Futbolo Klubas Riteriai, also known asFK Riteriai or asRiteriai, is a Lithuanian professionalfootball club based inVilnius. Until 21 February 2019, the club was based inTrakai and was known asFK Trakai.[1] The team won the 2024I Lyga and earned promotion to theA Lyga after a one-year absence.
Riteriai, meaning "Knights" in Lithuanian, has volt green and dark blue as its team colors, previously yellow and blue before 2019. The club plays at theLFF Stadium inVilnius, which has a capacity of 5,067.
The club was established in 2005 as a way to promotephysical activity to children and the general society. In 2006, the club laid an artificial coverage stadium inTrakai[2] and started to play in theIII Lyga Vilnius County. In 2008, they also played in theSunday Football League. In 2010, they were admitted to theII Lyga South Zone, and in 2011, they were already in theI Lyga (second-tier division in Lithuania). Before the 2013 season, the club submitted an application to play in theA Lyga, as all three top finishers decided against seeking promotion, promising to play games inVilnius before adequate infrastructure requirements could be fulfilled, but ultimately remained in the same tier.[3] They were promoted toA Lyga after finishing 3rd in the2013 LFF I Lyga season. The club also reached the semi-finals of the2013–14 Lithuanian Football Cup, before being eliminated by the eventual winners,VMFD Žalgiris. During summer, the club organized youth camps with invitees fromAC Milan.[4]
The club began preparation for the 2014 campaign by strengthening their first team, which included signingLithuanian national team veterans,Paulius Grybauskas,Vytautas Lukša,Darius Miceika, andTadas Labukas, as well as unveiling former starEdgaras Jankauskas as their new head coach.[5][6] They debuted in the A Lyga victoriously, beatingKlaipėdos Granitas 2–0.[7] Throughout the season, the club's results plateaued, but they managed to climb up to second place around the mid-season break. Trakai continued to strengthen their core and staff personnel through mid-season. On 19 September 2014, another national team star,Deividas Česnauskis, was signed on.[8] Soon afterwards, the club was eliminated from the2014–15 Lithuanian Football Cup byŠilas. With 7 matches remaining, Trakai was still in 2nd place in the league, but a losing streak followed. On 3 November 2014, Jankauskas was fired by the club.[9] Virmantas Lemežis took over as caretaker and managed to stabilize things. As a result, the team finished in 4th place, qualifying for the2015–16 UEFA Europa League. On 27 November 2014, Trakai announced the signing of the formerEkranas manager,Valdas Urbonas, as development director, but during the club's season roundup event, he was announced as new manager for the upcoming season.[10][11] The Trakai reserve team also finished third in the A Lyga's reserves competitions that season.
In 2015, some veteran players left the team. On 2 July 2015, FK Trakai debuted in theUEFA Europa League qualification round againstHB Torshavn from theFaroe Islands. Trakai won 7–1. However, the club lost in the Europa League's second qualifying round to theCypriot clubApollon Limassol. In the first leg, Trakai lost 4–0, while in the second leg, they drew 0–0. In the2015 A Lyga season, Trakai reached second place and became the vice-champion of Lithuania and qualified to2016–17 UEFA Europa League's first qualifying round. It was the club's most successful season yet.
Before the2016 A Lyga season, the top 2015 season defenders,Linas Klimavičius, Edvardas Gaurilovas, Nikolaz Apakitze, Sergej Shevchuk, Marius Šalkauskas, Ronald Solomin and Rokas Stanulevičius, left the team. But the team managed to keep last season's leaders,Yuri Mamaev,Marius Rapalis, andDeividas Česnauskis. Trakai could keep the core of the team and signed contracts with a few newcomers. The team signed a legionnaire from Italy, Mattia Broli, and formerLithuanian national football players,Arūnas Klimavičius, andMartynas Dapkus.[12] In the2015–16 Lithuanian Cup, Trakai reached the final after beatingFK Sūduva in the semi-finals, but lost the final 0–1 againstFK Žalgiris after extra time.[13] Like in the previous season, they finished the 2016 A Lyga campaign in second place.
In 2018, the team saw a change in coaching. In May,Oleg Vasilenko was fired,[16] andKibu Vicuña was hired as the team's head coach.[17] He worked with the team during the second half of the2018 A Lyga season and in the2018–19 Europa League qualification rounds, in which Trakai managed to beat Welsh clubCefn Druids and Kazakh sideFC Irtysh Pavlodar to reach the third qualification round, but then lost against Serbian teamFK Partizan. Vicuña left Trakai in October to join Polish sideWisła Płock.[18] At the end of the 2018 season, Trakai reached third place in the league. In the2018 Lithuanian Football Cup, the dropped out of the competition after losing 0–3 against Sūduva in the round of 16.
Before the2019 season, the club officially moved from Trakai to Vilnius and renamed to FK Riteriai.[19]Aurelijus Skarbalius became head coach of the club in December 2018.[20] After the club lost againstKÍ Klaksvík in the first qualification round of the2019–20 UEFA Europa League, he withdrew from his position and left the club.[21] Like in the previous two seasons, Riteriai finished the 2019 league campaign in third position. In the2019 Lithuanian Football Cup, the club reached the round of 16, where they lost on penalties againstFK Kauno Žalgiris.
In January 2020,Mindaugas Čepas was appointed as the new head coach of the team.[22] In the2020 season, Riteriai was one of only six competing teams in the A Lyga, since several teams were excluded from the league by theLithuanian Football Federation due to manipulation of the match results in the 2019 season. Riteriai started the 2020 season on 8 March with a 0–3 defeat against Kauno Žalgiris.[23] Afterwards, the league was suspended for over two months because of theCOVID-19 pandemic. League play resumed on 30 May 2020, and on the second matchday, Riteriai beatFK Žalgiris 1–0.[24] But only one month later, on 28 June, Riteriai suffered a devastating 0–7 defeat against FK Žalgiris,[25] which lead to the resignation of manager Čepas.[26] On 11 August,Tommi Pikkarainen was appointed as the new head coach.[27] At the end of the season, Riteriai only won two out of 20 league games and collected 12 points. They finished the league campaign in last place. However, since the Lithuanian Football Federation wanted to expand the A Lyga to ten competing teams, no team was relegated, and Riteriai remained in the A Lyga in the 2021 season.[28] In the2020 Lithuanian Football Cup, Riteriai reached the semi-finals, where they were defeated 0–4 byFK Panevėžys.
Prior to the start of the2021 A Lyga,Sergei Gurenko was appointed as the new manager of Riteriai.[29] He left the club at the end of May. Prior to his departure, the team dropped to sixth place in A Lyga after earning only two points in the last five matches under Gurenko.[30] Riteriai finished the season in sixth place.
In January 2022,Glenn Ståhl was appointed as the new manager of Riteriai.[31] On 7 May 2022, he resigned from his position and left the club. He led the club in twelve official games, during which it won 21 points.[32]Pablo Villar took over as the new manager on 24 May 2022.[33][34] In the2022 Lithuanian Football Cup, Riteriai reached the quarter-finals, where they were defeated 1–2 byFK Žalgiris. In the2022 A Lyga, they reached fifth place.
After a poor start to the2023 season with only one point out of the first four league matches, Villar was sacked on 24 March 2023.[35] He was succeeded byVladimir Janković on 31 March.[36] On 25 July, Janković was sacked.[37] Portuguese coach Matthew Silva, who coached the Riteriai B team (second team) in theI Lyga, was promoted to be the head coach of the first team one day later.[38] In the2023 Lithuanian Football Cup, Riteriai reached the quarter-finals, where they were defeated 0–2 byFA Šiauliai. The club ended the 2023 league campaign in the last place and therefore was relegated to the second division after ten consecutive seasons in the first division.[39]
Since 2014, the club has played atLFF Stadium inVilnius. The stadium, formerly known as Vėtra Stadium, was built in 2004 and holds up to 5,500 spectators. After the bankruptcy of theFK Vėtra football club, theLithuanian Football Federation took control of the stadium. The stadium is under reconstruction in an effort to meet level 3 UEFA stadium status, with the capacity expected to be extended to 8,000.
FK Riteriai run their own football academy, which keeps close relationship withAC Milan. The academy is calledTalentų futbolo akademija,[40] it was established in 2013.[41]
From 2014 to 2018, FK Trakai's home kits were yellow, while away kits were black and red, resembling those ofAC Milan. In 2018, the away kits changed to dark blue.
Following the club's rebranding as FK Riteriai in 2019, the uniforms adopted the new team colors: volt green for the home kit and dark blue for the away kit.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Players who have either appeared in at least one match for their respective national teams at any time or received an individual award while at the club. Players whose names are listed inbold represented their countries while playing for FK Trakai or FK Riteriai.
Since 2014, a Player of the Year award is presented during an annual season closeup event. From 2014 to 2016, nominees were elected by Trakai players. However, since 2017, the award is determined by usingInStat data.
