The situation at FK Riteriai continues to deteriorate rapidly after Lithuania’s Professional Footballers Association confirmed that two players and the club’s final remaining coach have officially terminated their contracts over unpaid salaries.
The crisis escalated further ahead of tonight’s Toplyga fixture against FK Panevėžys, with the match scheduled to kick off at 20:00 local time.
According to the PFA announcement, Lithuanian defender Egidijus Vaitkūnas and Ukrainian midfielder Artiom Baftalovskyi formally informed the club on Friday morning about the unilateral termination of their agreements. They were joined by Gintautas Vaičiūnas, the final remaining member of the coaching staff still working at the club.
The departures leave Riteriai without a head coach, while further exits are expected in the near future.
PFA president Arūnas Klimavičius revealed that the club has not paid a single salary during the entire 2026 season, with additional players now considering terminating their contracts as well.
“For the Lithuanian players we will apply to the LFF Arbitration Committee for the recovery of all contractual sums, while in the foreign player’s case we will go to FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber. It appears these will not be the last contract terminations, because other players have different deadlines allowing them to terminate their agreements.”
The warning signs had already appeared several weeks ago when ten players and one coach reportedly sent official notices to the club regarding possible contract terminations if the outstanding payments were not resolved.
On the pitch, the situation has been equally disastrous. Riteriai have collected only three points from 13 matches this season and currently sit bottom of the Toplyga table as the league’s clear outsiders.
