General Financing A Lyga
Season2012
ChampionsEkranas
RelegatedREO
Champions LeagueEkranas
Europa LeagueŽalgiris
Sūduva
Kruoja
Matches played167
Goals scored505 (3.02 per match)
Top goalscorerArtūras Rimkevičius
Biggest home winŽalgiris 7–0 Atlantas
Biggest away winAtlantas 0–5 Tauras
Highest scoringŠiauliai 7–3 Tauras
← 2011
2013 →

The 2012 A Lyga, also known as General Financing A Lyga for sponsoring purposes,[citation needed] was the 23rd season of the A Lyga, the top-tier football league of Lithuania. The season started on 10 March 2012 and ended on 11 November 2012.[1] Ekranas were the defending champions.

Changes from 2011

The league changed its number of teams for the third time in a row, reducing it from twelve teams in 2011 to ten sides. As a consequence, the schedule expanded from 33 to 36 matches per team, which each team playing every other team four times in total, twice at home and twice away.

Teams

On 2 February 2012, the Lithuanian Football Federation announced the teams which had passed the licensing criteria for the 2012 season.[2] Among them were the best eight teams of the 2011 season, eleventh-placed FK Atlantas from Klaipėda and 2011 First League champions FK REO Vilnius. Tenth-placed side FBK Kaunas were only granted a First League licence, while FK Mažeikiai and FC Klaipėda did not apply for a licence in any of the top two Lithuanian football leagues. In July 2012, LFF banned REO from registering new players due to the club's debts to referees.[3] On 21 July 2012, REO failed to appear on the match against Ekranas, and the game was awarded 3–0 to Ekranas with REO receiving a fine of 6000 Lithuanian Litas.[4] REO have withdrawn from the competition in August 2012, after they were unable to attract investors.[5] Since they have played more than half of matches in the season, according to the LFF rulebook, those matches were considered valid and all REO's upcoming matches were awarded 3–0 to their opponents.[6]

Stadiums and locations

2012 A Lyga is located in Lithuania
Atlantas
Banga
Dainava
Ekranas
Kruoja
REO Žalgiris
Šiauliai
Sūduva
Tauras
Location of teams in the 2012 A Lyga
Club Location Stadium 2011 season
Atlantas Klaipėda Žalgiris Stadium (Klaipėda) 11th
Banga Gargždai Gargždai Stadium 6th
Dainava Alytus 8th
Ekranas Panevėžys Aukštaitija Stadium 1st
Kruoja Pakruojis Pakruojis Stadium 5th
REO Vilnius I Lyga, 1st
Sūduva Marijampolė Sūduva Stadium 3rd
Šiauliai Šiauliai Savivaldybė Stadium 4th
Tauras Tauragė Vytauto Stadium 7th
Žalgiris Vilnius LFF Stadium 2nd

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Ekranas (C) 36 27 7 2 83 25 +58 88 Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round
2 Žalgiris 36 27 6 3 80 22 +58 87 Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round[a]
3 Sūduva 36 21 7 8 77 37 +40 70 Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round
4 Kruoja 36 20 5 11 56 31 +25 65
5 Šiauliai 36 17 4 15 79 57 +22 55
6 Banga 36 13 8 15 43 41 +2 47
7 Dainava 36 9 5 22 42 71 −29 32
8 Atlantas 36 7 6 23 33 92 −59 27
9 Tauras 36 7 2 27 35 97 −62 23
10 REO (R) 36 5 4 27 26 81 −55 19 Defunct in the middle of season
Source: UEFA.com lff.lt
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ Winners of the 2012–13 Lithuanian Football Cup.

Results

Top goalscorers

Including matches played on 29 October 2012[citation needed]

Pos. Player Club Goals
1 Lithuania Artūras Rimkevičius Šiauliai 35
2 Brazil Rafael Ledesma Sūduva 21
3 Lithuania Arsenij Buinickij Ekranas 17
Scotland Calum Elliot Žalgiris 16
5 Ukraine Serhiy Zhyhalov Kruoja 15
6 Poland Kamil Bilinski Žalgiris 12
7 Lithuania Povilas Lukšys Sūduva 11
8 Argentina Santiago Cesanelli Šiauliai 10
Croatia Tino Lagator Atlantas 10
Lithuania Ramūnas Radavičius Žalgiris 10
11 Latvia Igors Kozlovs Šiauliai 9

References

  1. ^ "2012 m. A lygos, LFF Taur s ir tarptautinių rungtynių preliminarus tvarkaraštis" (PDF) (in Lithuanian). Lithuanian Football Federation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  2. ^ "2012 metų Lietuvos futbolo A lygoje rungtyniaus 10 komandų" (in Lithuanian). Lithuanian Football Federation. 2 February 2012. Archived from the original on 20 January 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
  3. ^ "LFF pareiškimas dėl informacijos žiniasklaidoje apie galimą "REO" klubo pasitraukimą" (in Lithuanian). Lithuanian Football Federation. 20 July 2012. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  4. ^ "Už neatvykimą į rungtynes "REO" įskaityti pralaimėjimai ir skirtos baudos" (in Lithuanian). Lithuanian Football Federation. 26 July 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2012.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ "LFF gavo raštą dėl "REO" pasitraukimo iš LFF varžybų" (in Lithuanian). Lithuanian Football Federation. 21 August 2012. Archived from the original on 1 March 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  6. ^ "Patvirtintas "REO" pasitraukimas iš Lietuvos čempionato" (in Lithuanian). Lithuanian Football Federation. 31 August 2012. Archived from the original on 2 September 2012. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
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