2018 A Lyga

	League stub This article about 2018 A Lyga is a stub, an article too short to provide more than rudimentary information about a subject. You can help The Football Database Wiki by expanding it.

A Lyga 2018
Season information
Winners	Sūduva
Relegated	Jonava
Continental cup qualifiers
Champions League	Sūduva
Europa League	Žalgiris Trakai Stumbras
Season statistics
Matches played	127
Goals scored	331
Top goalscorer	Liviu Antal (23 goals)
Biggest home win	Stumbras 6–0 Atlantas (28 October 2018) Sūduva 6–0 Atlantas (7 November 2018)
Biggest away win	Jonava 0–6 Žalgiris (26 September 2018)
Highest scoring	Atlantas 2–5 Žalgiris (11 April 2018) Atlantas 2–5 Sūduva (4 October 2018) Žalgiris 5–2 Kauno Žalgiris (7 November 2018)
← 2017	2019 →

The 2018 A Lyga was the 29th season of the A Lyga, the top-tier association football league of Lithuania. The season began on 25 February 2018 and ended on 11 November 2018.

Sūduva Marijampolė began the season as defending champions having won their first league title last year. They secured a second consecutive title in ARVI Football Arena on 7 November, after they beaten Atlantas 6–0.

Teams

The following teams are competing in the 2018 championship:

Club	Location	Stadium	Turf	Capacity	2017 position
Atlantas !Atlantas	Klaipėda	Central Stadium of Klaipėda	Natural	4,428	5th
		Klaipėda Artificial Football Pitch	Artificial	1,000
Jonava !Jonava	Jonava	Central Stadium of Jonava	Natural	1,008	4th
		Jonava Artificial Football Pitch	Artificial	558
Kauno Žalgiris !Kauno Žalgiris	Kaunas	Darius and Girėnas Stadium	Natural	9,180	8th
		NFA Stadium	Artificial	500
Palanga !Palanga	Palanga	Palanga Stadium	Natural	1,212	9I Lyga, 1st
	Klaipėda	Klaipėda Artificial Football Pitch	Artificial	1,000
Stumbras !Stumbras	Kaunas	Darius and Girėnas Stadium	Natural	9,180	7th
		NFA Stadium	Artificial	500
Suduva !Sūduva	Marijampolė	ARVI Football Arena	Natural	6,250	1st
		ARVI Football Indoor Arena	Artificial	2,660
Trakai !Trakai	Vilnius	LFF Stadium	Artificial	5,067	3rd
		Sportima Arena	Artificial	3,157
Zalgiris !Žalgiris	Vilnius	LFF Stadium	Artificial	5,067	2nd
		Sportima Arena	Artificial	3,157

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	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Atlantas	Vacys Lekevičius (caretaker)	Andrius Bartkus	Adidas	Marijampolės pieno konservai
Jonava	Artūras Ramoška	Tadas Eliošius Laurynas Stonkus	Erreà	—
Kauno Žalgiris	Mindaugas Čepas	Aurimas Raginis	Hummel	BC Žalgiris
Palanga	Valdas Trakys	Gvidas Juška	Nike	—
Stumbras	Mariano Barreto	Rimvydas Sadauskas	Joma	—
Sūduva	Vladimir Cheburin	Algis Jankauskas	Joma	Sumeda
Trakai	Albert Rybak (caretaker)	Valdemaras Borovskis	Nike	Ecoil
Žalgiris	Valdas Urbonas	Georgas Freidgeimas	Nike	Top Sport

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Žalgiris	Aleksandr Brazevich	End of contract	24 November 2017	Pre-season	Aurelijus Skarbalius	27 November 2017
Jonava	Mindaugas Čepas		21 December 2017		Darius Gvildys (caretaker)	21 December 2017
Atlantas	Igoris Pankratjevas	Mutual consent	5 January 2018		Algimantas Briaunys (caretaker)	5 January 2018
Kauno Žalgiris	Johnny McKinstry		5 January 2018		Mindaugas Čepas	5 January 2018
Jonava	Darius Gvildys	End of caretaker spell	12 January 2018		Filipe Ribeiro	12 January 2018
	Filipe Ribeiro	Sacked	15 May 2018	8th	Darius Gvildys	15 May 2018
Trakai	Oleg Vasilenko		18 May 2018	3rd	Virmantas Lemežis (caretaker)	18 May 2018
Atlantas	Algimantas Briaunys	End of caretaker spell	1 June 2018	4th	Anatoli Shelest	1 June 2018
Trakai	Virmantas Lemežis		18 June 2018	3rd	Kibu Vicuña	18 June 2018
Atlantas	Anatoli Shelest	Sacked	21 June 2018	5th	Algimantas Briaunys (caretaker)	3 August 2018
Žalgiris	Aurelijus Skarbalius		21 June 2018	2nd	Valdas Urbonas	23 June 2018
Jonava	Darius Gvildys	Mutual consent	12 July 2018	8th	Artūras Ramoška	12 January 2018
Atlantas	Algimantas Briaunys	Resigned	30 August 2018	6th	Tadas Labukas (caretaker)	6 September 2018
	Tadas Labukas	End of caretaker spell	13 September 2018		Anatoli Shelest	13 September 2018
Trakai	Kibu Vicuña	Signed by Wisła Płock	11 October 2018	4th	Albert Rybak (caretaker)	11 October 2018
Atlantas	Anatoli Shelest	Mutual consent	24 October 2018	6th	Vacys Lekevičius (caretaker)	24 October 2018

Regular season

Regular season table

Template:2018 A Lyga Regular Season table

Championship round

Championship round table

Template:2018 A Lyga Championship Round table

Relegation play-offs

The 7th placed team faced the runners-up of the 2018 LFF I Lyga for a two-legged play-off. The winner on aggregate score after both matches earned entry into the 2019 A Lyga.

First leg

28 October 2018 (2018-10-28) 16:00 EET (UTC+2)	DFK Dainava	0–3	Palanga	Alytus Stadium Attendance: 1,520 Referee: Gediminas Mažeika
		Summary Video	Aniefiok  15', 28' Dombrauskis  47'

Second leg

3 November 2018 (2018-11-03) 13:00 EET (UTC+2)	Palanga	2–0	DFK Dainava	Gargždai Stadium Attendance: 400 Referee: Manfredas Lukjančukas
	Juška  49' Urbys  70'	Summary Video

Palanga won 5–0 on aggregate and therefore both clubs remain in their respective leagues.

Positions by round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological progress, any postponed matches are not included in the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for matchday 13, but then postponed and played between days 16 and 17, it will be added to the standings for day 16.

	Leader – Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round
	Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round
	Qualification to relegation play-offs
	Relegation to 2019 I Lyga

Team \ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33
Sūduva	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Žalgiris	1	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Trakai	6	4	4	3	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	4	4	4	4	3	3
Stumbras	7	7	7	8	7	5	6	7	7	7	6	7	7	5	5	5	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	3	3	3	3	4	4
Kauno Žalgiris	7	8	5	5	5	7	7	8	8	8	7	5	5	6	7	7	7	6	6	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
Atlantas	3	3	3	4	2	3	5	6	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	5	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6
Palanga	4	6	8	7	8	6	4	5	6	6	5	6	6	7	6	6	6	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	8	7	7	7
Jonava	4	5	6	6	6	8	8	4	5	5	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	7	8	8	8

Updated to games played on 11 November 2018

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Pos.	Player	Club	Goals	MP	APG
1	MF	Liviu Antal	Žalgiris	23	2065	90
2	MF	Marcos Júnior	Stumbras	17	2097	124
3	MF	Donatas Kazlauskas	Atlantas/Trakai	12	1796	150
4	FW	Ogana Louis	Žalgiris	11	1643	150
5	MF	Gerson Acevedo	Sūduva	10	1719	172
6	MF	Ovidijus Verbickas		9	1858	207
7	FW	Sandro Gotal		8	644	81
	FW	Tomáš Malec	Žalgiris		1546	194
	FW	Rigino Cicilia	Sūduva		1588	199
	FW	Laurynas Stonkus	Jonava		2075	260

Updated to games played on 11 November 2018

Top assists

Rank	Pos.	Player	Club	Assists
1	MF	Tomáš Šimkovič	Žalgiris	15
2	DF	Andro Švrljuga	Sūduva	8
3	FW	Ogana Louis	Žalgiris	7
4	MF	Lucas Villela	Stumbras	6
5	MF	Kgaogelo Sekgota		5
	MF	Serge Nyuiadzi	Žalgiris
	DF	Vaidas Slavickas	Sūduva
	MF	Ovidijus Verbickas

Updated to games played on 11 November 2018

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets	GP
1	Ivan Kardum	Sūduva	17	33
2	Džiugas Bartkus	Žalgiris	12	21
	Tomas Švedkauskas	Trakai		23
	Rodrigo Josviaki	Stumbras		30
5	Martynas Matuzas	Kauno Žalgiris	7	20

Updated to games played on 11 November 2018

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Tomáš Malec	Žalgiris	Trakai	3–2 (H)	7 April 2018
Linas Pilibaitis	Kauno Žalgiris	Atlantas	4–0 (H)	28 August 2018
Liviu Antal	Žalgiris	Palanga	0–5 (A)	29 August 2018
Marcos Júnior	Stumbras	Jonava	3–0 (H)	4 October 2018
Liviu Antal	Žalgiris	Kauno Žalgiris	5–2 (H)	7 November 2018
Sandro Gotal	Sūduva	Atlantas	6–0 (H)	7 November 2018

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 9
  • Slavko Blagojević (Žalgiris)
• Most red cards: 2
  • Linas Klimavičius (Žalgiris)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 68
  • Kauno Žalgiris
• Most red cards: 5
  • Žalgiris

Attendance

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Sūduva	16,740	2,400	450	985	-0.90449954086318−9.5%†
2	Žalgiris	10,530	2,000	100	620	-0.86350974930362−13.6%†
3	Jonava	5,160	850	50	369	0.10149253731343+10.1%†
4	Trakai	4,947	1,000	50	310	0.13553113553114+13.5%†
5	Atlantas	4,120	700	70	258	-0.58108108108108−41.8%†
6	Palanga	2,980	500	50	213	0.0094786729857821+0.9%1
7	Stumbras	3,220	500	50	190	-0.92233009708738−7.7%†
8	Kauno Žalgiris	2,860	450	80	179	0.011299435028248+1.1%†
	League total	50,577	2,400	50	399	-0.8347280334728−16.5%†

Updated to games played on 11 November 2018
Source: A Lyga, Lietuvos Futbolas
Notes:
1: Team played last season in the I Lyga

Awards

Yearly awards

Individual

Awards were presented at the Lithuanian Football Awards ceremony, which was held on 21 February 2019. Finalists for voted awards were announced after the season and winners were presented at the award ceremony.

2018 A Lyga awards

Award	Recipient(s)
Player of the Year	Ovidijus Verbickas (Sūduva)
Young Player of the Year	Justinas Marazas (Trakai)
Manager of the Year	Vladimir Cheburin (Sūduva)
Golden Boot	Liviu Antal (Žalgiris)

Team of the Year

Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
Kardum (Sūduva)	Slijngard (Žalgiris) Tomić (Žalgiris) Jankauskas (Sūduva) Švrljuga (Sūduva)	Kazlauskas (Atlantas/Trakai) Offenbacher (Sūduva) Šimkovič (Žalgiris) Júnior (Stumbras)	Antal (Žalgiris) Ogana (Žalgiris)

Monthly awards

Individual

Player of the Month Month Player Stats Rf March Karolis Laukžemis (Sūduva) 4GP, 3G, 1A April Ovidijus Verbickas (Sūduva) 5GP, 5G May Liviu Antal (Žalgiris) 5GP, 4G, 1A June & July Marcos Júnior (Stumbras) 3GP, 2G August Liviu Antal (Žalgiris) 3GP, 7G, 1A September & October Tomáš Šimkovič (Žalgiris) 9GP, 4G, 4A

Young Player of the Month Month Player Stats March Wasn't announced April Justinas Marazas (Trakai) 5GP, 3G May Kgaogelo Sekgota (Stumbras) 5GP, 1G, 2A June & July Edvinas Kloniūnas (Kauno Žalgiris) 4GP, 1G August Levan Matcharashvili (Stumbras) 5GP, 1A September & October Ernestas Mockus (Kauno Žalgiris) 4GP, 1A

Coach of the Month Month Player Win % March Vladimir Cheburin (Sūduva) 4GP, 75% April Vladimir Cheburin (Sūduva) 5GP, 80% May Aurelijus Skarbalius (Žalgiris) 5GP, 80% June & July Mariano Barreto (Stumbras) 3GP, 100% August Valdas Urbonas (Žalgiris) 3GP, 100% September & October Vladimir Cheburin (Sūduva) 10GP, 70%

Team of the Month

Team of the Month
Month	Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
March	Bartkus (Žalgiris)	Slavickas (Sūduva) Klimavičius (Žalgiris) Artimavičius (Atlantas) Baravykas (Žalgiris)	Veliulis (Jonava) Šimkovič (Žalgiris) Vorobjovas (Trakai) Švrljuga (Sūduva)	Laukžemis (Sūduva) Acevedo (Sūduva)
April	Kardum (Sūduva)	Nazaré (Stumbras) Jankauskas (Sūduva) Januševskij (Trakai) Švrljuga (Sūduva)	Koç (Atlantas) Zasavițchi (Jonava) Verbickas (Sūduva) Antal (Žalgiris)	Mukanya (Trakai) Juška (Palanga)
May	Mikelionis (Kauno Žalgiris)	Mikoliūnas (Žalgiris) Snapkauskas (Kauno Žalgiris) Kerla (Sūduva) Švrljuga (Sūduva)	Sekgota (Stumbras) N'Diaye (Sūduva) Šimkovič (Žalgiris) Urbys (Palanga)	Tadić (Sūduva) Antal (Žalgiris)
June & July	Bartkus (Žalgiris)	Nazaré (Stumbras) Almeida (Stumbras) Sadauskas (Stumbras) Švrljuga (Sūduva)	Antal (Žalgiris) Pilibaitis (Kauno Žalgiris) Cá (Stumbras) Kloniūnas (Kauno Žalgiris) Júnior (Stumbras)	Cicilia (Sūduva)
August	Bartkus (Žalgiris)	Slijngard (Žalgiris) Osipov (Trakai) Mbodj (Žalgiris) Baravykas (Žalgiris)	Kazlauskas (Trakai) Pilibaitis (Kauno Žalgiris Antal (Žalgiris) Júnior (Stumbras)	Thuique (Jonava) Ogana (Žalgiris)
September & October	Švedkauskas (Trakai)	Floro (Stumbras) Jankauskas (Sūduva) Mbodj (Žalgiris) Švrljuga (Sūduva)	Sirgėdas (Kauno Žalgiris) Offenbacher (Sūduva Šimkovič (Žalgiris) Júnior (Stumbras)	Gotal (Sūduva) Ogana (Žalgiris)

Multiple appearances
Player	Club	App
Andro Švrljuga	Sūduva	4
Liviu Antal	Žalgiris
Džiugas Bartkus		3
Tomáš Šimkovič
Marcos Júnior	Stumbras
Jardel Nazaré		2
Rolandas Baravykas	Žalgiris
Linas Pilibaitis	Kauno Žalgiris
Algis Jankauskas	Sūduva
Mamadou Mbodj	Žalgiris
Ogana Louis

External links

• Official website

Template:A Lyga seasons