The Sunday Football League, SFL (lith: Sekmadienio Futbolo Lyga) is an amateur

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

level 5 league in

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 ...

. The league was established in 2005. It is managed by an organization VšĮ "Sekmadienio futbolo lyga“, run by Vilnius District Football Union (VRFS), independently from 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 ...

. Players from all other leagues except the top Lithuanian division

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. ...

are allowed to play in the SFL as well as their respective league clubs. All games take place on Sundays, unlimited substitutions are allowed. The SFL also organizes an annual Sunday Football League Cup competition.

History

The league was established in 2005 in Vilnius. In the first season 19 teams participated in the SFL (A division - 9 teams, B division - 6, C division 4). 2006 SFL season consisted of 24 teams (A division - 8, B division - 8, C division - 8) In 2007 SFL expanded to 37 teams, divided into 4 divisions (A division - 10, B division - 10, C division - 10, D1 division 7 (spring), and 9 (autumn). 2008 SFL season saw 48 teams participating in Vilnius region (A division - 10, B division - 10, C division - 10, D 1 division - 9, D 2 division - 9), and 5 teams in Klaipėda County. 2009 SFL season got the hype of SFL with 60 teams and 2500 players participating in Vilnius SFL alone. The SFL league has also spread beyond Vilnius region to

Klaipėda Klaipėda ( ; ) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. It is the List of cities in Lithuania, third-largest city in Lithuania, the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, fifth-largest city in the Baltic States, and the capi ...

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 ...

and

Šakiai Šakiai () is a city in the Marijampolė County, Lithuania. It is located west of Kaunas. History It is presumed that Šakiai first expanded from ''Šakaičai'' village, which was first mentioned in 1599. In 1719 Šakaičiai was renamed to Šaki ...

. Among the SFL participants were former professional footballers

Raimondas Žutautas Raimondas Žutautas (born 4 September 1972) is a former Lithuanian footballer and current head coach. Zutautas played as a defensive midfielder. In 1999 Zutautas signed with Israeli club Maccabi Haifa F.C. and played there between the years 199 ...

Vaidas Žutautas Vaidas Žutautas (born 12 May 1973) is a Lithuanian professional football manager and former player who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently the goalkeeping coach of Banga Gargždai. Žutautas has made nine appearances for the Lithuania nati ...

Eimantas Poderis Eimantas Poderis (born 13 September 1973) is a Lithuanian former football forward. He obtained a total number of 21 caps for the Lithuania national football team, scoring five goals. Poderis also played as a professional in Russia and Israel dur ...

Ričardas Zdančius Ričardas Zdančius (born 17 January 1967 in Gargždai) is a former 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 o ...

Aidas Preikšaitis Aidas Preikšaitis (born 15 July 1970) is a Lithuanian former professional association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Preikšaitis was born in Akmenė. He represented FK Žalgiris Vilnius, Žalgiris from 1989 to 1 ...

and some celebrities such as former professional basketball player Rolandas Skaisgirys, singers Gabrielius Liaudanskas-Svaras and Linas Zareckas-Choras, actor

Andrius Bialobžeskis Andrius is a Lithuanian masculine given name. It is a cognate of the English language name Andrew. People with the name Andrius include: * Andrius Algirdaitis (c.1325–1399), Duke of Pskov and Polotsk * Andrius Arlauskas (born 1986), Lithuanian ...

, politician

Juozas Olekas Juozas Olekas (born 30 October 1955) is a Lithuanian surgeon and politician, a former Minister of National Defence, from 2006 to 2008. In 1990 and from 2003 to 2004 he also served as the Health Minister. In 2019 he was elected to the European Pa ...

. Fifteen SFL teams participated in 2009/2010

LFF Cup The Lithuanian Football Federation Cup (), also known as Hegelmann LFF Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a Lithuanian football cup competition contested in a knockout tournament format. The winner of the cup gains entitlement to participate in the ...

competition. In 2010

division dissolved, however in 2011 Sūduva and

Aukštaitija Aukštaitija (; literally ''Highland'' or ''Upland'') is the name of one of five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. The name comes from the fact that the lands are in the upper basin of the Nemunas, as opposed to the Lowlands that begin from Š ...

divisions have joined in. In 2012 the SFL was restructured, the divisions were matched to County Football Federation boundaries. SFL competitions took place 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 ...

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

Šiauliai Šiauliai ( ; ) is a city in northern Lithuania, the List of cities in Lithuania, country's fourth largest city and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, sixth largest city in the Baltic States, with a population of 112 581 in 202 ...

Panevėžys Panevėžys () is the fifth-largest List of cities in Lithuania, city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, eighth-most-populous city in the Baltic States. it occupies with 89,100 inhabitants. As defined by Eu ...

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 ...

and

counties until 2015. In 2016 all SFL leagues have dissolved except for Vilnius region. In Vilnius, depending on number of participants, competition takes place in 3 or 4 divisions.

Teams

44 teams have signed up to participate in the 2020 SFL competition. On 12 March 2020 the season was postponed due to 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 ...

References

External links

Official SFL website
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