FBK Kaunas
Full nameKauno futbolo ir beisbolo klubas
Nickname(s)Geltonai-Žali (Yellow-Greens)
Founded1960
Dissolved2012[1]
GroundS. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium
Capacity9,180

Kauno futbolo ir beisbolo klubas, commonly known as FBK Kaunas, was a Lithuanian football club from the city of Kaunas.

History

Banga Kaunas (1960–1993)

Originally the team was founded in 1960 as Banga Kaunas and played its first three years in the Soviet First League. Afterwards the club decided to play in the Lithuanian SSR Championship and they did so until 1990. In that period they won two Lithuanian SSR Championship's. One in 1986 and another in 1989. When Lithuania regained independence in 1991 A Lyga was created and they played as Banga Kaunas until 1993 before the club changed its name.

FBK Kaunas (1993–1999 and 2000–2012)

The club changed its name in 1993 to Kauno futbolo beisbolo klubas. The club had in its first years not such a great success and FBK Kaunas had to wait until 1999 before they could lift a trophy again. Club was shortly renamed to Žalgiris Kaunas after the 9th round of 1999 A Lyga, but only carried the name for the remaining of the season. From 1999 to 2008, Kaunas won 8 championships, 4 Lithuanian cups, 3 super cups and 1 Baltic league title, but in the autumn of 2008 Kaunas dominance was once and for all broken when FK Ekranas won the championship in front of FBK Kaunas. After finishing second in 2008 A Lyga championship the club's president announced that the club were being demoted from the A Lyga in favour of LFF I Lyga, the 2nd tier of Lithuanian football system, but as conflict with LFF intensified, FBK Kaunas was relegated to LFF II lyga (consisting of amateur teams).[2][3]

FBK Kaunas won II lyga championship in their first year in that division. Despite relegation FBK Kaunas also participated in the new UEFA Europe League as a vice-champ of Lithuania but did not advance past FK Sevojno. Despite drawing both games FBK Kaunas lost on away goals.[4] FBK Kaunas won I Lyga in 2010 and was promoted to the 2011 A Lyga season. The 2011 season was a huge disappointment for Kaunas as they didn't manage to live up to the high expectations and eventually ended at a 10th place.

FBK Kaunas were not granted a 2012 A Lyga license because of financial problems and was due to play in the 2012 I Lyga. However, due to the clubs increasing financial problems the chairman eventually decided to withdraw the club from any competitions and later declared the club bankrupt.[5] Shortly afterwards the fans decided to form a new club.[6]

Kaunas have played Celtic, Rangers and Liverpool among others in Europa League and Champions League qualifying stages. On 5 August 2008, FBK Kaunas defeated Rangers, 2–1, to advance to the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League for the first time. The game was won in dramatic circumstances as Kaunas had to come from behind and finally took the lead just four minutes from time. Linas Pilibaitis was the scorer.

FBK Kaunas were for many years (1993–2012) sponsored by Ūkio bankas, a bank which had Vladimir Romanov as its principal shareholder. In October 2005 Romanov became the majority shareholder of Scottish Premier League side, Heart of Midlothian. Romanov then used Kaunas as a feeder club for Hearts by signing players ostensibly for Kaunas, then immediately loaning them to the SPL side. Romanov's mismanagement and dubious dealings effectively destroyed the clubs he was involved with FBK Kaunas and Partizan Minsk going bankrupt and Hearts into administration. BC Zalgiris also suffer from his dishonesty to this day. Romanov fled to Russia where he was granted asylum in 2014 and is now wanted by the Lithuanian prosecutors on charges for fraud and embezzling for at least £308m.[7]

Honours

Domestic

Continental

Season-by-season

Domestic

Season Div. Pos. Pl. W D L Goals Pts Top Scorer Cup Supercup Baltic League Europe Notes
1991 1st 3 14 9 4 1 24–10 22 Not
contested
Baltic
League
not
founded
until
2007
1991–92 1st 4 25 11 10 4 26–15 32
1992–93 1st 5 27 11 5 11 36–29 27
1993–94 1st 5 22 12 4 6 31–18 28
1994–95 1st 6 22 8 8 6 25–22 24 1/4 dnq
1995–96 1st 4 28 14 3 11 33–15 31 1/4 Not contested
1996–97 1st 4 28 15 5 11 48–35 41 1/2 dnq IC Group stage
1997–98 1st 5 30 18 4 8 63–19 58 Lithuania Trakys Final Not
contested
IC Group stage
1998–99 1st 3 23 18 3 2 57–14 57 Lithuania Trakys Final
1999 1st 1 18 12 5 1 36–10 41 Lithuania Kšanavičius 1/4 UC 1st Qualifying round
2000 1st 1 36 26 8 2 115–24 86 Lithuania Velička 1/2 CL 2nd qualifying round
2001 1st 1 36 26 7 3 76–13 85 Lithuania Pocius Winner CL 1st qualifying round
2002 1st 1 32 24 6 2 85–20 78 Lithuania Šlekys 1/4 Winner CL 1st qualifying round
2003 1st 1 28 21 5 2 64–20 68 Czech Republic Opic 1/2 Runner up CL 2nd qualifying round
2004 1st 1 28 20 5 3 49–19 65 Lithuania Velička Winner Winner CL 2nd qualifying round
2005 1st 2 36 26 4 6 89–25 82 Lithuania Beniušis Winner Runner up CL 2nd qualifying round
2006 1st 1 36 28 4 4 85–30 88 Lithuania Velička / Lithuania Beniušis 1/4 Winner UC 2nd qualifying round
2007 1st 1 36 25 8 3 91–26 83 Lithuania Grigalevičius Not contested Not
contested
1/2 CL 1st qualifying round
2008 1st 2 28 16 7 5 51–17 55 Brazil Ledesma Winner Winner CL / UC 3rd qualifying round / 1st round Relegated to II Lyga
2009 3rd 1 20 19 0 1 110–10 57 Lithuania Macežinskas 1/2 dnq dnq EL 2nd qualifying round Promoted to I Lyga
2010 2nd 1 27 27 0 0 108–16 81 Bosnia and Herzegovina Pehlić 1/2 dnq Promoted to A Lyga
2011 1st 10 33 8 8 17 41–53 26 Lithuania Razulis 1/2 dnq dnq Didn't get a license for the 2012 season

European cup

Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate Scored
1996–97 Intertoto Cup Group stage Norway Lillestrøm SK 1–4 4th Lithuania Kirilovas
France FC Nantes 1–3 Lithuania Žalys
Republic of Ireland Sligo Rovers 1–0 Lithuania Miknevičius
Netherlands Heerenveen 1–3 Lithuania Gvildys
1997–98 Intertoto Cup Group stage Turkey Samsunspor 0–1 3rd
Iceland Leiftur 3–2 Lithuania Buitkus Lithuania Trakys Lithuania Bezykornovas
Germany Hamburger SV 1–2 Lithuania Bezykornovas
Denmark Odense 2–2 Lithuania Bezykornovas Lithuania Trakys
1999–00 UEFA Cup Qual. round Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv 2–1 1–3 3–4 Lithuania Pacevičius-2 Lithuania Papečkys
2000–01 UEFA Champions League 1st QR Bosnia and Herzegovina NK Brotnjo 4–0 0–3 4–3 Lithuania Kšanavičius-2Lithuania ŽutaLithuania Puotkalis
2nd QR Scotland Rangers FC 0–0 1–4 1–4 Lithuania Žuta
2001–02 UEFA Champions League 1st QR North Macedonia Sloga Jugomagnat 1–1 0–0 1–1 Lithuania Papečkys
2002–03 UEFA Champions League 1st QR Albania Dinamo Tirana 2–3 0–0 2–3 Lithuania Velička-2
2003–04 UEFA Champions League 1st QR Faroe Islands Havnar Bóltfelag 4–1 1–0 5–1 Lithuania Beniušis-2, Lithuania Kančelskis,Czech Republic Opic
2nd QR Scotland Celtic 0–4 0–1 0–5
2004–05 UEFA Champions League 1st QR Malta Sliema Wanderers 4–1 2–0 6–1 Lithuania Sanajevas-2, Lithuania Žutautas, Lithuania Gedgaudas, Lithuania Mikoliūnas, Lithuania Žaliūkas
2nd QR Sweden Djurgården 0–2 0–0 0–2
2005–06 UEFA Champions League 1st QR Faroe Islands Havnar Bóltfelag 4–0 4–2 8–2 Lithuania Velička-3, Lithuania Zelmikas-2, Lithuania Rimkevičius-2, Poland Klimek
2nd QR England Liverpool 1–3 0–2 1–5 Lithuania Barevičius
2006–07 UEFA Cup 1st QR Northern Ireland Portadown 1–0 3–1 4–1 Georgia (country) Manchkava, Bosnia and Herzegovina Pehlić, Lithuania Velička, Lithuania Ivaškevičius
2nd QR Denmark Randers 1–0 1–3 2–3 Lithuania Juška, Lithuania Velička
2007–08 UEFA Champions League 1st QR Montenegro Zeta 3–2 1–3 4–5 Georgia (country) Kvaratskhelia-2, Lithuania Beniušis, Lithuania Kšanavičius
2008–09 UEFA Champions League 1st QR Andorra Santa Coloma 3–1 4–1 7–2 Lithuania Pilibaitis-4, Brazil Ledesma-2, Lithuania Zelmikas
2nd QR Scotland Rangers FC 2–1 0–0 2–1 Lithuania Radžius, Lithuania Pilibaitis
3rd QR Denmark Aalborg 0–2 0–2 0–4
UEFA Cup 1st round Italy Sampdoria 1–2 0–5 1–7 Lithuania Zelmikas
2009–10 UEFA Europa League 2nd QR Serbia Sevojno 1–1 0–0 1–1 Lithuania Fridrikas

Coaches

References

  1. Lithuania, Rekvizitai.lt. "Kauno futbolo ir beisbolo klubas". vz.lt. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  2. https://web.archive.org/web/20090328093413/http://www.futbolas.lt/lt/naujienos/,nid.2641 Lithuanian
  3. "Chaos in Kaunas: The Decline and Fall of the Romanov Empire – Sportslens". soccerlens.com. 20 April 2009. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  4. uefa.com. "UEFA Europa League 2009/10 - History - Kaunas-Sloboda Užice – UEFA.com". uefa.com. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  5. http://www.15min.lt/sportas/naujiena/futbolas/fbk-kaunas-pasmerktas-visiems-laikams-isnykti-is-salies-futbolo-zemelapio-24-296543 Lithuanian
  6. http://www.respublika.lt/lt/naujienos/sportas/futbolas/vknyzelis_po_ketveriu_metu_zaisime_a_lygoje/ In Lithuanian
  7. "Vladimir Romanov squandered £308m, according to Lithuanian government". heraldscotland.com. 19 July 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
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