FK Žalgiris' Home Stadium (), formerly known as Vėtra Stadium and LFF Stadium, is a football stadium in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, Lithuania. The stadium succeeded the

Žalgiris Stadium Žalgiris Stadium () was a multi-purpose stadium in Žirmūnai elderate of Vilnius, Lithuania. The stadium held 15,029 and was the largest in Lithuania until its demolition. It had been built on the desecrated graves of Jews interred in the Ol ...

as the main venue of

FK Žalgiris Futbolo klubas Žalgiris, commonly known as FK Žalgiris, Žalgiris Vilnius or simply Žalgiris, is a Lithuanian professional association football, football club based in Vilnius. The club competes in the A Lyga, the top flight of Football in L ...

, the city's primary football club, and was home of the Lithuanian national football team between 2005 and 2022. It can accommodate 5,067 people.

History

The Stadium was built in 1957 and was first named Lokomotyvas. The Stadium was rebuilt in 2004 and renamed to Vėtra Stadium as the home ground of FK Vėtra. In 2005, the Stadium hosted its first national team matches.

National stadium

Following the insolvency of Vėtra in 2010, the Stadium was taken over 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 ...

for 2.2 million litas () and was renamed as the LFF Stadium. The Stadium has undergone various improvements to meet the UEFA Category 3 stadium requirements. Following the renovation, the Stadium also includes the new headquarters of the LFF, while the grass pitch was changed to an artificial turf. The capacity of the stadium was increased to 5,067. In 2015, the Stadium was renewed. The artificial turf was relayed, replacing it with a new higher quality surface, and the Stadium's lighting system was updated. LFF stadiono pietu tribuna

After a public backlash to an incident that occurred during the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group E match versus

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, a specially created municipal investigative commission deemed the Southern stand "structurally deficient and unfit to seat spectators." While the Stadium underwent minor improvements afterwards, including an installation of a new

scoreboard A scoreboard is a large board for publicly displaying the score (sport), score in a game. Most levels of sport from high school and above use at least one scoreboard for keeping score, measuring time, and displaying statistics. Scoreboards i ...

before an international game against

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

in 2016, the stand remained in use, resulting in three fans sustaining injuries during the same match when part of the floor in the stand cracked. The Stadium was then renovated in 2017. During the 2021 season, the Eastern stand's seating sections were also reinforced. The pitch was relayed in April 2020 and June 2023. In 2016, the federation presented the stadium to prospective purchasers, before formally listing it in 2022, subsequent to the conclusion of the Darius and Girėnas Stadium reconstruction. The municipal authority of Vilnius declined to acquire the venue with the 11–4–6 voting outcome. In March 2024, a subsidiary of Baltijos Futbolo Akademija emerged as the probable buyer of the stadium.

Home of Žalgiris

In December 2024, the stadium was finally acquired by shareholders of Žalgiris Vilnius for . A preferential lease purchase contract was signed by the club for 10 seasons, with options to additionally extend for another 5 years. The new owners confirmed that the stadium will continue to be available for other clubs to rent, but will mainly operate as the training venue of the Žalgiris' academy.

Usage

Since 2011, the stadium has been the main venue of a majority of the city’s football clubs; Žalgiris and Riteriai play in the stadium, as well as numerous clubs from the lower divisions. Between 2012 and 2022, the ground was the principal home venue of the Lithuanian national football team. The stadium sometimes hosts a local

american football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

team known as Iron Wolves of the Baltic American Football League, and the stadium is the venue of the Dancing Day of the Lithuanian Song Festival.

Gallery

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vetra Stadium Football venues in Lithuania Sports venues in Vilnius Multi-purpose stadiums in Lithuania Sports venues completed in 1957 1957 establishments in Lithuania FK Žalgiris