It’s been just over two months since the kickoff of the new A Lyga season, yet controversy still grips the corridors of Lithuanian football. At the heart of the storm are Vilnius’ Riteriai — a club teetering dangerously on the brink of bankruptcy.
After being denied the Virslīga license for 2025, the 2022 Champions are now left out of the top tier with questions about the club's future abound. We look back at what might have happened and talk to fans to gauge their mood.
At first glance, Romualdas Jansonas’ transfer from Žalgiris Vilnius to FK Kauno Žalgiris might not seem like a groundbreaking move in Lithuanian football. However, the reality behind the transfer is far more intricate, shaped by FIFA regulations and the challenges young Lithuanian players face when pursuing careers abroad.
In 2024, the league-wide average stood at 406 attendees per game, reflecting growing interest in Estonian top-flight football. The game with the highest attendance was between before mentioned teams – FC Flora vs FCI Levadia game on May 5th gathered a crowd of 3014 at A. Le Coq Arena.
After a dramatic 1-1 draw against Finland in front of a 10,000-strong crowd at Kaunas’ Dariaus ir Girėnas Stadium, the Lithuanian national team wrapped up the first phase of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. With one point from two games, what lessons can we draw from these performances? How should we assess the team’s efforts, and were expectations perhaps set too high?
There is much uncertainty about the future of the newly promoted A Lyga club FK Riteriai as news begin emerging of potential insolvency, threats of bankruptcy, internal strife, unpaid salaries to players and coaches, and mutual finger-pointing between the new and the old owners.
The champions of Latvia and arguably the most successful team in the Baltics right now — RFS — still sit atop of the Virslīga but the two recent defeats – first against local underdogs Metta and now arch-rivals Riga FC – have exposed some worrying cracks in their setup.
Year on year growth culminated in an average of 482 spectators per match in 2024. The season’s highlight was the Riga FC vs RFS derby, which attracted an impressive crowd of 5321 fans.
The Latvian FA published updated competition regulations for 2025. Dramatic increase in the fee for foreign player registration and deliberately obscured conditions for the use of the ‘foreign player fund’ stand out.
