FK Vėtra was a

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

team from the capital city of

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urba ...

History

The club was founded in 1997 and was initially based in

Rūdiškės Rūdiškės (; pl, Rudziszki; be, Рудзішкі) is a city in the Trakai district municipality, Lithuania about 15 km south of Trakai. During the interwar period it was part of the Second Polish Republic. Until 2003 FK Vėtra was ba ...

, a settlement in Trakai district, and moved in 2003 to

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 Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

in the UEFA Intertoto Cup, but lost 0–1 at home, and 0–4 in Ireland. In the 2007 Intertoto Cup, Vėtra's second-round game with

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, ...

was called off when Legia fans rioted. The scoreline was 2–0 to Vėtra at the time, and on July 11,

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...

decided to award the tie 3–0 to Vėtra, and expel Legia from the competition. Vėtra lost to English side Blackburn Rovers in the third round

In the 2008 edition of the UEFA Cup Vėtra lost to Viking FK, 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 The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

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. 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.

Achievements

* A Lyga 2nd placed: 2009 *

LFF Cup The Lithuanian Football Federation Cup ( lt, Lietuvos futbolo federacijos taurė), also known as Hegelmann LFF Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a Lithuanian football cup competition contested in a knockout tournament format. The winner of the cup ...

runners-up: 2003, 2005, 2008, 2010 (finalist)

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 Andrius Skerla (born 29 April 1977) is a Lithuanian former professional footballer who played as a defender. He began his career in Lithuania with Žalgiris Vilnius, where his performances drew the attention of Dutch club PSV. After making on ...

* Mindaugas Panka *

Artūras Rimkevičius Artūras Rimkevičius (14 April 1983 – 23 September 2019) was a Lithuanian footballer who played as a striker. He committed suicide by gunshot on 23 September 2019, aged 36. Career Club Artūras played for FK Tauras Tauragė, FBK Kaunas, FK ...

* Georgas Freidgeimas * Valdemar Borovskij * Artūras Žulpa * Tomas Mikuckis *

Artjom Dmitrijev Artjom Dmitrijev (born 14 November 1988) is an Estonian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Meistriliiga club Nõmme Kalju, and formerly the Estonia national team. Career Club On 22 January 2019, FC Okzhetpes announced the s ...

Tomas Ražanauskas Tomas Ražanauskas (born 7 January 1976) is a Lithuanian professional football coach and a former player. He is an assistant coach with the Lithuania national team. He played in the position of midfielder and was also a member of the Lithuania ...

Donatas Vencevičius Donatas Vencevičius (born 28 November 1973 in Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union) is a Lithuanian football coach and former midfielder, who currently serves as the assistant coach of Polish club Podbeskidzie Bielsko-Biała. Vencevičius started his c ...

* Serhiy Kuznetsov * Igoris Kirilovas *

Vidas Alunderis Vidas Alunderis (born 27 March 1979 in Klaipėda Klaipėda (; ; german: Memel; pl, Kłajpeda; russian: Клайпеда; sgs, Klaipieda) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. The capital of the Klaipėda County, eponymous county, ...

Participation in Lithuanian Championships

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

– 3rd *

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

– 5th *

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

– 4th *

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

– 3rd * 2007 – 5th * 2008 – 3rd * 2009 – 2nd * 2010 – ''expelled from league after the round 17''"Vėtra" šalinama iš A lygos pirmenybių

Participation in European tournaments

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vetra Defunct football clubs in Lithuania Association football clubs disestablished in 2010 FK Vėtra 1997 establishments in Lithuania