From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Match19 Aug 2026
Kauno Zalgiris ended it 1‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Zalgiris asked and Spezia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Matas Vareika was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.29. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
The kick that got away from Grigore Turda
Twelve yards, a goalkeeper guessing, and it still did not go in. He will take the next one, and every soul in the ground will hold their breath.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Paulius Novikovas was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Zalgiris dressing room was either.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Chances created: 10. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Matas Vareika has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zalgiris will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match12 Aug 2026
Zalgiris march on in the cup
Utenis are out and Zalgiris go through, 2‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match12 Aug 2026
Matas Vareika wins it after the whistle should have gone
99 minutes played. Matas Vareika found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Utenis went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Market17 Aug 2026
Zalgiris say no — this time
The offer from Siauliai for Nikola Petković was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Petar Bosančić has agreed terms with Trakai for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Market17 Aug 2026
Suduva paid $74.0K and Zalgiris took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Zalgiris asked and Eibar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
The crowd has taken to Kajus Bička
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan move for Baylee Dipepa is in the works
Zalgiris have made the call to Southampton. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Paulius Novikovas kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Stumbras wanted more than $800.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Paulius Golubickas and Zalgiris agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Zalgiris asked and Pyunik said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Paulius Dubickas has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Fiodor Eliosius has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Marius Dubickas has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Zalgiris would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Bryan Teixeira commits to Zalgiris for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Yuriy Kendysh was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Zalgiris know it.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Ivan Lytvynenko’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Zalgiris
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Primorje: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.