# FK Atlantas

FK Atlantas was a Lithuanian professional football club based in the port city of Klaipėda.
The club's name has changed several times. It was established in 1962 as Granitas, and became PSK Aras in 1993. Since 1996, when FK Sirijus Klaipėda was absorbed into the club, it has had the name Atlantas, which in Lithuanian language means Atlantic Ocean.
Atlantas were the SSR Lithuanian champions in 1978, 1980, 1981, and 1984.

## History

Modern Atlantas was founded in 1996. In Soviet occupation period in Klaipėda The team was known as Granitas and Atlantas from 1970 was a farm club of Granitas. The name Atlantas was used in Lithuanian championship and Granitas in Soviet Union Championship. In Lithuanian independence period from 1990 Granitas and Atlantas tradition was lost, but in 1996 the team was refounded team and named Atlantas. This team soon became the strongest football team in Klaipėda. They Played in the top division for a long time.
In summer 2018, the club had financial problems, because account's in banks were suspended. After that, some players ran away from the club. Club owners thought about all chances to save club from dissvolvement. In the first half of the 2018 A Lyga, the club was in 4th position and after the summer they didn't win any games in the championship and lost their position. But after 28 rounds, they were in 6th position and could play in final stage of the championship. 29th round was a loss to FC Stumbras 0–6.
In January 2019, about the club situation known, that they lost sponsorship from business and Klaipėda city municipality and that means, that the club soon would defunct.
In February 2019, the club changed owners. The new chief was Vidas Adomaitis.
On 5 December 2019, the Lithuanian Football Federation announce that two A Lyga clubs, FK Atlantas and FK Palanga have been excluded from the A Lyga due to manipulation of the match results, fined 30,000 euros and relegated to II Lyga. Five players were punished with fines and a ban from all football activity ranging from 6 to 12 months.
Atlantas was in 2020 Antra lyga (3rd level) and after first round was one of the top–6 teams. In final stage team had chances for the promotion to Pirma lyga.

## Name history

* 1962 – Granitas Klaipėda
* 1970 – Atlantas Klaipėda
* 1996 – FK Atlantas Klaipėda

## Honours
### Domestic

* Lithuanian Championship
** Runners-up (3): 2001, 2002, 2013
** Third place (5): 1999, 2000, 2004, 2014, 2015
* Lithuanian Cup
** Winners (2): 2001, 2003
** Runners-up (2): 2004, 2014–15
Soviet Championship
* Lithuanian SSR Championship
** Champions (4): 1978, 1980, 1981, 1984
* Soviet Second League
** Winners (2): 1964, 1985
* Lithuanian SSR Cup
** Winners (4): 1977, 1981, 1983, 1986

### Other tournaments

* Turkmenistan President's Cup
** Third place (1): 2003

## Stadium

Central Stadium of Klaipėda is a multi-purpose stadium in Klaipėda, Lithuania. It is currently used mostly for football matches by FK Atlantas competing in A Lyga. In the past the stadium had a capacity of 9,000 and now holds only 5,000.
Sometimes (in early spring or late autumn, or winter) plays in alternative stadium Klaipėdos miesto centrinio stadiono dirbtinės dangos aikštė. That is artificial pavement ground nearby Central Stadium.

## Supporters

FK Atlantas supporters are called Vakarų Frontas. FK Atlantas supporters maintain friendly relations with fans of Žalgiris Vilnius and Rangers FC.

## Crest and colours

The crest features a yellow seahorse with a football on the background. In the middle of the crest there is a white text saying Atlantas at the top and Klaipėda in smaller text under it. The logo contained some white.
Since the beginning, the club has used the colors yellow and blue on their kits.
| Traditional kit Home | Traditional kit Away | Traditional kit Away | 2007/2008; 2015 (Away) | Puma 2017 (Home) | Puma 2017 (Away) | Goalkeeper`s kit 2018 |

### Kit manufacturers

* 2013–2016 Jako
* 2017–2018 Puma
* 2018–present Adidas

## Season-by-season
### Lithuania

    Season Div. Pos. Pl. W D L Goals Top Scorer Cup Europe 1999 1st 3 18 9 6 3 34–24 2000 1st 3 36 21 4 11 70–45 2001 1st 2 36 19 12 5 66–29 2002 1st 2 32 20 7 5 58–23 2003 1st 5 28 9 6 13 27–30 2004 1st 3 28 15 5 8 36–29 2005 1st 7 36 11 8 17 40–52 2006 1st 6 36 14 10 12 46–41 2007 1st 6 36 13 6 17 54–45 2008 1st 6 28 7 7 14 31–44 2009 3rd 1 20 18 2 0 101–11 Gintas Podelis 2010 2nd 7 27 9 6 12 35–33 Žilvinas Kymantas 2011 1st 11 33 3 2 28 28–121 Karolis Laukžemis 2012 1st 8 36 7 6 23 33–92 Tino Lagator 2013 1st 2 32 22 5 5 64–23 Evaldas Razulis 2014 1st 3 36 19 8 9 76–36 Evaldas Razulis 2015 1st 3 36 21 7 8 65–34 Andrey Panyukov 2016 1st 4 33 16 8 9 42–32 Maksim Maksimov 2017 1st 5 33 8 12 13 39–43 Andrey Panyukov 2018 1st 6 33 6 6 21 28–75 2019 1st 6 33 7 5 21 30–78

## Current squad

    As of 20 April 2020
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | LTU | Lukas Paukštė |
| 4 | DF | LTU | Tautvydas Špiegis |
| 5 | DF | LTU | Marius Činikas |
| 6 | DF | LTU | Andrius Bartkus |
| 7 | FW | BDI | Bonfils-Caleb Bimenyimana |
| 8 | MF | LTU | Vytautas Lukša |
| 9 | FW | LTU | Tadas Labukas |
| 10 | FW | LTU | Darvydas Šernas |
| 12 | GK | BUL | Stefano Kunchev |
| 13 | MF | LTU | Vilius Armanavičius |
| 14 | DF | LTU | Jonas Latakas |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 16 | DF | CRO | Damir Žutić |
| 19 | MF | CRO | Jurica Kovačić |
| 20 | FW | LVA | Deivids Dobrecovs |
| 22 | MF | LVA | Ņikita Juhņevičs |
| 23 | MF | LTU | Titas Vitukynas |
| 24 | MF | LTU | Justas Vainikaitis |
| 27 | MF | BUL | Dimitar Petkov |
| 28 | DF | LTU | Tomas Gvazdinskas |
| 44 | MF | NGA | Akinjide Idowu |
| 77 | MF | CRO | Mateo Dunić |

## Notable and famous players

FK Atlantas players who have either appeared for their respective national team at any time or received an individual award while at the club.
* Robertas Poškus
* Adebayo Akinfenwa
* Pascal Feindouno
* Edvinas Gertmonas
* Andrei Panyukov
* Linas Pilibaitis

## European Cups history

| Season | Competition | Round | Club | 1st Leg | 2nd Leg | Aggregate |
| 2000 | UEFA Intertoto Cup | 1R | Kocaelispor | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 (5–3 p) |
| 2000 | UEFA Intertoto Cup | 2R | Bradford City | 1–4 | 1–3 | 2–7 |
| 2001–02 | UEFA Cup | QR | Rapid București | 0–4 | 0–8 | 0–12 |
| 2002–03 | UEFA Cup | QR | Litex Lovech | 0–5 | 1–3 | 1–8 |
| 2003–04 | UEFA Cup | QR | Dyskobolia Grodzisk | 0–2 | 1–4 | 1–6 |
| 2004 | UEFA Intertoto Cup | 1R | Spartak Moscow | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–2 |
| 2005–06 | UEFA Cup | 1Q | Rhyl | 3–2 | 1–2 | 4–4 (a) |
| 2014–15 | UEFA Europa League | 1Q | FC Differdange 03 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 3–2 |
| 2014–15 | UEFA Europa League | 2Q | Shakhter Karagandy | 0–0 | 0–3 | 0–3 |
| 2015–16 | UEFA Europa League | 1Q | Beroe Stara Zagora | 0–2 | 1–3 | 1–5 |
| 2016–17 | UEFA Europa League | 1Q | HJK | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–3 |
| 2017–18 | UEFA Europa League | 1Q | Kairat | 0–6 | 1–2 | 1–8 |

## Staff

| Position | Name |
| President | Vidas Adomaitis |
| Director | (?) |
| Director of Football | Arnas Lekevičius |
| Head coach | Viktors Dobrecovs |
| Assistant coach | |
| Assistant coach | |

## Managers

* Algirdas Klimkevičius (19??–66)
* Algirdas Vosylius (1967–??)
* Romualdas Dambrauskas (19??–70)
* Henrikas Markevičius (1976–78)
* Fiodoras Finkelis (1978)
* Vladas Ulinauskas (1980)
* Romas Lavrinavičius (1981)
* Algirdas Mitigaila (1982–83)
* Česlovas Urbonavičius (1984–86)
* Vytautas Gedgaudas (1986–89)
* Česlovas Urbonavičius (1984)
* Vytautas Gedgaudas (1992 – March 95)
* Algirdas Mitigaila (March 1995–00)
* Arūnas Šuika (2000)
* Vacys Lekevičius (2001–04)
* Šenderis Giršovičius (2002)
* Igoris Pankratjevas (2003–05)
* Vacys Lekevičius (2005)
* Igoris Pankratjevas (2006)
* Arminas Narbekovas (2006–07)
* Mindaugas Čepas (2008–09)
* Šenderis Giršovičius (2009–10)
* Saulius Mikalajūnas (23 Dec 2009 – 20 May 2010)
* Igoris Pankratjevas (2010)
* Vitalijus Stankevičius (2011)
* Romualdas Norkus (1 March 2012 – 30 June 2012)
* Sébastien Roques (July 2012 – Nov 2012)
* Konstantin Sarsania (1 Jan 2013 – 27 May 2017)
* Sergej Savchenkov (28 May 2017 – 13 June 2017)
* Rimantas Žvingilas (13 Jun 2017 – 23 July 2017)
* Igoris Pankratjevas (23 Jul 2017–end of 2017)
* Algimantas Briaunys (January 2018– 30 August 2018)
* Anatoli Shelest (September 2018 – November 2018)
* Viktors Dobrecovs (February 2019 – November 2019)
* Donatas Navikas (in November 2019; temporary)