The LFF Pirma Lyga, TOPsport Pirma Lyga, or Pirma Lyga, is the second tier of professional Lithuanian football championship.

Format

Organized by the

Lithuanian Football Federation The Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF; ) is the governing body of football in Lithuania. The Federation is responsible for football development in the country and for the national teams, including the Lithuania national football team. It is bas ...

(LFF), I Lyga is contested by 16 teams, with the top team gaining

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

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. ...

and replaced by the lowest-placed team in top division. The second-placed team qualifies to a promotion play-off with A Lyga's second to last team. Bottom 2 clubs are relegated to the

II Lyga Lithuanian Football Federation's II lyga, LFF II lyga is the third tier Lithuanian football championship. As of 2021, the II lyga is a single league, consisting of planned 16 teams. The two top teams gain promotion to the I Lyga. Until the end o ...

, and 3rd last team plays a play-off with the 3rd placed team in II Lyga. The final list of participants often does not correlate to the final results of the previous season, as the participation is finalized through the

league licensing process. Number of participants also fluctuate due to frequent club collapses.

History

There were 15 teams competing in the 2017 season. At the end of this season, three teams withdrew from the league. In 2018, there were 14 teams that started the championship. However,

FK Koralas Klaipėda Futbolo klubas Koralas, commonly known as Koralas was a Lithuanian football team from the port city of Klaipėda. History The club was established in 2015. In that season they were in LFF III lyga (4th tier), leading for a long time, but finishi ...

withdrew in the mid-season. After the end of the season, two more teams have withdrawn from participation in the next season. The 2019 season saw 16 teams starting the championship. In June

FC Stumbras Football Club Stumbras was a professional football club, based in Kaunas, Lithuania, which played in A Lyga, the top tier of Lithuanian football. Founded in 2013 on the basis of the NFA, the club has reached the heights of Lithuanian football i ...

ran into financial difficulties, its license was withdrawn from the A Lyga, along with Stumbras B license in the I Lyga. In July Stumbras B was removed from the league, with all results annulled as the team played less than half of all season games. At the end of the season I Lyga side

FC Kupiškis Football club Kupiškis, commonly known as Kupiškis was a Lithuanian association football, football team from Kupiškis. History The club was formed in 2018, and made headlines when it was granted exception to participate straight away in the ...

was found to be involved in match-fixing, and subsequently fined and demoted to

. Although the 2019 I Lyga winners

FC Džiugas Telšiai Football Club Džiugas Telšiai, commonly known as Džiugas Telšiai, or simply as Džiugas, is a Lithuanian association football club based in Telšiai, that competes in the A Lyga, top tier of Lithuanian football. History On the 2 November ...

won promotion to A lyga, the club failed to meet

2020 A Lyga The 2020 A Lyga was the 31st season of the A Lyga, the top-tier football league of Lithuania. The season began on 6 March and was planned to end on 7 November 2020. On 12 March all sports events were postponed for two weeks in the light of the COV ...

licensing criteria, and had their promotion was forfeited. Only

FK Banga Gargždai FK Banga Gargždai is a Lithuanian professional association football, football club from the city of Gargždai. History FK Banga was founded in 1966. During the period from 1966 to 1990, the club was in the Soviet Lithuanian football champion ...

had advanced to A Lyga. The 2020 season was affected by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, and was shortened to 1.5 rounds. 14 teams participated in the tournament, with four teams offered promotion to A Lyga. 2021 season ran in full despite some

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

threats. As four teams advanced to the A Lyga, and one club withdrew, five teams joined from the II Lyga. Previous season winner

FK Jonava Football Club Jonava, previously (1996–2016) known as Football Club Lietava, is a Lithuanian professional association football, football club based in Jonava. The club gained promotion to the A lyga as champions of the I Lyga in 2015 LFF I lyga ...

were denied A Lyga license because of allegations of match-fixing. The league consisted of 14 teams, with an expectation to expand the league to 16 the next season. 2022 season featured stable 16 team tournament and a fierce fight for the promotion to A lyga. Eventually,

DFK Dainava Dzūkija Futbolo Klubas Dainava, in short, DFK Dainava, is a Lithuanian football club from Alytus. The club was established in 2016 as a phoenix club after FK Dainava Alytus was dissolved in 2014. History The modern DFK Dainava was establishe ...

secured the promotion, returning to A lyga after one season.

Past Seasons

References

External links

*
Lithuanian football history and statistics by Almantas Lauzadis
(archived)

– Lithuanian football league tables, records & statistics database. {{UEFA second leagues 2 Lith Professional sports leagues in Lithuania