A Lyga
Season2016
ChampionsŽalgiris
RelegatedKauno Žalgiris
Champions LeagueŽalgiris
Europa LeagueTrakai
Sūduva Marijampolė
Atlantas
Matches played129
Goals scored358 (2.78 per match)
Top goalscorerAndrija Kaluđerović
(20 goals)
Biggest home winSūduva 6–1 Stumbras
(22 October 2016)
Biggest away winStumbras 0–5 Žalgiris
(24 June 2016)
Highest scoringStumbras 3–6 Žalgiris
(12 March 2016)
Longest winning runŽalgiris
(9 games)
Longest unbeaten runŽalgiris
(16 games)
Longest winless runKauno Žalgiris
(16 games)
Longest losing runUtenis
(6 games)
Highest attendance1,500[1]
Žalgiris 2–0 Trakai
(2 March 2016)
Lowest attendance50[2]
Kauno Žalgiris 1–3 Utenis
(22 April 2016)
Total attendance63,515
Average attendance501
← 2015
2017 →

The 2016 A Lyga, also known as SMSCredit.lt A Lyga for sponsoring purposes was the 27th season of the A Lyga, the top-tier association football league of Lithuania. The season began on 2 March and ended on 26 November 2016.[3] Žalgiris Vilnius were the defending champions.

Teams

FK Šiauliai failed to obtain a license to play in the A Lyga and were relegated alongside FK Kruoja, which withdrew and FK Klaipedos Granitas, which was disqualified. They were replaced by FK Lietava Jonava, which will make its debut at the top level. FK Spyris Kaunas changed its name to FK Kauno Žalgiris.[4]

Changes from 2015

The league reduced its number of teams from ten sides down to eight. As a consequence, each team will play every other four times, twice at home and twice away with the top six then playing an additional round against each other.[3]

Clubs and locations

2016 A Lyga is located in Lithuania
Atlantas
Lietava
Kauno Žalgiris
Stumbras
Sūduva
Trakai
Utenis
Žalgiris
Locations of the 2016 A Lyga teams

The following teams are competing in the 2016 championship:[5]

Club Location Stadium Turf Capacity 2015 position
Atlantas Klaipėda Central Stadium of Klaipėda Natural 4,428 3rd
Klaipėda Artificial Football Pitch[6] Artificial 1,000
Kauno Žalgiris Kaunas Darius and Girėnas Stadium Natural 9,180 5th
NFA Stadium[7] Artificial 500
Lietava Jonava Central Stadium of Jonava Natural 1,008 I Lyga, 1st
KaunasSL NFA Stadium[8] Artificial 500
KėdainiaiSL Kėdainiai Stadium[9] Artificial 3,000
Stumbras Kaunas Darius and Girėnas Stadium Natural 9,180 7th
NFA Stadium[10] Artificial 500
Sūduva Marijampolė ARVI Football Arena Natural 6,250 4th
ARVI Football Indoor Arena[11] Artificial 2,660
Trakai Vilnius LFF Stadium Artificial 5,067 2nd
Sportima Arena[12] Artificial 3,157
Utenis Utena Utenis Stadium Natural 3,073 6th
VisaginasSL Visaginas Artificial Football Pitch[13] Artificial 212
Žalgiris Vilnius LFF Stadium Artificial 5,067 1st
Sportima Arena[14] Artificial 3,157

^ Stadium location

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team Head coach(es) Captain(s) Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor
Atlantas Russia Konstantin Sarsania Lithuania Andrius Bartkus Jako  —
Kauno Žalgiris Lithuania Laimis Bičkauskas Lithuania Ignas Dedura Joma BC Žalgiris
Lietava Lithuania Robertas Poškus[15] Lithuania Laurynas Stonkus Joma[16] Achema
Stumbras Lithuania Darius Gvildys
Portugal Mariano Barreto[17] 		Lithuania Artūras Rimkevičius
Lithuania Nerijus Mačiulis 		Hummel Novecorum Group
Sūduva Serbia Aleksandar Veselinović
Lithuania Eivinas Černiauskas (caretaker)
Kazakhstan Vladimir Cheburin[18] (interim) 		Lithuania Tomas Radzinevičius Joma Sumeda
Trakai Lithuania Valdas Urbonas
Belarus Albert Rybak (interim)
Ukraine Serhiy Kovalets[19] 		Lithuania Deividas Česnauskis Nike Ecoil
Utenis Lithuania Mindaugas Čepas
Ukraine Oleh Boychyshyn (interim) 		Lithuania Valentin Jeriomenko
Lithuania Robertas Freidgeimas 		Adidas[20] Baltijos polistirenas[20]
Žalgiris Lithuania Valdas Dambrauskas Lithuania Egidijus Vaitkūnas Nike[21] TOP Sport[22]

Regular season

Table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Žalgiris Vilnius 28 21 3 4 62 22 +40 66 Qualification to Championship round
2 Trakai 28 18 4 6 47 22 +25 58
3 Sūduva Marijampolė 28 15 6 7 42 32 +10 51[a]
4 Atlantas 28 15 6 7 38 25 +13 51[a]
5 Lietava Jonava 28 7 8 13 28 44 −16 29
6 Stumbras Kaunas 28 7 6 15 35 52 −17 27
7 Utenis Utena (O) 28 4 4 20 24 47 −23 16 Qualification to Relegation play-offs
8 Kauno Žalgiris 28 2 9 17 23 55 −32 15 Relegation to I Lyga cancelled
Source: UEFA Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Head-to-head matches won 6) Goal difference; 7) Goals scored; 8) Matches won.[23]
(O) Play-off winners
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Head-to-head record: Sūduva–Atlantas 1–0, Atlantas–Sūduva 1–2, Sūduva–Atlantas 3–3, Atlantas–Sūduva 2–1.

Results

Championship round

Top six will play each other once.[3]

Table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Žalgiris Vilnius (C) 33 24 4 5 74 29 +45 76 Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round[a]
2 Trakai 33 20 7 6 55 26 +29 67 Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round
3 Sūduva Marijampolė 33 17 7 9 55 41 +14 58
4 Atlantas 33 16 8 9 42 32 +10 56
5 Stumbras Kaunas 33 8 9 16 43 63 −20 33
6 Lietava Jonava 33 8 8 17 35 58 −23 32
Source: UEFA Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Play-off (only if deciding champion); 3) Head-to-head points; 4) Head-to-head goal difference; 5) Head-to-head goals scored; 6) Head-to-head matches won 7) Goal difference; 8) Goals scored; 9) Matches won.[24]
(C) Champions
Notes:
  1. ^ Žalgiris Vilnius qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round by winning the 2016 Lithuanian Football Cup. However, since they qualified for European competition based on their league position, the spot awarded to the cup winners was passed down the league.

Results

Home \ Away ATL JON STU SŪD TRA ŽAL
Atlantas 2–1 0–0
Jonava 3–2 1–4
Stumbras 1–1 3–1
Sūduva 3–1 6–1 1–3
Trakai 3–1 1–1 1–1
Žalgiris 2–0 2–2 1–3
Source: A Lyga
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation play-offs

The 7th placed team will face the runners-up of the 2016 LFF I Lyga for a two-legged play-off. The winner on aggregate score after both matches will earn entry into the 2017 A Lyga.

First leg

Palanga2–3Utenis Utena
Navikas 74'
Bagužis 90+5'		 Report Poruchynskyy 2', 44'
Vereshchak 54'
Palanga Stadium, Palanga
Attendance: 250
Referee: Robertas Valikonis

Second leg

Utenis Utena0–1Palanga
Report Juška 33'
Visaginas Artificial Football Pitch, Visaginas
Attendance: 120
Referee: Manfredas Lukjančukas

3–3 on aggregate. Utenis won on away goals.

Season statistics

Attendance

Team GP Total High Low Average
Žalgiris 17 13,394 1,500 350 788
Sūduva 17 13,190 1,200 500 776
Atlantas 16 9,850 1,200 100 616
Lietava 16 7,864 1,100 100 492
Utenis 14 4,957 670 150 355
Kauno Žalgiris 14 4,740 850 50 339
Stumbras 16 5,320 620 100 333
Trakai 17 4,200 430 100 248
Total 127α 63,515 888[31] 284[32] 501

^  — Official attendance statistic for the play-off matches wasn't publicly released.

Awards

Yearly awards

Awards were presented at the LFF Awards ceremony, which was held on November 28. Finalists for voted awards were announced after the season and winners were presented at the award ceremony.[33]

2016 A Lyga awards
Award Recipient(s)
Player of the Year Mantas Kuklys (Žalgiris)
Young Player of the Year Eligijus Jankauskas (Sūduva)
Manager of the Year Valdas Dambrauskas (Žalgiris)
Golden Boot Andrija Kaluđerović (Žalgiris)
Goal of the Season Matija Ljujić (Žalgiris)
Fair Play Award Trakai

Quarterly awards

"Golden Heart" initiative

From 2016 season A lyga together with Lithuanian Football Federation decided to expand project "Bring you hearts to the stadium" and honor players who played 10 or more times for the Lithuania national team with golden heart on their shirts.[40]

In 2016 season these players have had this evaluation:

Team of the Week

References

^  — The match between FK Žalgiris and FK Sūduva Marijampolė was postponed due to the Champions League qualification match happening that week, so neither club's players were considered for the award.

  1. ^ "Čempionato starte – pergalingas B. Atajičiaus dublis". A Lyga. Archived from the original on 27 November 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  2. ^ ""Utenis" nustūmė į dugną "Kauno Žalgirį"". A Lyga. Archived from the original on 27 November 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  3. ^ a b c "Lietuvos futbolo federacija". Archived from the original on 2016-05-12. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  4. ^ "Peštynės dėl pavadinimo baigtos: Kauno "Spyris" bus perkrikštytas į "Kauno Žalgirį"" (in Lithuanian). 15min. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  5. ^ "A Lyga". Soccerway. Perform. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  6. ^ Used as home ground in rounds 1-9 and 30
  7. ^ Used as home ground in rounds 1-8
  8. ^ Used as home ground in rounds 1,4&6
  9. ^ Used as home ground in round 3
  10. ^ Used as home ground in rounds 2-8 and 30-33
  11. ^ Used as home ground in rounds 2-8 and 31
  12. ^ Used as home ground in rounds 31-32
  13. ^ Used as home ground in rounds 1-6
  14. ^ Used as home ground in rounds 1-5 and 32-33
  15. ^ ""Lietava" klubo trenerių štabe – naujas treneris" (in Lithuanian). FK Lietava. 27 February 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-03-24. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  16. ^ "VšĮ "Jonavos futbolas" pasirašė sutartį su sportinės aprangos ir avalynės kompanija" (in Lithuanian). FK Lietava. Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
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  18. ^ "Iki sezono pabaigos "Sūduvą" treniruos Vladimiras Čeburinas" (in Lithuanian). FK Sūduva. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
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  25. ^ "Statistika" (in Lithuanian). A Lyga.
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  31. ^ Week 1
  32. ^ Week 31
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  72. ^ "2016 Team of the Week (Wk 22)". Archived from the original on 2016-09-11. Retrieved 2016-08-29.
  73. ^ "2016 Team of the Week (Wk 24)". Archived from the original on 2016-09-23. Retrieved 2016-09-21.
  74. ^ "2016 Team of the Week (Wk 25)". Archived from the original on 2016-09-23. Retrieved 2016-09-21.
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  76. ^ "2016 Team of the Week (Wk 27)". Archived from the original on 2016-10-18. Retrieved 2016-10-16.
  77. ^ "2016 Team of the Week (Wk 28)". Archived from the original on 2016-10-22. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
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