Futbolo klubas Kauno Zalgiris (English: Football club Kauno Zalgiris) is a professional football club based in Kaunas, Lithuania, that competes in the A lyga, the top tier of Lithuania. The club was founded as FM Spyris Kaunas in 2004, became the football section of basketball club Zalgiris Kaunas and moved to their current stadium, the Darius and Girenas Stadium, in 2015. After their debut season in the A Lyga, the club adopted the name FK Kauno Zalgiris in 2016.
History
2005–2014: Early years
The idea of professional club was raised by the Kaunas football school "Tauras" in 2004, when coaches of the school decided to give an opportunity for school graduates to continue their football careers professionally, this became a reality in 2005 when FM Spyris was formed. The club initially played in the LFF II league's southern division, wearing yellow and blue. On 1 May 2005, FM Spyris played their first official match, defeated 2-1 by FK Sveikata Kybartai. For a single season in 2010, FM Spyris was renamed to FM Aisciai Kaunas, the team finished as runners-up. Despite struggling to get back on top of the league, by 2013, the club had moved up to the LFF I league and enjoyed a couple of competitive seasons and were competitive in the LFF Cup.
2015–present: Kauno Zalgiris
After their recent success, the club made it official that they would like to join the premier Lithuanian football league for the 2015 season, Spyris was accepted on the first check up. Before the season started it was announced that 6 new players will join the club Dzmitry Rekish, Giuseppe Palma (on loan from S.S.C. Napoli), Andrius Velicka, Paulius Dauksa, Klimas Gusocenko and Jevgenij Maroz. Prior to the start of the season, the club announced their cooperation with BC Zalgiris and plans of adapting the name Zalgiris. The name change would spark a controversy due to the fact another Lithuanian club FK Zalgiris Vilnius would also be competing in the league.
This page also has a version in other languages : Каунo Жальгирис (russian)