N. Petkevičius added to 'Sūduva'

2025-01-15 12:49 © fksuduva.lt

Marijampolė's "Sūduva" has another newcomer – 24-year-old forward Nauris Petkevičius.

The player who joined "Sūduva" started his professional career at Kaunas' "Stumbras", from where he moved to France's "Lille" in 2017. After three years, the forward returned to Lithuania and had an excellent season with Kaunas’ "Hegelmann" team – he scored 17 goals and provided 5 assists.

After such a performance, N. Petkevičius received another opportunity abroad – he moved to Belgium's "Charleroi". From this club, he was loaned to Antwerp's "Beerschot" and Vilnius' "Žalgiris", and in mid-2023, he returned to "Hegelmann". In 2024, the forward played for "Šiauliai".

N. Petkevičius has also been called up to the Lithuanian national team, where he played two matches in 2022.

Regarding his transfer to "Sūduva", the forward said that it all started with a call from the team's new head coach Donatas Vencevičius.

"We will be working together for the second time. In 2020, it was coach D. Vencevičius who invited me to the Lithuanian youth national team and gave me the opportunity to play among older players,” recalled N. Petkevičius. "We talked with the coach, and I decided that I want to join 'Sūduva'. After all, this is a historic club. Even though 'Sūduva' may not be living through its best times right now, when it constantly won the Lithuanian championship, it is still a team with a future and great goals. I hope that I can help the team return to better times."

In Marijampolė, the player will first think about the benefit for the team.

"My goal is to help the team, to play for the team, so that it achieves better results. If the team does well, plays orderly, then I believe my results will also be good. But all the attention is on the team because football, after all, is a team sport,” said N. Petkevičius. "The team's goals for the season are to be as high as possible in the standings and to try to compete for the LFF Cup. The last two years, when it was won by Vilnius district's 'Transinvest' and Gargždai's 'Banga', showed that anything is possible in this tournament."

"Sūduva" began its preparations for the 2025 season on January 8, and will play its first friendly match on January 18 at 1 PM in the Marijampolė Football Arena against Alytus' "Dainava".