© EuroFootball.com
This weekend promises to be a joyous celebration for Lithuanian football fans - after a long winter break filled with passion, the Lithuanian football championship ("A League") will begin.
This year, as last year, eight teams will participate in the championship - the multiple Lithuanian champions , last year's silver medalists , three teams from Vilnius (, , ), , , and their hometown pride .
Compared to last year, only one team has changed this year - the absolute last place team from last season "Sakalas" has been replaced by "Šilutė".
Before the season, there was talk of a possible expansion of the "A League", but due to the clubs' licensing according to UEFA standards during the offseason, two clubs that found solid sponsors, "Šiauliai" (formerly "Sakalas") and Klaipėda's "Rodovitas", will not be able to participate in the championship as they did not meet UEFA requirements. Because Šilutė's stadium does not meet UEFA standards, the team will have to play some of their home games in Klaipėda at the "Atlantas" stadium, and Marijampolė's "Sūduva" will play all their matches away until the city stadium reconstruction works are finished.
It seems that there will be no shortage of novelties this season - the main novelty is that the championship will be organized not by the Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF) anymore, but by the National Football Clubs Association (NFKA). Another novelty this season is matches between league clubs and league club's national teams. These matches were decided to be arranged so that Lithuania would have a reserve national team, whose players would replace the players unable to play in the national team.
The schedule of this season's "A League" was confirmed late as ever - the main change in it is that the matches were moved from Friday to Sunday. This change was made to attract more spectators to the championship matches, however, the players are very dissatisfied with it, as they would gladly spend weekends with their families or friends.
A few days ago, NFKA announced that this season the clubs will play with "Roteiro" balls produced by the world famous company "Adidas" - these balls will also be used in this year's European Championship matches in Portugal.
Dear visitors,
EuroFootball.com has received quite a few complaints that Lithuania football news are not being covered, but we want to assure you that we will do our best to inform you about all Lithuanian football news, matches, and rumors. We, as a fairly young portal, strive to establish closer relationships with Lithuanian football clubs and championship organizers. We sincerely wish you an interesting and engaging season and hope for frequent visits from you, and we are pleased to announce that tomorrow you will find all the lineup information of all "A League" clubs on the portal.
Thank you for your support, EuroFootball.com team
