by Mantas Aliukonis
Last weekend, DFK Dainava parted ways with their head coach of the past three seasons, Sergey Kuznetsov, following a defeat to Džiugas Telšiai. During his time in Alytus, the Belarusian managed 80 matches, averaging 0.9 points per game, leading the club into Lithuania’s top division and steering them to an unprecedented 4th-place finish last season. However, this campaign has been rocky. After the first round, Dainava languish in the last place – the only team in the Baltics that is yet to win a single match this season – with only two points, a staggering 19 points behind league leaders Hegelmann FC.
The coaching change has plunged the club into a state of flux. Regulations allow a team to be temporarily coached by someone without a UEFA Pro License during a transitional period, a term interpreted broadly and assessed individually for each club. One of the main contenders to step up is Aleksei Pankovets, who until last weekend coached Dainava’s B team in Lithuania’s second division. Pankovets began his coaching journey in Belarus with Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino in 2018 before becoming an assistant at Dinamo Minsk in 2022. By 2023, he had crossed into Lithuanian football, joining Dainava as both B team head coach and assistant to Kuznetsov.
Other in-house options include assistants Nerijus Bartkevičius (license status not disclosed), Povilas Baliukonis (UEFA A License), and Gedeminas Jarmalavičius (UEFA Pro License).
Tonight, Dainava face a mammoth task in the cup as they host FK Žalgiris, with historical stats offering little comfort. Since 1998, these two sides have clashed 56 times; Žalgiris triumphed in 49 of those encounters, drew five, and suffered only two defeats to Dainava—victories that date back to 2009 when both clubs were competing in the Pirma Lyga, and Žalgiris was navigating turbulent financial waters under the name VMFD Žalgiris.
Ahead of the match, we caught up with Rimas Kantaravičius, a key figure in the development of Alytus football and Dainava’s sporting director, to get a sense of the mood within the camp after Kuznetsov’s departure. Kantaravičius remained guarded, emphasizing that it was the coach’s own decision to leave despite having a valid contract, adding that the club would have preferred he stayed given last season’s success.
As for who will lead Dainava tonight, there is no clear answer. “Probably one of the assistants,” Kantaravičius shrugged, later suggesting it might be Pankovets—though he also floated Bartkevičius’ name. The official confirmation? It will come, he said, “on match day.”
The conversation soon shifted to the broader state of the club. Kantaravičius admitted that squad assembly this offseason could have been better and that responsibility for that was collective, though Kuznetsov, as head coach, naturally had some influence. He also noted that Dainava seeks to operate independently of agents, though it maintains partnerships abroad. Reinforcements? Always under consideration across all positions, though the club’s financial muscle pales in comparison to the capital’s giants; Žalgiris can reportedly pay €7,000–10,000 per month to players, while Dainava operates within tighter budgets.
When asked about tonight’s crowd expectations, Kantaravičius distanced himself: “Ask the fans,” he said bluntly, admitting that ticket sales figures are only assessed post-match and that while they produced 500 season tickets, he couldn’t specify exact sales numbers.
The tone sharpened when historical results were mentioned—reminding Dainava of their long drought against Žalgiris since 2009. “What should we do, sit and cry?” Kantaravičius retorted. Nevertheless, he stressed that his squad is full of fighters and that in cup competitions, anything can happen—even miracles.
On Žalgiris, he was unimpressed, suggesting their squad assembly hasn’t been great this season and highlighting that their standout player, Jurij Kendyš, is nearing 35—a telling sign, he implied, of the club’s struggles. Still, he acknowledged that despite Žalgiris currently sitting seventh in the league after a shock loss to Banga Gargždai, they remain formidable.
Kantaravičius’ final message was a rallying call: the team will fight with all they have. Participation in the cup has never been Dainava’s main focus historically, but for a club trying to solidify its foundations amid modern football’s evolving demands, a night like this could offer much-needed belief—and maybe, just maybe, another chapter in their rare triumphs over Lithuania’s green-and-white giants.
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