D. Kazlauskas will play for the Kaunas district 'Hegelmann' club

2025-01-22 11:22 © Fc Hegelmann

Lithuania's vice-champions will have one more newcomer. The blue and whites have agreed with Donatas Kazlauskas, who has extensive experience in Lithuania's top football league. The new player for Kaunas district's "Hegelmann" arrives from the "Šiauliai" club.

"The decision to join the 'Hegelmann' team was made quickly, even though I was very close to an agreement with another club. Still, I felt that this would be the right club and environment to continue my career," the new blue and white player revealed.

Kaunas is not a foreign city for the newcomer – D. Kazlauskas represented the National Football Academy team 13 years ago and played in the First League for Kauno "Atletas." In 2012, he was invited by Vilnius "Žalgiris," which gave the 17-year-old the chance to debut in Lithuania’s top league.

"Although I have only been with the blue and whites for a couple of days, I feel good. Everything fits," said the player. "Kaunas is a well-known city; it’s nice to return here, and even nicer that we will play in a new stadium."

After a stint in Vilnius, the blue and white newcomer moved closer to home – to Klaipėda's "Atlantas," where he had two productive seasons in the A league. In the 2014 A league season, he scored 12 goals and provided 5 assists. In 2014, he was recognized as the best young football player in Lithuania.

From Klaipėda, he moved to Gdańsk's "Lechia," but he could not establish himself there. After a successful second period at "Atlantas," the midfielder transferred to then "Trakai" during the 2018 season, where he scored 9 goals in 13 matches by the end of the season. This led to his inclusion in the symbolic 2018 A league team.

In the club that rebranded itself as "Riteriai," he also played in 2019 and 2020. Later, he had brief career stops in Ukraine's "Lviv" and Romania's "Academica" teams, until finally in the spring of 2022, the player returned to "Žalgiris" once again.

"I hope that injuries will remain in the past season, and I can avoid them this year and regain good physical form to help the team achieve the set goals. I have a lot of motivation," D. Kazlauskas spoke about the previous season in "Šiauliai" and his future at the Kaunas district club.

In the Lithuanian national team, D. Kazlauskas has played 34 matches and scored 2 goals.

The blue and white newcomer will wear the number 39 jersey in the upcoming season.