FK Vėtra was a

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team from the capital city of

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

History

The club was founded in 1997 and was initially based in Rūdiškės, 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 The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was discon ...

and reached the 3rd round with 3 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss, including the elimination of Scottish side

Hibernian FC Hibernian Football Club (), commonly known as Hibs, is a professional football club in Edinburgh, Scotland. The team competes in the , the top division of Scottish football. The club was founded in 1875 by members of Edinburgh's Irish commun ...

. 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 Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ) or simply CFR, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I. Founded as ''Kolozsvári Vasut ...

. In 2006, Vėtra played

Shelbourne F.C. Shelbourne Football Club is an List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish professional Association football, football club based in Drumcondra, Dublin, currently playing in the League of Ireland Premier Division. They ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

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 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 a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...

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. In the subsequent third round, Vėtra was eliminated by English club

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

. 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 The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

Vėtra lost 0–1 to

HJK Helsinki Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki (), or simply as HJK (), is a Finnish football club based in Helsinki. The club competes in Veikkausliiga, the top division of the Finnish football league system. Founded in 1907, the ...

but defeated their opponents 3–1 to earn a tie against

Fulham FC Fulham Football Club is a professional football club based in Fulham, West London, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of English football. They have played home games at Craven Cottage since 1896, other than a two-year period spen ...

. 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 The A Lyga is the top division of professional football in Lithuania. It is organized by Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF) (). History The first football league was established in Lithuania in 1924, and in various forms existed until 1939. ...

but in summer of 2010 was expelled by Lithuanian Football Federation for financial troubles and debts to players, coaches and other club staff.

Achievements

**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 Andrius Skerla (born 29 April 1977) is a Lithuanian professional football manager and former player who played as a defender. He is the manager of A Lyga club Hegelmann. He began his career in Lithuania with Žalgiris Vilnius, where his perfo ...

* 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, F ...

* Georgas Freidgeimas * Valdemar Borovskij * Artūras Žulpa * Tomas Mikuckis * Artjom Dmitrijev * Tomas Ražanauskas *

Donatas Vencevičius Donatas Vencevičius (born 28 November 1973) is a Lithuanian professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is currently in charge of A Lyga club Sūduva. Vencevičius started his career at Žalgiris Vilnius. ...

* Serhiy Kuznetsov * Igoris Kirilovas *

Vidas Alunderis Vidas Alunderis (born 27 March 1979) is a Lithuanian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender. Honours Zagłębie Lubin * Ekstraklasa: 2006–07 Ekstraklasa, 2006–07 Refer ...

Participation in Lithuanian Championships

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

– 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 60 ...

– 5th *

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

– 4th *

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

– 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 FK Vėtra was a Lithuanian football (soccer), 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 wit ...

1997 establishments in Lithuania