Founded 1921
Ground Sūduva stadium
Marijampolė
Ground Capacity 6,250
Chairman Lithuania Vidmantas Murauskas
Manager Lithuania Darius Gvildys
League A Lyga
2013 A Lyga, 4th
Home colours
Away colours

FK Sūduva is a football club from the city of Marijampolė, Lithuania.

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]

History

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.

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.

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.

Honours

Domestic

  • A Lyga
    • Runners-up (2): 2007, 2010
  • Lithuanian Cup
    • Winners (2): 2006, 2009
    • Runners-up (1): 2002
  • Lithuanian Supercup
    • Winners (1): 2009
    • Runners-up (1): 2007

Continental

Participation in Lithuanian A League

Participation in Lithuanian Football Federation Cup

  • 1990 – 1/16 Finals
  • 1991 - Quarter Finals
  • 1991/1992 – 1/16 Finals
  • 1992/1993 – 1/16 Finals
  • 1997/1998 – 1/8 Finals
  • 1998/1999 – 1/16 Finals
  • 2001/2002 – Finalist
  • 2002/2003 – 1/8 Finals
  • 2003 – Semi Finals
  • 2004 – 1/8 Finals
  • 2005 – Quarter Finals
  • 2006 – Champions
  • 2007/2008 – Quarter Finals
  • 2008/2009 – Champions
  • 2009/2010 – Semi Finals
  • 2010/2011 – Quarter Finals
  • 2011/2012 – Semi Finals
  • 2012/2013 – 1/8 Finals
  • 2013/2014 - 1/8 Finals

Participation in Europe cups

Season Cup Round Club Score Aggregate
2002–03 UEFA Cup QR Norway Brann 3–2, 3–2 6–4
1R Scotland Celtic 1–8, 0–2 1–10
2006–07 UEFA Cup 1Q Wales Rhyl 0–0, 2–1 2–1
2Q Belgium Club Brugge 0–2, 2–5 2–7
2007–08 UEFA Cup 1Q Northern Ireland Dungannon Swifts 0–1, 4–0 4–1
2Q Norway Brann 1–2, 3–4 4–6
2008–09 UEFA Cup 1Q Wales TNS 1–0, 1–0 2–0
2Q Austria Red Bull Salzburg 1–4, 1–0 2–4
2009–10 UEFA Europa League 2Q Denmark Randers 0–1, 1–1 1–2
2010–11 UEFA Europa League 2Q Austria Rapid Wien 0–2, 2–4 2–6
2011–12 UEFA Europa League 2Q Sweden Elfsborg 1–1, 0–3 1–4
2012–13 UEFA Europa League 1Q Latvia Daugava 0–1, 3–2 3–3(a)
2Q Serbia Vojvodina 1–1, 0–4 1–5
2013–14 UEFA Europa League 1Q Republic of Macedonia Horizont Turnovo 2–2, 2–2 4–4 (4–5 p)

Current squad

As of 6 July 2013.

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

No. Position Player
2 Lithuania DF Nerijus Radžius
4 Lithuania DF Vytautas Lasevičius
5 Lithuania DF Darius Isoda
8 Lithuania MF Tadas Lekeckas
9 Lebanon FW Mohamed Kdouh
10 Lithuania MF Povilas Kisilevskis
12 Lithuania DF Povilas Leimonas
13 Lithuania MF Karolis Chvedukas
14 Lithuania DF Paulius Daukša
16 Lithuania MF Audrius Brokas
19 China DF Ren Xin
20 Lithuania DF Dovydas Tumosa
22 Lithuania DF Gytis Urba
No. Position Player
23 Lithuania FW Armandas Breivė
24 Lithuania DF Vilmantas Bagdanavičius
25 Lithuania MF Valentin Baranovskij
29 Croatia MF Petar Bašić
30 Lithuania GK Dovydas Lastauskas
31 Lithuania GK Džiugas Bartkus
34 Lithuania MF Giedrius Matulevičius
35 Lithuania GK Tomas Radzinevičius
77 Latvia GK Pāvels Davidovs
82 Brazil FW Rafael Ledesma
88 Lithuania MF Marius Šoblinskas
91 Italy DF Maximiliano Uggè

Technical staff

Position Name
Head coach Lithuania Darius Gvildys
Assistant coach Lithuania Algimantas Dvareckas
Goalkeeping coach Lithuania Audrius Ramonas
Head physio Lithuania Nerijus Stepanauskas
2nd team coach Lithuania Algimantas Dvareckas

Notable players

Managers

  • Lithuania Jonas Kaupaitis (1968–73)
  • Lithuania Mantas Valukonis (1991)
  • Lithuania Saulius Stankūnas (1991–03)
  • Lithuania Algimantas Gabrys (2003)
  • Lithuania Valdemaras Žilinskas 2004)
  • Italy Rino Lavezzini (2004–05)
  • Lithuania Algimantas Gabrys (2005–08)
  • Lithuania Igoris Pankratjevas (2008)
  • Lithuania Gedas Jarmalavičius (2008–09)
  • Lithuania Donatas Vencevičius (2010–11)
  • Lithuania Virginijus Liubšys (April 17, 2010 – July 6, 2012)
  • Lithuania Darius Gvildys (July 9, 2012–present)

References

  1. "Sūduva celebrate Lithuanian Cup spoils". Uefa.com. 2009-05-16. Retrieved 2009-05-18. 

External links

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