FC Stumbras
Wikipedia - FC Stumbras
Football Club Stumbras was a professional football club, based in Kaunas, Lithuania, which played in A Lyga, the top tier of Lithuanian football. Founded in 2013 on the basis of the NFA, the club has reached the heights of Lithuanian football in a fairly short period of time. It became infamous for one-sided footballer contracts. The club stopped functioning mid-season in 2019 after the owner pulled out the funds. The club played its home matches at the Darius and Girėnas Stadium (capacity 9,180) and used the NFA stadium in Kaunas (capacity 500) as an alternative.
History
The club was established in 2013 on the basis of the Nacionalinė Futbolo Akademija team, adopting the name FC Stumbras and playing in II Lyga Southern Zone. The majority of the team's players were under 20 years old. Stumbras finished 2nd in the league and were promoted to I Lyga for the next year.
In 2014 FC Stumbras was able to sign a few more experienced players to go with their youth, most notably former national team striker and Kaunas native Artūras Rimkevičius. Stumbras started out the season strongly winning the first 8 matches. In July 2014, during the break, it was announced that 3 starting squad players Martynas Zaleckis, Klaidas Janonis and Klaudijus Upstas would leave the team, Rolandas Čepkauskas becoming the new head coach was announced a few days after. FC Stumbras went on to finish the regular season 3rd, making it to the second phase. After beating FK Nevėžis 4–1 in the last match of the season, Stumbras secured 1st place in the league and Artūras Rimkevičius was declared top goal scorer with 26. The last team to represent the second largest city in Lithuania in A Lyga was FBK Kaunas in 2012. FC Stumbras chairman Vytautas Vaškūnas confirmed that the club would use their right to play in the top Lithuanian league in 2015 and Kaunas would have a team in A Lyga once again, he also confirmed the club would bring back Rimkevičius and would most likely strengthen the squad even more the following season.
Stumbras made it official that they would like to join the premier Lithuanian football league for the 2015 season, on the second check up Stumbras was accepted. Getting ready for the 2015 season Stumbras already proved their worth playing matches against Lithuanian and foreign clubs, losing only once to Estonian Champions FC Levadia 1–0. On 28 January 2015, it was announced that 6 new players would join the club Nerijus Mačiulis, Tomas Snapkauskas, Mantvydas Eiza, Martynas Dapkus, Giedrius Kvedaras and Aleksandr Sikorskiy, later Darius Gvildys was announced as new head coach. Before the start of the season, Stumbras management surprised everyone when announcing that fans are welcome to watch them play for free for their home matches. On 28 February 2015, FC Stumbras debuted in A Lyga beating FK Šiauliai 3–1 in Kaunas.
Stumbras reached the final of the 2017 Lithuanian Football Cup and on 24 September 2017 beat FK Žalgiris 1–0 to secure the trophy. In the 2018 Lithuanian Football Cup, the club reached the final again, but could not defend the title, as they lost 0–3 against Žalgiris.
In 2019 Stumbras started the season very well by winning against FK Sūduva Marijampolė and FK Žalgiris Vilnius, claiming the top position of the A Lyga table. However, after the first half of the season the club ran into financial problems. The players and staff started leaving the team. The club was stripped of the place in 2019–20 UEFA Europa League and it's A Lyga license revoked. The club became defunct shortly afterwards.
Known for their blue and white team colors, FC Stumbras has a dedicated fan base and plays their home matches at the S.Dariaus ir S.Girėno stadionas in Kaunas. The team has a strong emphasis on developing young talent and has a reputation for producing promising players who go on to have successful careers in both domestic and international soccer.
FC Stumbras has a competitive spirit and is always striving to improve and achieve success on the field. With a talented roster of players and a passionate coaching staff, the team is a force to be reckoned with in Lithuanian soccer. Fans can expect exciting matches and a high level of skill and determination from FC Stumbras in every game they play.