Karaliaus Mindaugo taurė (English: King Mindaugas Cup) is an annual national domestic

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

cup competition between

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 ...

n professional teams. It is organised by the

Lithuanian Basketball League Lithuanian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Lithuania, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe ** Lithuanian language ** Lithuanians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to Lithuania and the immediate geographical region ** L ...

(Lietuvos krepšinio lyga – LKL). The tournament is named in honor of

Mindaugas Mindaugas (, , , , ; c. 1203 – 12 September 1263) was the first known grand duke of Lithuania, Grand Duke of Lithuania and the only crowned King of Lithuania. Little is known of his origins, early life, or rise to power; he is mentioned in a ...

, the first and only

King of Lithuania This is a list of Lithuanian monarchs who ruled Lithuania from its inception until the fall of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1795. The Lithuanian monarch bore the title of Grand Duke, with the exception of Mindaugas, who was crowned king in 1 ...

. The

Final four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

event includes an annual LKL Three-point Shootout contest, LKL Future Cup was introduced in 2018 with Žalgiris and

Rytas The Lithuanian Education Society Rytas (; "rytas" means ''morning'' or ''dawn'') was a Roman Catholic society fostering education in the Lithuanian language mostly in the Vilnius Region, then fiercely contested between Lithuania and the Second Poli ...

youth teams competing for the cup. LKL Slam Dunk Contest was part of the Final four program until the event was removed in 2019.

History and format

The new tournament was presented to public on 1 December 2015, to replace the

LKF Cup The LKF Cup was an annual national domestic cup competition for Lithuanian professional basketball teams. It was organised by the Lithuanian Basketball Federation (Lietuvos Krepšinio Federacija - LKF). The competition's full name was Lietuvos Kre ...

and the LKL All-Star Day. In

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

the official name was Kidy Tour King Mindaugas Cup for sponsorship purposes, where Top 8 teams after 2 rounds in the

Lithuanian basketball league Lithuanian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Lithuania, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe ** Lithuanian language ** Lithuanians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to Lithuania and the immediate geographical region ** L ...

competed in a 3-day tournament, in

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, Siemens Arena. The format was where top team after 2 LKL rounds faced 8th team in the quarterfinals, second placed team faced 7th team and so on.

Lietuvos Rytas ''Lietuvos rytas'' (lit. 'Morning of Lithuania') is a Lithuanian daily newspaper. History and profile "Lietuvos rytas" was established in 1990 on a basis of newspaper "Komjaunimo tiesa". The paper is printed in Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is ...

67-57 beat Žalgiris in the final. In

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Kidy Tour King Mindaugas Cup there was a slight change in the format, seeds where divided between 1-4 and 5-8 and a quarterfinal draw was introduced. Also, instead of a 3-day tournament, a

format was introduced where semi-finals and finals where played over the weekend. The first final four was held in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

, where Žalgiris beat

Lietkabelis BC Lietkabelis (), commonly known as Lietkabelis Panevėžys, also known as 7bet-Lietkabelis for sponsorship reasons, is a Lithuanian professional basketball club based in Panevėžys, Lithuania, participating in the Lietuvos krepšinio lyga, Lit ...

84–63 in the final. The official name of King Mindaugas Cup in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

changed to SIL King Mindaugas Cup due to sponsorship reasons. Pairing format was kept the same, seeds were divided into 1-4 and 5-8 seeds, and the quarterfinal matches were played at the higher seed's home court. Final four was held in

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, where Žalgiris 81-62 beat Lietuvos Rytas. In the summer of 2018 it was announced about the expansion of the tournament. Teams from lower division league NKL were introduced and the tournament started in October 2018. The official name of King Mindaugas Cup changed back to Kidy Tour King Mindaugas Cup. The 2018-2019 tournament included 10 LKL clubs and 4 clubs from the NKL league. They competed in a four-round tournament. Top 6 LKL teams received automatic placements into the quarterfinals round and the bottom 4 teams had to compete against the 4 NKL clubs. For the first-time home and away matches were played in the quarterfinals round. The final four was held in Vilnius for the second time, where Rytas 70-67 beat Žalgiris in the final. In the summer of 2019 it was decided to change the format again, introducing two more clubs from the NKL, expanding the total number of teams to 16. 4 round system is kept the same, where bottom 6 LKL teams will be seeded versus the unseeded NKL clubs. Out of the 6 winners in the first round 2 teams that had the best record in their league last year will receive an automatic placement into the quarterfinals round, the other 4 teams will be paired and will play home and away games for the 2 remaining spots in the quarterfinals round. In the quarterfinals round teams that placed 1 to 4 last year will be seeded against teams that made their way through the second round. Final four will be held on the 15-16 of February, location is yet to be decided. In

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

the official name was Citadele King Mindaugas Cup for sponsorship purposes. The 2021 tournament included 10 LKL clubs and 6 clubs from the NKL league. They competed in a two-round tournament. Top 4 LKL teams received automatic placements into the quarterfinals round and the 6 bottom LKL teams had to compete against 6 NKL clubs. The final four took place on the 13-14 of February and was held in

Panevėžys Panevėžys () is the fifth-largest List of cities in Lithuania, city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, eighth-most-populous city in the Baltic States. it occupies with 89,100 inhabitants. As defined by Eu ...

for the first time. In the final Žalgiris 78–69 beat Lietkabelis and defended its title. The 2022 Citadele King Mindaugas Cup tournament was announced to be held in Vilnius and the newly renamed Avia Solutions Group Arena. In the quarterfinal stages Žalgiris, Rytas, Lietkabelis and Šiauliai-7bet prevailed to the semifinals. In the semifinals, Žalgiris beat Šiauliai-7bet 80-68 and Lietkabelis upset Rytas by beating them 82-80 in their home arena. Rytas beat Šiauliai-7bet 76-71 in the third place game and Žalgiris destroyed an undermanned Lietkabelis side 91-66 in the final to claim their 5th and 3rd straight King Mindaugas Cup title. The 2023 edition was eerily similar. Rytas, Lietkabelis and Žalgiris all advanced to the semifinals, and together with them came debutants CBet Jonava. Rytas once again shockingly fell in the semifinals to CBet 86-92. On the other hand, Žalgiris left no other surprises and took care of Lietkabelis 77-67. The third place game saw two disappointed sides clash against each other, with Lietkabelis coming on top against Rytas 91-88. Žalgiris claimed their 6th and 4th straight Cup by beating CBet 81-77. Edgaras Ulanovas was named Final Four MVP.

Winners

Performance by club

Teams shown in ''italics'' are no longer in existence.

Performers

References

External links