FBK Kaunas

FBK Kaunas

Full name	Kauno futbolo bendruomenės klubas
Nickname(s)	Geltonai-Žali (Yellow-Greens)
Founded	1960
Ground	S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium
Capacity	9180
Chairman	Valdas Knyzelis
Manager	Mantas Babianskas
League	I Lyga
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

Kauno futbolo bendruomenės klubas, commonly known as FBK Kaunas, is a Lithuanian football club from the city of Kaunas.

History

Banga Kaunas 1960-1993

Originally the team was founded in 1960 as Banga Kaunas and played its first three years in the Soviet First League. Afterwards the club decided to play in the Lithuanian SSR Championship and they did so until 1993 when the club was restructured. In that period they won two Lithuanian SSR Championship's. One in 1986 and another in 1989.

FBK Kaunas 1993-2012 success & fall

The club was restructured in 1993, a baseball section added and the name changed to Kauno futbolo beisbolo klubas. The club had in its first years not such a great success and FBK Kaunas had to wait until 1999 before they could lift a trophy again. From 1999 to 2008, Kaunas won 8 championships, 4 Lithuanian cups, 4 super cups and 1 Baltic league title, but in the autumn of 2008 Kaunas dominance was once and for all broken when FK Ekranas won the championship in front of FBK Kaunas. After finishing second in 2008 A Lyga championship the club's president announced that the club were being demoted from the A Lyga in favour of LFF I Lyga, the 2nd tier of Lithuanian football system, but as conflict with LFF intensified, FBK Kaunas was relegated to LFF II lyga (consisting of amateur teams).

FBK Kaunas won II lyga championship in their first year in that division. Despite relegation FBK Kaunas also participated in the new UEFA Europe League as a vice-champ of Lithuania but did not advance past FK Sevojno. Despite drawing both games FBK Kaunas lost on away goals. FBK Kaunas won I Lyga in 2010 and was promoted to the 2011 A Lyga season. The 2011 season was a huge disappointment for Kaunas as they didn't manage to live up to the high expectations and eventually ended at a 10th place.

FBK Kaunas was not granted a 2012 A Lyga license because of financial problems and was due to play in the 2012 1 Lyga. However, due to the clubs increasing financial problems the chairman eventually decided to declare the club bankrupt. An era was over.

Kaunas have played Celtic, Rangers and Liverpool among others in Europa League and Champions League qualifying stages. On 5 August 2008, FBK Kaunas defeated Rangers, 2–1, to advance to the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League for the first time. The game was won in dramatic circumstances as Kaunas had to come from behind and finally took the lead just four minutes from time. Linas Pilibaitis was the scorer.

FBK Kaunas was for many years (1993-2012) sponsored by Ūkio bankas, a bank which had Vladimir Romanov as its principal shareholder. In October 2005 Mr Romanov became the majority shareholder of Scottish Premier League side, Heart of Midlothian. Romanov since used Kaunas as a feeder club for Hearts by allowing the SPL side to loan many players, such as Edgaras Jankauskas, Bruno Aguiar, Andrius Velička, Nerijus Barasa, Marius Žaliūkas and Roman Bednář, the latter signing a permanent deal for Hearts on 31 August 2006.

FBK Kaunas 2012 - an new era

Unhappy with the boards decision to close the club, the supporters decided to form a new club in 2012. Kauno futbolo bendruomenės klubas. (Kaunas Football Community Club) FBK Kaunas. They are not playing on the old license as of 2015 but the club is still considered as being the 'old' FBK Kaunas by the fans

FBK Kaunas started the 2012 season at the 4th tier. It was a huge success as Kaunas managed to gain promotion to the 2013 II Lyga. Kaunas spend the next 2 seasons in the II Lyga and was eventually promoted to the 2015 I Lyga season when they won the II Lyga in 2014.

Players

Current squad

As of Marth 2016 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Justinas Popiera 2 DF Artūras Šegžda 3 DF Aidas Gurskis 4 DF Donatas Šadbaras 5 MF Artūras Armonas 6 MF Augustinas Montvydas 8 MF Aurimas Zulonas 9 FW Eimantas Stonkus 10 MF Kristijonas Gedgaudas 11 DF Marius Žukovas 13 DF Tadas Juknius 14 MF Edgaras Mejeris 15 DF Patrikas Kukta 19 FW Ovidijus Dobrovolskas

No. Position Player 20 MF Lukas Turauskas 21 GK Modestas Kulikauskas 22 DF Andrius Petraška 23 DF Vitalijus Antonovas 27 MF Zakari Chaabi 42 DF Darius Laugalys 45 FW Edgaras Petkevičius 49 MF Gvidonas Narmontas 77 FW Skirmantas Šeštavickas 80 MF Robertas Liorančas 87 DF Laimonas Vaitiekaitis 91 DF Elvinas Bajorinas 96 DF Paulius Giedraitis 99 GK Titas Vizgirda

Personal

Manager: Mantas Babianskas Assistant Coach: Gintautas Vaiciunas Honours Domestic A Lyga Winners (8): 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 Runners-up (2): 2005, 2008 Lithuanian Cup Winners (4): 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008 Runners-up (2): 1998, 1999 Lithuanian Super Cup Winners (4): 2002, 2004, 2007, 2008 Runners-up (2): 2003, 2006 Lithuanian SSR Championship Winners (2): 1986, 1989 Lithuanian SSR Cup Winners (1):1989 Runners-up (3): 1984, 1985, 1986 Continental Baltic League Winners (1): 2008 Commonwealth of Independent States Cup Runners-up (1): 2006 Season-by-season Lithuania Season Div. Pos. Pl. W D L Goals Pts Top Scorer Cup Supercup Baltic League Europe Notes 1991 1st 3 14 9 4 1 24–10 22 Not contested Baltic League not founded until 2007 1991/92 1st 4 25 11 10 4 26–15 32 1992/93 1st 5 27 11 5 11 36–29 27 1993–94 1st 5 22 12 4 6 31–18 28 1994–95 1st 6 22 8 8 6 25–22 24 1/4 dnq 1995–96 1st 4 28 14 3 11 33–15 31 1/4 Not contested 1996–97 1st 4 28 15 5 11 48–35 41 1/2 dnq IC Group stage 1997–98 1st 5 30 18 4 8 63–19 58 Trakys Final Not contested IC Group stage 1998–99 1st 3 23 18 3 2 57–14 57 Trakys Final 1999 1st 1 18 12 5 1 36–10 41 Kšanavičius 1/4 UC 1st Qualifying round 2000 1st 1 36 26 8 2 115–24 86 Velička 1/2 CL 2nd qualifying round 2001 1st 1 36 26 7 3 76–13 85 Pocius Winner CL 1st qualifying round 2002 1st 1 32 24 6 2 85–20 78 Šlekys 1/4 Winner CL 1st qualifying round 2003 1st 1 28 21 5 2 64–20 68 Opic 1/2 Runner up CL 2nd qualifying round 2004 1st 1 28 20 5 3 49–19 65 Velička Winner Winner CL 2nd qualifying round 2005 1st 2 36 26 4 6 89–25 82 Beniušis Winner Runner up CL 2nd qualifying round 2006 1st 1 36 28 4 4 85–30 88 Velička / Beniušis 1/4 Winner UC 2nd qualifying round 2007 1st 1 36 25 8 3 91–26 83 Grigalevičius Not contested Not contested 1/2 CL 1st qualifying round 2008 1st 2 28 16 7 5 51–17 55 Ledesma Winner Winner CL / UC 3rd qualifying round / 1st round Relegated to II Lyga 2009 3rd 1 20 19 0 1 110–10 57 Macežinskas 1/2 dnq dnq EL 2nd qualifying round Promoted to 1 Lyga 2010 2nd 1 27 27 0 0 108–16 81 Pehlić 1/2 dnq Promoted to A Lyga 2011 1st 10 33 8 8 17 41–53 26 Razulis 1/2 dnq dnq Relegated to II Lyga 2012 4th 2 15 7 6 2 40-20 27 Macežinskas 1/4 dnq dnq 2013 3rd 6 24 9 4 11 52-47 31 Sevilla 1/64 dnq dnq 2014 3rd 1 26 20 3 3 69-19 63 Sevilla 1/32 dnq dnq dnq Promoted to 1 lyga. 2015 2nd 12 34 10 7 17 44-64 37 Rea 1/16 dnq dnq European cup history Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate Scored 1996–97 Intertoto cup Group stage Lillestrøm SK 1–4 Kirilovas FC Nantes 1–3 Žalys Sligo Rovers 1–0 Miknevičius Heerenveen 1–3 Gvildys 1997–98 Intertoto cup Group stage Samsunspor 0–1 Leiftur 3–2 Buitkus Trakys Bezykornovas Hamburger SV 1–2 Bezykornovas Odense 2–2 Bezykornovas Trakys 1999-00 UEFA cup Qual. round Maccabi Tel Aviv 2–1 1–3 3–4 Pacevičius-2 Papečkys 2000–01 UEFA Champions League 1st QR NK Brotnjo 4–0 0–3 4–3 Kšanavičius-2 Žuta Puotkalis 2nd QR Rangers FC 0–0 1–4 1–4 Žuta 2001–02 UEFA Champions League 1st QR Sloga Jugomagnat 1–1 0–0 1–1 Papečkys 2002–03 UEFA Champions League 1st QR Dinamo Tirana 2–3 0–0 2–3 Velička-2 2003–04 UEFA Champions League 1st QR Havnar Bóltfelag 4–1 1–0 5–1 Beniušis-2, Kančelskis, Opic 2nd QR Celtic 0–4 0–1 0–5 2004–05 UEFA Champions League 1st QR Sliema Wanderers 4–1 2–0 6–1 Sanajevas-2, Žutautas, Gedgaudas, Mikoliūnas, Žaliūkas 2nd QR Djurgårdens 0–2 0–0 0–2 2005–06 UEFA Champions League 1st QR Havnar Bóltfelag 4–0 4–2 8–2 Velička-3, Zelmikas-2, Rimkevičius-2, Klimek 2nd QR Liverpool 1–3 0–2 1–5 Barevičius 2006–07 UEFA cup 1st QR Portadown 1–0 3–1 4–1 Manchkava, Pehlić, Velička, Ivaškevičius 2nd QR Randers 1–0 1–3 2–3 Juška, Velička 2007–08 UEFA Champions League 1st QR Zeta 3–2 1–3 4–5 Kvaratskhelia-2, Beniušis, Kšanavičius 2008–09 UEFA Champions League 1st QR Santa Coloma 3–1 4–1 7–2 Pilibaitis-4, Ledesma-2, Zelmikas 2nd QR Rangers FC 2–1 0–0 2–1 Radžius, Pilibaitis 3rd QR Aalborg 0–2 0–2 0–4 UEFA Cup 1st round Sampdoria 1–2 0–5 1–7 Zelmikas 2009–10 UEFA Europa League 2nd QR Sevojno 1–1 0–0 1–1 Fridrikas Coaches Povilas Grigonis (1986) Algirdas Gruzdas (1989) Šenderis Giršovičius (1995–96), (1998–00) Sergei Borovsky (July 2003 – April 4) Šenderis Giršovičius (April 2004 – Sept 04) Valdas Ivanauskas (Sept 2004 – April 5) Eugenijus Riabovas (April 2005 – May 5) Aleksandr Piskariov (May 2005 – July 5) Igoris Pankratjevas (July 2005 – Nov 05) Eduard Malofeyev (Dec 2005 – June 6) Eugenijus Riabovas (June 2006 – Feb 07) Vladimir Kurnev (Feb 2007 – April 7) Angel Chervenkov (April 2007 – June 7) Artūras Ramoška (June 2007 – Sept 07) Anton Joore (Aug 2007 – Sept 07) Andrei Zygmantovich (Sept 2007 – July 8) Jose Couceiro (July 2008 – Oct 08) Andrei Zygmantovich (Nov 2008 – Dec 08) Eugenijus Riabovas (Dec 2008 – April 9) Saulius Vertelis (April 2009 – Sept 10) Darius Gvildys (Sept 2010 – March 11) Eugenijus Riabovas (March 2011 – Feb 12) Artūras Ramoška (April 2012 – Jan 13) Audrius Statkevičius (March 2013 – Jan 14) Mantas Babianskas (March 2014 – ) References External links Official website (Lithuanian) Chaos in Kaunas: The Decline and Fall of the Romanov Empire