FK Sūduva

Soviet times

Sūduva is one of the oldest and still functioning clubs in Lithuania. It is not so easy to trace its history, as in Soviet times it often changed names with every new owner that supported it. It is more or less agreed that officially this club has existed under the name of Sūduva since 1968.

During Soviet times it drifted between different local leagues, producing few footballers for the above-mentioned Žalgiris and slowly building a local football community. Football was also actively played in a few smaller towns around Marijampolė, thus making the community of football lovers even stronger. Actually it was stronger than the club itself, and those who follow the team today are adding to the old tradition.

The biggest achievement of the club during Soviet times came in 1975 when Sūduva reached 3rd place at the local top division. The next year it played and lost the National Cup Final. That was more or less it.

1990–2001

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union Sūduva got few chances to go up. It played the only Baltic championship in 1990 with teams from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Next year it tried the Lithuanian top division. Both efforts were terrible – Sūduva finished both championships as the last team collecting 7 points at the Baltic championship and only 2 at the Lithuanian league.

Later the team navigated between the 2nd and the 3rd divisions for some 10 years without decent funds or a truly professional attitude. The worst was the season of 1998 / 1999. The team started well at the 2nd division but left it after half a season because it had no funds. It was not the end. The football traditions were too strong.

The team recovered next season at the 3rd division, won it the following year, went up and won again. This rise continues up to this day.

2002–present

The season of 2002 shaped the future. The team reached the top division. It also reached the finals of the National Cup and gained the chance to take part in the UEFA Cup. But the most important thing was that it also got new owners who were determined to create a normally functioning and financially predictable club. The European campaign of that year added some good emotions to the general hype.

The semi-professional team vanquished Brann from Norway during its first European match (3–2 both away and at home) and went to Glasgow to meet Celtic. This match was not so successful (actually, the result is still featured in the statistics of Celtic as one of the biggest victories in Europe). But no one cared – the fundamentals for the revival were laid.

First leg

15 August 200218:00

SK Brann	2 – 3	FK Sūduva
Knudsen  45' Furuseth  58'	Report	Zitinskas  8' Radzinevičius  18' Zitinskas  20'

Brann Stadion

Referee: David Malcolm

Second leg

29 August 200219:30

FK Sūduva	3 – 2	SK Brann
Radzinevičius  3' Radzinevičius  30' Radzinevičius  41'	Report	Nhleko  16' Nhleko  45'

Darius and Girėnas

Referee: Drago Kos

Three more seasons at the middle of the table and the team reached 3rd place – 30 years after the achievement of the same caliber. Repeating that history, the club reached the finals of the National Cup the following year. Only this time the Cup went to Marijampolė.

Since that year Sūduva have been one of the most stable clubs of the country – both financially and on the league table. It reached 2nd position twice (2007 and 2010), 3rd position – three times (2009, 2011 and 2012) and won the National Cup one more time (2008). It went to play European cups every year receiving teams like Rapid, Red Bull and Club Brugge.

The year 2013 saw a new concept of the team. The budget was still stable but it went down. So the team expressed the wish to put more stress on integration of young local boys into the main team. Some important players of the earlier seasons left; a few foreign players came to stand along those who left and the new blood.

So that was the year of experiments. The team was much younger, less experienced and clearly weaker. It was many seasons before Sūduva was a clear member of 2–4 teams that were clear leaders of the championship. The question was only about what kind of medals each team would get. That year the situation was much tougher for Sūduva. It was clear that the team would need a lot of effort and luck if it wanted to get its traditional silver or bronze.

In the 2015 season Sūduva started with a new head coach – Aleksandr Veselinovič. The new coach totally changed the team style from defending to attacking. In the last season game against Atlantas Sūduva needed at least a draw. Sūduva conceded a goal in the 86th minute and lost 3rd place to Atlantas.

Kardum

Jankauskas

Leimonas

Živanović

Švrljuga

Slavickas

Acevedo

Verbickas

Matulevičius

Topčagić

Cicilia

Starting line-up for the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round home match against APOEL FC won by FK Suduva 3–1.^[2]

In the beginning of the 2016 season Sūduva recalled former team players Marius Činikas and Martynas Matuzas. Multiple A Lyga champions Algis Jankauskas, Andro Švrljuga and Paulius Janušauskas were signed as well. Also signed were Croatian goalkeeper Ivan Kardum, Serbian forward Admir Kecap, Bosnian-Herzegovinian defensive midfielder Nermin Jamak and Serbian midfielder Predrag Pavlović. Sūduva finished season 3rd, also played in Cup final same year. ^[3]

In 2017, FK Sūduva became the first Lithuanian football club after Žalgiris Vilnius and FK Ekranas to pass three qualifying rounds in European competition in 2017–18 Europa League. FK Sūduva eliminated Shakhtyor Soligorsk , FK Liepāja and FC Sion.

In the same season, for the first time, FK Sūduva won A Lyga.

In 2018, FK Sūduva played in the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League. In the first round Sūduva advanced over APOEL FC by scoring 3 consecutive goals in the first 18 minutes of play. In the second qualification round they lost to Red Star Belgrade. After that, they had chance to play in 2018–19 UEFA Europa League. Won agaist FK Spartaks Jūrmala in 3Q, but lost to Celtic Glasgow in play off stage.

Continental

• Baltic League*
  • Runners-up (1): 2009–10^[4]

Out on loan

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

International players

• Vaidas Slavickas (Lithuania national football team)
• Algis Jankauskas (Lithuania national football team)
• Povilas Leimonas (Lithuania national football team)
• Ovidijus Verbickas (Lithuania national football team)

Notable players

Players who have either appeared for their respective national team at any time or received an individual award while at the club. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries while playing for FK Sūduva.

Individual awards

Domestic

A Lyga top scorers Season Name Goals 2010 Povilas Lukšys 16 2013 Nerijus Valskis 27 2015 Tomas Radzinevičius 28 A Lyga Player of the Year Year Name 2002 Tomas Radzinevičius 2013 Nerijus Valskis 2015 Tomas Radzinevičius 2017 Karolis Laukžemis

Lithuanian SSR Championship top scorers Season Name Goals 1975 Eugenijus Kurguznikovas 17 Fk Suduva "Player of the Year" Lists of the winners of Sūduva Marijampolė Player of the Year Award instituted from 2008 as voted by fans:[8] 2008: Darius Maciulevičius 2009: Ramūnas Radavičius 2010: Vaidas Slavickas 2011: Vaidas Slavickas 2012: Rafael Ledesma 2013: Nerijus Valskis 2014: Džiugas Bartkus 2015: Tomas Radzinevičius