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Will Sūduva reclaim the top spot? A Lyga Matchday 10 Preview

Image credit: Augustinas Meskelevičius

As A Lyga enters the second (of four) lap of the season, FK Sūduva have a real opportunity to return to the top of the table as their main rivals – Hegelmann – have a tough fixture against FA Šiauliai in the opening match.

Results of first lap of season 2025 in Lithuania likely raised more than a single eyebrow on account of there being not one but three surprising performances! Let’s take stock.

First, the defending Champions FK Žalgiris find themselves at the top of the bottom half of the table coming into Matchday 10, sitting in the 6th place with only 12 of 27 available points. While the flagship of Lithuanian association football did manage to win the Super Cup at the very start of the season, their form has been far from convincing and they have been especially poor recently, losing 3 of their last 5 fixtures. Despite the head coach Vladimir Cheburin refusing to sound the alarm just yet, turning their fortunes around early in the second lap will be key for Žalgiris if they are to retain any hope of defending their title. For comparison, this time last year Žalgiris were 7 points clear at the top of the table, having only lost once.

In Matchday 10, Žalgiris will face their Super Cup opponents – FK Banga, who are only 1 point behind them but coming into the second lap on the back of two consecutive wins.

Second, FA Šiauliai took many by surprise by putting together a string of impressive performances that saw them defeat the likes of Žalgiris and Banga and to take the points off of Sūduva. Having rebuilt during off-season, Šiauliai are coming into the second lap of A Lyga only 3 points behind table leaders – Hegelmann. It is this matchup that will dominate the headlines of A Lyga Matchday 10, as Šiauliai, cast as underdogs, will host title contenders. Even though the Kaunas district side may be favourites on paper, they will be playing away against a notoriously tough opponent. Besides, Hegelmann have shows themselves to be a very explicit home-turf team, winning all of their home matches during the first lap but only once away. To make matters worse, Hegelmann seem to struggle with finding the net when on the road, having scored only once in their last two away games, but conceding seven!

Will Šiauliai manage to hold Hegelmann to a draw or, possibly, pull off another A Lyga upset? Dainis Kazakevičs has the ball in his court for what will be an exciting opening bout of Matchday 10!

One person who will be watching the opening match with extra attentiveness is Donatas Vencevicius – the head coach of FK Sūduva. Should Hegelmann lose any points in Šiauliai, his side will have a real chance of reclaiming the top spot as they start the second lap against struggling Panevėžys and only one point behind Hegelmann. One should not make the mistake of thinking that this fixture will be a walk-over for the Marijampolė side as Panevėžys, who struggled throughout the entirety of the first lap, still defeated them 2-0 during Matchday 3.

Still, Sūduva, who managed to hold on to the A Lyga spot by the skin of their teeth last season, have been thoroughly impressive this year, losing only 2 of their 9 fixtures and winning 5. They hold the second best defensive record in the league and the third-best goals scored to conceded difference, only behind Šiauliai and Kauno Žalgiris. One cause for concern, however, is that Sūduva’s incredible early season form seems to have been wearing off recently. Whereas they won 4 of their first 5 fixtures, the next 4 fixtures saw them record a mere single win, albeit with an impressive 4-0 against Hegelmann. Sūduva were certainly the third big surprise of the first lap, but do they have enough steam to keep it going?

With the entire top half of the table within 3 points of one another, A Lyga 2025 is shaping up to be a very exciting league to follow!

Matchday 10 fixtures are as follows:

  • 02.05 (19:00): FA Šiauliai vs Hegelmann FC
  • 03.05 (17:00): Banga vs FK Žalgiris
  • 03.05 (18:30): Džiugas Telšiai vs Dainava Alytus
  • 04.05 (16:00): FK Sūduva vs FK Panevėžys
  • 04.05 (18:25): Kauno Žalgiris vs Riteriai

Games are available to watch via the A Lyga website or the LRT broadcaster (VPN may be required).

# Club GP W D L GD Pts
1 Kauno Žalgiris 11 6 3 2 8 21
2 FK Sūduva 11 6 3 2 4 21
3 Hegelmann FC 11 7 0 4 -1 21
4 FA Šiauliai 11 5 3 3 2 18
5 FC Džiugas Telšiai 11 6 0 5 2 18
6 FK Žalgiris 11 4 3 4 1 15
7 FK Panevėžys 11 4 2 5 0 14
8 FK Banga Gargždai 11 4 2 5 0 14
9 FK Riteriai 11 2 4 5 -3 10
10 DFK Dainava Alytus 11 0 2 9 -13 2

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