FC Stumbras
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| Full name | Football Club Stumbras Kaunas | ||
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| Founded | 2013 | ||
| Ground | Darius and Girėnas Stadium | ||
| Capacity | 9180 | ||
| Chairman | Vytautas Klimašauskas | ||
| Manager | Darius Gvildys | ||
| League | A Lyga | ||
| 2015 | 7th | ||
| Website | Club home page | ||
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Football Club Stumbras is a professional football club, based in Kaunas, Lithuania, which plays in A Lyga, the top tier of Lithuanian football. Founded in 2013 on the basis of the NFA, the club is enjoying a quick rise, reaching the heights of Lithuanian football in a fairly short period of time. The club plays its home matches at the Darius and Girėnas Stadium (capacity 9,180) and use NFA stadium in Kaunas (capacity 500) as alternative.
Name history
- 2013 – FC Stumbras Kaunas
History
The club was established in 2013 on the basis of Nacionalinė Futbolo Akademija team, adapting the name FC Stumbras and playing in II Lyga Southern Zone. The majority of the team's players were under 20 years old. Stumbras finished 2nd in the league and promoted to I Lyga next year.
In the 2014 FC Stumbras was able to sign a few more experienced players to go with their youth, most notable former national team striker and Kaunas native Artūras Rimkevičius. Stumbras started out the season strong winning the first 8 matches. In July 2014, during the break, it was announced that 3 starting squad players Martynas Zaleckis, Klaidas Janonis and Klaudijus Upstas would leave the team, Rolandas Čepkauskas becoming the new head coach was announced a few days after.[1] FC Stumbras went on to finish the regular season 3rd, making it to the second phase. After beating FK Nevėžis 4–1 in the last match of the season, Stumbras secured 1st place in the league and Artūras Rimkevičius was declared league leader in goals with 26. The last team to represent the second largest city in Lithuania in A Lyga was FBK Kaunas in 2012. FC Stumbras chairman Vytautas Vaškūnas confirmed that the club will use their right to play in the top Lithuanian league in 2015 and Kaunas will have a team in A Lyga once again, he also confirmed the club will bring back Rimkevičius and will most likely strengthen the squad even more next season.[2]
Stumbras made it official that they would like to join the premier Lithuanian football league for the 2015 season, on the second check up Stumbras was accepted. Getting ready for the 2015 season Stumbras already proved their worth playing matches against Lithuanian and foreign clubs, losing only once to Estonian Champions FC Levadia 1-0. On 28 January 2015, it was announced that 6 new players will join the club Nerijus Mačiulis, Tomas Snapkauskas, Mantvydas Eiza, Martynas Dapkus, Giedrius Kvedaras and Aleksandr Sikorskiy, later Darius Gvildys was announced as new head coach. Before the start of the season, Stumbras management surprised everyone when announcing that fans are welcome to watch them play for free for their home matches.[3] On 28 February 2015, FC Stumbras debuted in A Lyga beating FK Šiauliai 3-1 in Kaunas.
Crest and colours
Only in 2013 after adapting the name Stumbras, the crest came along with it. It features a blue bison with a football being squashed under his leg on the background of a white shield with red borders and then placed on another shield which is blue with white text saying FC Stumbras at the top and Kaunas in smaller text under it. The choice of name and branding for the club is believed to be a reference to the historic coat of arms of Kaunas, which from 1935 to 1992 featured a white bison instead of an aurochs.
Since the beginning the club has used the colors blue and white on their kits. The logo contained some red; at the start of the 2015 season the club played its debut match with new kits that introduced the color red to their uniforms.
Kit manufacturers
Achievements
- 2014
Participation in Lithuanian championships
- 2013 II Lyga Southern Zone – 2nd
- 2014 I Lyga – 1st
- 2015 A Lyga – 7th
Current squad
As of May 2015.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Staff
As of 23 November 2014.
| Position | Name |
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| Chairman |  Vytautas Vaškūnas |
| Director | Vytautas Klimašauskas |
| Director's assistant | Tauras Grinius |
| Head Coach | Darius Gvildys |
| Assistant Coach | Rolandas Čepkauskas |
Notable players
- Artūras Rimkevičius (2014–)
Coaches
- Gerhardas Kvedaras (2010–2014)
- Rolandas Čepkauskas (2014–2015)
- Darius Gvildys (2015-)
References
External links
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