Dzūkija Futbolo Klubas Dainava, in short, DFK Dainava, is 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 ...

club from

Alytus Alytus () is a city with Town privileges, municipal rights in southern Lithuania. It is the List of cities in Lithuania, sixth-largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, 14th-largest city in the Baltic ...

. The club was established in 2016 as a phoenix club after

FK Dainava Alytus FK Dainava was a Lithuanian football club from Alytus. The club was established in 1935 as FK Alytis, before being renamed FK Dainava after a merger with ''FK Vidzgiris Alytus'' in December 2010. History The roots of Dainava can be traced bac ...

was dissolved in 2014.

History

The modern DFK Dainava was established after "Auska" and "Dzūkų tankai" were merged in 2016. In 2015, FK Auska were playing in the Pirma Lyga. In 2016 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 ...

allowed the club to change its name and allowed them to play in the Pirma Lyga (second tier). In 2016, DFK Dainava came in ninth place and in 2017 they came in fourth place in the Pirma Lyga. In the 2018 season, DFK Dainava were runners-up in the Pirma Lyga. In the relegation/promotion play-off match, they lost 0–3 to

FK Palanga FK Palanga was a professional football club based in Palanga, Lithuania. The team competes in the A Lyga, the top division of Lithuanian football in 2018 and 2019 seasons. History FK Palanga was founded in 2010 and introduced its first team to ...

. On 3 November 2018, they lost the second match in

Gargždai Gargždai () is a city in western Lithuania located in Klaipėda County. The Minija River flows through the city.John S. Jaffer ShtetLinks: Gargzdai (Gorzd), LithuaniaJewishGen, Inc., the Home of Jewish Genealogy. Accessed June 18, 2011. The Garg ...

0–2.

won 5–0 on aggregate and saved their place in the 2019

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. ...

. DFK Dainava sought promotion to the A Lyga in the 2019 season, but were unable to get sponsorship required for the league from the municipality of

. As a result, the club remained in the

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

. They have finished

2019 LFF I Lyga The 2019 LFF I Lyga was the 30th season of the I Lyga, the second tier association football league of Lithuania. The season began on 22 March 2019 and finished in 27 October 2019. Licensing process The Lithuanian Football Federation initially g ...

in fourth position, and attempted to obtain a licence for A Lyga again in the 2020 season. The application was again declined. In March 2021 before the start of the football season in Lithuania, DFK Dainava applied for a licence to play in the highest Lithuanian league tier of A Lyga in the 2021 season. The application was declined by the Lithuanian Football Federation as the club could not find a solution with stable finance and organise a women's football team. At the time, A Lyga had nine qualified teams who got permits and were able to compete in the league. DFK Dainava's application was granted by the Lithuanian Football Federation to play and compete in Lithuania's top-tier league as a 10th team, as DFK Dainava subsequently fixed all of the issues regarding sponsorship and stable finance. For the first time in DFK Dainava club history since re-creation in 2016,

town will yet again have a men's football team competing in Lithuanian top-tier football league A Lyga. DFK Dainava started the season with -3 points as regulations and laws via the Lithuanian Football Federation. The first match for DFK Dainava in A Lyga was played on 6 March in

Marijampolė Marijampolė (; also known by Marijampolė#Names, several other names) is the Capital city, capital of Marijampolė County in the south of Lithuania, bordering Poland and Russian Kaliningrad Oblast, and Lake Vištytis. The city's population stood ...

against also newly promoted team

FK Nevėžis FK Nevėžis is a professional association football, football club from the city of Kėdainiai, Lithuania. Achievements *Three times Lithuanian champion (1966, 1972, 1973). *Twice runner-up (1968, 1969). *Three times won Bronze medals (1967, ...

, due to the city having a full sized indoor football ground and it is closest to Alytus. In 2022, DFK Dainava were the league winners and were promoted to the

2023 A Lyga The 2023 A Lyga, for sponsorship reasons also called Optibet A lyga was the 34th season of the A Lyga, the top-tier football league of Lithuania. The season began on 3 March 2023 and concluded on 12 November 2023. The winners (Panevėžys) quali ...

Recent seasons

Kit evolution

Stadium

DFK Dainava plays in the

Alytus Stadium Alytus Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Alytus, Lithuania. It is currently used mostly for football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sp ...

. It is a multi-use

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

, Lithuania and holds 3,790 people. The stadium was renovated in 2010.

Current squad

Out on loan

Managers

* Ričardas Grigaliūnas (March, 2016 – June, 2016) *

Darius Gvildys Darius Gvildys (born 26 December 1970) is a Lithuanian football coach and a former defender. He is the manager of FK Nevėžis. Club career Gvildys began his career in Banga Kaunas before moving to FBK Kaunas. Afterward, he relocated to Russi ...

(June, 2016 – end of 2017) *

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. ...

(January, 2018 – end of 2018) *

Kim Rønningstad Kim may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kim (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Kim (surname), a list of people and fictional characters ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim dynasty (disambiguation), several dynasti ...

(2019) *

Łukasz Hass Łukasz or Lukasz () is a Polish masculine given name, derived from Greek Λουκᾶς, Lukas. Derived family names are Łukaszewski, Łukaszewicz/Łukasiewicz/Lukashevich, Lukash (as transliterated from Ukrainian), Lukashenko (Ukrainian). ...

(2020) * Fabio Mazzone (August, 2020) *

Tomas Ražanauskas Tomas Ražanauskas (born 7 January 1976) is a Lithuanian professional football coach and a former player. He is an assistant coach with the Lithuania national team. He played in the position of midfielder and was also a member of the Lithuania ...

(April, 2021) * Matthew Silva (February, 2022 – May 2022) * Sergey Kuznetsov (May 2022 – 3 May 2025)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dainava, DFK Football clubs in Lithuania Sport in Alytus Association football clubs established in 2016 1935 establishments in Lithuania Phoenix clubs (association football)