The 2016 A Lyga, also known as SMSCredit.lt A Lyga for sponsoring purposes was the 27th season of the A Lyga, the top-tier association football league of Lithuania. The season began on 2 March and ended on 26 November 2016. Žalgiris Vilnius were the defending champions.
Teams
FK Šiauliai failed to obtain a license to play in the A Lyga and were relegated alongside FK Kruoja, which withdrew and FK Klaipedos Granitas, which was disqualified. They were replaced by FK Lietava Jonava, which will make its debut at the top level. FK Spyris Kaunas changed its name to FK Kauno Žalgiris.
Changes from 2015
The league reduced its number of teams from ten sides down to eight. As a consequence, each team will play every other four times, twice at home and twice away with the top six then playing an additional round against each other.
Clubs and locations
The following teams are competing in the 2016 championship:
Club Location Stadium Turf Capacity 2015 position Klaipėda Central Stadium of Klaipėda Natural 4,428 3rd Klaipėda Artificial Football PitchUsed as home ground in rounds 1-9 and 30 Artificial 1,000 Kaunas Darius and Girėnas Stadium Natural 9,180 5th NFA StadiumUsed as home ground in rounds 1-8 Artificial 500 Jonava Central Stadium of Jonava Natural 1,008 I Lyga, 1st Kaunas NFA StadiumUsed as home ground in rounds 1,4&6 Artificial 500 Kėdainiai Kėdainiai StadiumUsed as home ground in round 3 Artificial 3,000 Kaunas Darius and Girėnas Stadium Natural 9,180 7th NFA StadiumUsed as home ground in rounds 2-8 and 30-33 Artificial 500 Marijampolė ARVI Football Arena Natural 6,250 4th ARVI Football Indoor ArenaUsed as home ground in rounds 2-8 and 31 Artificial 2,660 Vilnius LFF Stadium Artificial 5,067 2nd Sportima ArenaUsed as home ground in rounds 31-32 Artificial 3,157 Utena Utenis Stadium Natural 3,073 6th Visaginas Visaginas Artificial Football PitchUsed as home ground in rounds 1-6 Artificial 212 Vilnius LFF Stadium Artificial 5,067 1st Sportima ArenaUsed as home ground in rounds 1-5 and 32-33 Artificial 3,157
Stadium location
Personnel and kits Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Team Head coach(es) Captain(s) Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsorAtlantas Konstantin Sarsania Andrius Bartkus Jako —Kauno Žalgiris Laimis Bičkauskas Ignas Dedura Joma BC ŽalgirisLietava Robertas Poškus Laurynas Stonkus Joma AchemaStumbras Darius Gvildys Mariano Barreto Artūras Rimkevičius Nerijus Mačiulis Hummel Novecorum GroupSūduva Aleksandar Veselinović Eivinas Černiauskas (caretaker) Vladimir Cheburin (interim) Tomas Radzinevičius Joma SumedaTrakai Valdas Urbonas Albert Rybak (interim) Serhiy Kovalets Deividas Česnauskis Nike EcoilUtenis Mindaugas Čepas Oleh Boychyshyn (interim) Valentin Jeriomenko Robertas Freidgeimas Adidas Baltijos polistirenasŽalgiris Valdas Dambrauskas Egidijus Vaitkūnas Nike TOP Sport
Regular season Table
Results
Championship round Top six will play each other once.
Table
Results
Relegation play-offs The 7th placed team will face the runners-up of the 2016 LFF I Lyga for a two-legged play-off. The winner on aggregate score after both matches will earn entry into the 2017 A Lyga.
First leg
Second leg
3–3 on aggregate. Utenis won on away goals.
Season statistics
Top scorers RankPos. Player Club GoalsMinutes playedAverage minutes per goal1FW Andrija KaluđerovićŽalgiris201638822MF Nerijus ValskisTrakai1725581513FW Tomas RadzinevičiusSūduva1420301454FW Maksim MaksimovAtlantas1022072215FW David ArshakyanTrakai91613180MF Linas PilibaitisŽalgiris1819203FW Abdoul SyllaAtlantas2153240MF Ernestas VeliulisSūduva25372829FW Bahrudin AtajićŽalgiris81526191MF Predrag PavlovićSūduva1858233
Hat-tricks Player For Against Result Date Ref Andrija Kaluđerović Žalgiris Utenis 4–2 (A) 23 July 2016 Andrija Kaluđerović Žalgiris Lietava 4–1 (H) 27 July 2016 David Arshakyan Trakai Utenis 4–3 (H) 28 July 2016 Bahrudin Atajić Žalgiris Lietava 4–0 (A) 20 September 2016 Andrija Kaluđerović Žalgiris Lietava 4–1 (A) 22 October 2016
Attendance Team Žalgiris 1713,3941,500350788 Sūduva 1713,1901,200500776 Atlantas 16 9,8501,200100616 Lietava 16 7,8641,100100492 Utenis 14 4,957 670150355 Kauno Žalgiris 14 4,740 850 50339 Stumbras 16 5,320 620100333 Trakai 17 4,200 430100248Total12763,515888Week 1284Week 31501
— Official attendance statistic for the play-off matches wasn't publicly released.
Awards Yearly awards Awards were presented at the LFF Awards ceremony, which was held on November 28. Finalists for voted awards were announced after the season and winners were presented at the award ceremony.
+ 2016 A Lyga awards Award Recipient(s) Player of the Year Mantas Kuklys (Žalgiris) Young Player of the Year Eligijus Jankauskas (Sūduva) Manager of the Year Valdas Dambrauskas (Žalgiris) Golden Boot Andrija Kaluđerović (Žalgiris) Goal of the Season Matija Ljujić (Žalgiris) Fair Play Award Trakai
Quarterly awards
Player of the Round Period PlayerFirst Round (1-7) Nerijus Valskis (Trakai)Second Round (8-14) Marius Rapalis (Trakai)Third Round (15-21) Andrija Kaluđerović (Žalgiris)Fourth Round (22-28) Ovidijus Verbickas (Atlantas)
Coach of the Round Period CoachFirst Round (1-7) Valdas Urbonas (Trakai)Second Round (8-14) Aleksandar Veselinović (Sūduva)Third Round (15-21) Valdas Dambrauskas (Žalgiris)Fourth Round (22-28) Robertas Poškus (Lietava)
"Golden Heart" initiative From 2016 season A lyga together with Lithuanian Football Federation decided to expand project "Bring you hearts to the stadium" and honor players who played 10 or more times for the Lithuania national team with golden heart on their shirts.
In 2016 season these players have had this evaluation: FK Žalgiris — Egidijus Vaitkūnas, Saulius Mikoliūnas, Linas Pilibaitis, Marius Žaliūkas, Vytautas Lukša, Mantas Kuklys, Simonas Stankevičius FK Trakai — Deividas Česnauskis, Arūnas Klimavičius, Tadas Labukas, Nerijus Valskis FK Kauno Žalgiris — Andrius Velička, Ignas Dedura, Audrius Kšanavičius FK Sūduva — Tomas Radzinevičius, Vaidas Slavickas, FK Atlantas — Andrius Jokšas FK Lietava — Valdemaras Borovskis FK Utenis — Pavelas Leusas
Team of the Week