FK Vėtra

FK Vėtra

Full name	Futbolo Klubas Vėtra
Founded	1997
Dissolved	2010
Ground	Vėtra Stadium, Vilnius
Capacity	5,900
Home colours Away colours

FK Vėtra was a Lithuanian football team from the capital city of Vilnius.

History

The club was founded in 1997 and was initially based in Rūdiškės, a settlement in Trakai district, and moved in 2003 to Vilnius city with the purchase of its own stadium.

In 2004, Vėtra played in the Intertoto Cup and reached the 3rd round with 3 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss, including the elimination of Scottish side Hibernian FC.

Their results in the 2005 tournament were not as successful, being eliminated in the early stages by losing both first round matches to future finalists CFR Cluj. In 2006, Vėtra played Shelbourne F.C. of Dublin in the UEFA Intertoto Cup, but lost 0–1 at home, and 0–4 in Ireland.

In the 2007 Intertoto Cup, Vėtra faced Legia Warsaw in the second round, a match that was abandoned due to a riot caused by Legia hooligans while Vėtra was leading 2–0. On 11 July 2007, UEFA issued a ruling awarding Vėtra a 3–0 victory and disqualifying Legia from the competition as a disciplinary measure.^[1] In the subsequent third round, Vėtra was eliminated by English club Blackburn Rovers.

In the 2008 edition of the UEFA Cup Vėtra lost to Viking Stavanger despite winning the first leg thanks to a bizarre goal.

In July 2009 Vėtra became the first Lithuanian club to progress in a European knock-out match after losing its first game at home. In the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League Vėtra lost 0–1 to HJK Helsinki but defeated their opponents 3–1 to earn a tie against Fulham FC. Vetra lost 3–0 at home and the same away, which means they were knocked out by Fulham.^[2]

The team played in the Lithuanian Premier division A Lyga but in summer of 2010 was expelled by Lithuanian Football Federation for financial troubles and debts to players, coaches and other club staff.^[3]

Achievements

• A Lyga
  • Runners-up (1): 2009
• LFF Cup
  • Runners-up (4): 2003, 2005, 2008, 2010

Notable players

Players who have either appeared for their respective national team at any time or received an individual award while at the club.

• Darvydas Šernas
• Andrius Skerla
• Mindaugas Panka
• Artūras Rimkevičius
• Georgas Freidgeimas
• Valdemar Borovskij
• Artūras Žulpa
• Tomas Mikuckis
• Artjom Dmitrijev
• Tomas Ražanauskas
• Donatas Vencevičius
• Serhiy Kuznetsov
• Igoris Kirilovas
• Vidas Alunderis

Participation in Lithuanian Championships

• 2003 – 3rd
• 2004 – 5th
• 2005 – 4th
• 2006 – 3rd
• 2007 – 5th
• 2008 – 3rd
• 2009 – 2nd
• 2010 – expelled from league after the round 17^[4]

Participation in European tournaments

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Score
2004	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1st Round	JK Trans Narva	3–0, 1–0
		2nd Round	Hibernian	1–1, 1–0
		3rd Round	Esbjerg fB	1–1, 0–4
2005	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1st Round	CFR Cluj	2–3, 1–4
2006	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1st Round	Shelbourne FC	0–1, 0–4
2007	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1st Round	Llanelli AFC	3–1, 3–5
		2nd Round	Legia Warsaw	3–0 (awd.)
		3rd Round	Blackburn Rovers	0–2, 0–4
2008–09	UEFA Cup	1st Qualifying Round	Viking FK	1–0, 0–2
2009–10	Europa League	1st Qualifying Round	CS Grevenmacher	3–0, 3–0
		2nd Qualifying Round	HJK Helsinki	0–1, 3–1
		3rd Qualifying Round	Fulham	0–3, 0–3

References

1. "Legia punished with UEFA ban". UEFA. 2007-07-11. Archived from the original on 2007-07-13. Retrieved 2024-12-21.
2. "Vetra through for a Fulham test". Futbolas.lt. July 24, 2009. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
3. "Lietuvos futbolo federacija". lff.lt. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
4. "Vėtra" šalinama iš A lygos pirmenybių Archived 27 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine (in Lithuanian)