2008 A Lyga Explained

Season:2008
Dates:29 March-10 November
Competition:A Lyga
Winners:FK Ekranas
Relegated:FK Silute
Continentalcup1:UEFA Champions League
Continentalcup1 Qualifiers:FK Ekranas
Continentalcup2:UEFA Europa League
Continentalcup2 Qualifiers:FBK Kaunas
FK Suduva
FK Vetra
League Topscorer: Rafael Gaúcho (14 goals)
Prevseason:2007
Nextseason:2009

The Lithuanian A Lyga 2008 was the 19th season of top-tier football in Lithuania. The season started on 29 March 2008 and ended on 16 November 2008.[1]

The league had to reduce the number of its teams from ten to nine prior to this season due to lacking of team able to earn promotion (see below). Shortly before the start of the season, Vilnius withdrew from participating in the league because of unknown reasons, leaving the league with 8 competing teams.

Clubs

ClubLocationStadiumCapacity
AtlantasŽalgiris Stadium5,000
EkranasPanevėžysAukštaitija Stadium9,940
FBK KaunasKaunasS.Dariaus ir S.Girėno Stadium8,500
SūduvaMarijampolėSūduva Stadium4,000
ŠiauliaiŠiauliaiSavivaldybė Stadium2,430
ŠilutėŠilutėŠilutė Stadium3,000
VėtraVilniusVėtra Stadium5,900
ŽalgirisVilniusŽalgiris Stadium15,030

Promotion and relegation

Interas-AE Visaginas were relegated to the Lithuanian First League after finishing the 2007 season in last place with only 8 points. Šilutė were originally scheduled to play the 2nd placed team of the First League, Rodiklis Kaunas, in a relegation play-off, but Rodiklis declined promotion due to lacking financial capabilities.

First League champions Alytis Alytus also had to forfeit their place in this year's league because their ground was not suitable for top-tier football, so no team was promoted.

League standings

Results

Every team played each other four times, twice at home and twice on the road, for a total of 28 games.

Second half of season

Top goalscorers

Source: lfe.lt

Pos.PlayerClubGoals
1 Rafael GaúchoFBK Kaunas14
2 Mindaugas Grigalevičius12
3 Povilas LukšysSūduva11
4 Vitalijus Kavaliauskas8
5 Darius Maciulevičius7
6 Egidijus VarnasEkranas6
Valdas TrakysEkranas
Ivans Lukjanovs

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Lithuania 2008 . Almantas . Laužadis . 17 February 2009 . 12 April 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090324103522/http://www2.omnitel.net/almis/ltu08lyga.html . 24 March 2009 . dead .