2019 A Lyga


The 2019 A Lyga was the 30th season of the A Lyga, the top-tier association football league of Lithuania. The season began on 2 March 2019 and ended on 27 November 2019.
Sūduva Marijampolė began the season as defending champions having won their second consecutive league title last year. They secured a third consecutive title in Aukštaitija Stadium on 3 November, after they beat Panevėžys 5–1.
Only five league clubs survived throughout the year – Stumbras folded in the summer, while Atlantas and Palanga were disqualified in the off-season.

Teams

Eight clubs competed – the top six of the 2018 season, the winner of the relegation play-offs and the champions of the 2018 LFF I Lyga. Palanga remained in the league having won the play-offs, while Panevėžys made their top-tier debut replacing relegated Jonava.
Trakai changed their name to Riteriai during the preseason, for a better identification with Vilnius, where the main team has been located since 2014.

Stumbras bankruptcy

In 2019 Stumbras started the season very well by winning against Sūduva Marijampolė">FK Sūduva Marijampolė">Sūduva Marijampolė and Žalgiris Vilnius">FK Žalgiris">Žalgiris Vilnius, claiming the top position of the 2019 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.

Match fixing scandal

On 5 December 2019, the Lithuanian Football Federation announce that two A Lyga clubs, Atlantas Klaipėda">FK Atlantas">Atlantas Klaipėda and FK Palanga have been excluded from the A Lyga due to manipulation of the match results, fined 42,000 euros and relegated to the II Lyga. Ten players and one staff were punished with fines and a ban from all football activity ranging from 6 to 12 months.

Clubs and locations

The following teams competed in the 2019 championship:
ClubLocationStadiumTurfCapacity2018 position
KlaipėdaCentral Stadium of KlaipėdaNatural4,4286th
KlaipėdaKlaipėda Artificial Football PitchArtificial1,0006th
KaunasSM Tauras StadiumNatural5005th
KaunasNFA StadiumArtificial5005th
PalangaPalanga StadiumNatural1,2127th
KlaipėdaKlaipėda Artificial Football PitchArtificial1,0007th
PanevėžysAukštaitija StadiumNatural6,600I Lyga, 1st
PanevėžysŽemyna Progymnasium StadiumArtificial500I Lyga, 1st
VilniusLFF StadiumArtificial5,0673rd
VilniusSportima ArenaArtificial3,1573rd
KaunasNFA StadiumArtificial5004th
MarijampolėARVI Football ArenaNatural6,2501st
MarijampolėARVI Football Indoor ArenaArtificial2,6601st
VilniusLFF StadiumArtificial5,0672nd
VilniusSportima ArenaArtificial3,1572nd

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.
TeamHead coachCaptainKit manufacturerShirt sponsor
Atlantas

Regular season

Table


Championship round

Table


Relegation play-offs

The 7th placed team will face the runners-up of the 2019 LFF I Lyga for a two-legged play-off. The winner on aggregate score after both matches will earn entry into the 2020 A Lyga.

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 2020 I Lyga

Team \ Round123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
Team \ Round
Sūduva321333222111111111222222111111111
Žalgiris112112111222222222111111222222222
Riteriai566555555444433333333444333343333
Kauno Žalgiris755444433333344444444333444434444
Panevėžys677788888887776655555555555555555
Atlantas244676777666667766666666666666666
Palanga8888676667788888888888888777
Stumbras4332213445555555777777777888

Updated to games played on 9 November 2019

Season statistics

Top scorers

Updated at the end of the season

Hat-tricks

;Notes
5 Player scored 5 goals

Awards

Monthly awards

Team of the Month

MonthGoalkeeperDefendersMidfieldersForwards
March