2018 LFF I Lyga

The 2018 LFF I Lyga was the 29th season of the I Lyga, the second tier association football league of Lithuania. The season began on 25 March 2018 and ended on 20 October 2018.^[2]

I Lyga

Season	2018
Champions	Panevėžys
Promoted	Panevėžys
Relegated	Kupiškis
Matches played	182
Goals scored	658 (3.62 per match)
Top goalscorer	Evaldas Kugys (20 goals)[1]
Biggest home win	Panevėžys 10–0 Koralas (8 September 2018)
Biggest away win	Koralas 0–12 Kupiškis (22 May 2018)
Highest scoring	Koralas 0–12 Kupiškis (22 May 2018)
Longest winning run	6 games Pakruojis Panevėžys Džiugas
Longest unbeaten run	15 games DFK Dainava
Longest winless run	13 games Koralas
Longest losing run	13 games Koralas
Highest attendance	1,630 DFK Dainava v Kupiškis (20 October 2018)
Lowest attendance	20 Koralas v Vilniaus Vytis (18 May 2018) Vilniaus Vytis v NFA (4 August 2018)
Total attendance	40,193
Average attendance	237
← 2017 2019 → All statistics correct as of 13 December 2018.

Teams

Banga

DFK Dainava

Džiugas

Kaunas

Koralas

Kupiškis

Nevėžis

Pakruojis

Panevėžys

Trakai B

Utenis

Vilnius

Kaunas teams
NFA
Stumbras B

Locations of the 2017 LFF I Lyga teams

Žalgiris B

Vilniaus Vytis

Vilnius teams

Changes from last season

A total of fifteen clubs were confirmed for the season, same as previous season, but only fourteen competed as Šilutė withdrew 4 days prior to the league's start after an uncompetitive performance in the 2018 Žemaitijos Taurė. Three of them were reserve teams of the A Lyga sides - one less than maximum allowed for the competitions and last season number.^[3][4][5]

Utenis were relegated from the 2017 A Lyga and replaced last year champions Palanga. Only the II Lyga South Zone winners NFA were automatically promoted from the lower tier as other eligible teams failed to receive licenses. Finally Kupiškis made their debut in the league after a special permission was given by the Lithuanian Football Federation to compete for a newly created team.^[6][7][4]

Relegated from 2017 A Lyga	Promoted from 2017 II Lyga	Debuting	Promoted to 2018 A Lyga	Relegated to 2018 II Lyga	Other
Utenis	NFA	Kupiškis	Palanga	Šilutė	Tauras – Ceased operations Utenis B – Disbanded

Stadiums, personnel and sponsorship

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Panevėžys (C, P)	26	18	4	4	77	26	+51	58	Promotion to A Lyga
2	DFK Dainava	26	17	6	3	59	22	+37	57	Qualification to Promotion play-offs
3	Banga	26	18	0	8	51	24	+27	54
4	Nevėžis	26	16	5	5	63	31	+32	53
5	Džiugas	26	14	3	9	49	34	+15	45
6	Vilniaus Vytis	26	13	5	8	67	44	+23	44
7	Pakruojis	26	13	3	10	44	44	0	42
8	Utenis	26	12	5	9	46	33	+13	41
9	Stumbras B	26	10	6	10	42	37	+5	36	Ineligible for promotion
10	NFA	26	8	3	15	44	45	−1	27
11	Trakai B	26	7	5	14	39	59	−20	26	Ineligible for promotion
12	Žalgiris B	26	6	3	17	26	57	−31	21
13	Kupiškis (R)	26	4	2	20	46	91	−45	14	Relegation to II Lyga
14	Koralas[a] (D)	26	1	0	25	5	111	−106	3	Disqualified

Source: Lietuvos Futbolas
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Play-off (only if deciding champion when two teams tied) 3) Head-to-head points; 4) Head-to-head goal difference; 5) Head-to-head goals scored; 6) Head-to-head matches won; 7) Goal difference; 8) Goals scored; 9) Matches won.^[9]
(C) Champions; (D) Disqualified; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Koralas failed to appear twice for league matches and was subsequently disqualified from the league on 19 September 2018. As club had already played over 50% of the season's matches its results were kept and a 0–3 technical loss was applied for all unplayed fixtures.^[8]

Results

Home \ Away	BAN	DFK	DŽI	KOR	KUP	NEV	NFA	PAK	PAN	STB	TRB	UTE	VYT	ŽLB
Banga	—	0–1	3–0	2–0	3–2	0–1	2–0	3–1	1–0	2–0	4–1	2–1	1–2	4–0
DFK Dainava	2–1	—	0–1	4–0	6–0	4–1	1–0	2–3	1–0	2–0	1–0	1–2	2–1	1–0
Džiugas	2–0	0–3	—	5–1	4–0	0–3	1–0	3–4	0–1	1–1	3–0	1–0	3–3	1–0
Koralas	0–3[a]	1–3	0–2	—	0–12	0–7	2–1	0–3[b]	0–6	0–4	0–3[c]	0–3[d]	0–7	1–3
Kupiškis	0–3	2–6	0–4	3–0[e]	—	4–0	0–2	3–3	0–6	1–4	1–1	1–3	2–4	1–2
Nevėžis	1–0	0–2	3–1	9–0	3–0	—	2–0	0–1	1–2	3–2	3–1	2–2	1–1	2–1
NFA	0–2	2–2	2–3	3–0[f]	5–1	3–4	—	1–3	1–1	3–1	3–1	1–3	1–0	6–0
Pakruojis	0–1	0–4	0–3	3–0[g]	2–1	0–3	0–0	—	2–4	2–0	2–2	2–1	3–0	2–0
Panevėžys	2–0	1–1	2–2	10–0	6–2	2–2	5–2	1–0	—	2–1	6–1	2–1	4–1	1–0
Stumbras B	0–4	1–1	3–1	3–0	5–3	0–2	3–1	4–0	2–1	—	3–0	0–1	0–0	1–0
Trakai B	1–2	2–2	1–0	3–0[h]	2–3	1–5	3–1	1–4	1–2	2–2	—	2–3	3–2	2–0
Utenis	2–3	2–2	1–2	3–0[i]	6–1	1–2	0–4	1–0	0–2	1–1	1–1	—	3–0	1–1
Vilniaus Vytis	2–3	2–2	2–1	3–0[j]	8–1	2–2	3–1	5–1	4–2	3–0	5–2	0–3	—	5–2
Žalgiris B	3–2	0–3	1–5	3–0[k]	3–2	1–1	2–1	1–3	0–6	1–1	1–2	0–1	1–2	—

Source: Lietuvos Futbolas (in Lithuanian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. Koralas received a 0–3 technical loss in a home game against Banga due to violation of regulations.^[10]
2. Koralas was disqualified from the league on 19 September 2018. As club already played over 50% of the season's matches a 0–3 technical loss was applied for all unplayed fixtures.^[10]
3. Koralas was disqualified from the league on 19 September 2018. As club already played over 50% of the season's matches a 0–3 technical loss was applied for all unplayed fixtures.^[10]
4. Koralas was disqualified from the league on 19 September 2018. As club already played over 50% of the season's matches a 0–3 technical loss was applied for all unplayed fixtures.^[10]
5. Koralas was disqualified from the league on 19 September 2018. As club already played over 50% of the season's matches a 0–3 technical loss was applied for all unplayed fixtures.^[10]
6. Koralas was disqualified from the league on 19 September 2018. As club already played over 50% of the season's matches a 0–3 technical loss was applied for all unplayed fixtures.^[10]
7. Koralas was disqualified from the league on 19 September 2018. As club already played over 50% of the season's matches a 0–3 technical loss was applied for all unplayed fixtures.^[10]
8. Koralas was disqualified from the league on 19 September 2018. As club already played over 50% of the season's matches a 0–3 technical loss was applied for all unplayed fixtures.^[10]
9. Koralas was disqualified from the league on 19 September 2018. As club already played over 50% of the season's matches a 0–3 technical loss was applied for all unplayed fixtures.^[10]
10. Koralas received a 0–3 technical loss in a away game against Vilniaus Vytis due to violation of regulations.^[10]
11. Koralas was disqualified from the league on 19 September 2018. As club already played over 50% of the season's matches a 0–3 technical loss was applied for all unplayed fixtures.^[10]

Promotion play-off
Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
DFK Dainava	0 : 5	FK Palanga	0 : 3	0 : 2

Attendance

Average home attendances Pos Team Total High Low Average Change 1 DFK Dainava 8,855 1,630 400 682 +65.1%† 2 Panevėžys 6,834 800 300 526 +79.5%† 3 Banga 5,942 800 150 458 −11.2%† 4 Džiugas 4,250 600 200 327 +0.9%† 5 Nevėžis 3,650 1,300 70 281 +71.3%† 6 Utenis 2,193 370 80 182 −59.8%1 7 Vilniaus Vytis 1,389 230 20 116 −18.3%† 8 Pakruojis 1,345 200 50 113 −16.3%† 9 Žalgiris B 1,174 241 50 98 +11.4%† 10 Kupiškis 1,145 200 50 96 n/a† 11 Stumbras B 1,188 150 40 92 −9.8%† 12 NFA 935 157 40 85 n/a2 13 Trakai B 845 154 35 71 +1.4%† 14 Koralas 458 100 20 51 −60.8%† League total 40,193 1,630 20 237 +20.3%3 Updated to games played on 14 December 2018 Source: Lietuvos Futbolas Notes: 1: Team played in the A Lyga last season. 2: Official attendance statistic from 1 of the NFA home matches was not publicly released. 3: Official attendance statistic from 1 leagues matches was not publicly released.

Highest attendances Rank Round Home team Score Away team Attendance Date Stadium 1 26 DFK Dainava 6–0 Kupiškis 1,630 20 October 2018 (2018-10-20) Alytus Stadium 2 Nevėžis 1–2 Panevėžys 1,300 Kėdainiai Stadium 3 21 DFK Dainava 2–1 Banga 1,150 17 October 2018 (2018-10-17) Alytus Stadium 4 25 Vilniaus Vytis 1,050 13 October 2018 (2018-10-13) 5 11 Banga 1–0 Panevėžys 800 10 June 2018 (2018-06-10) Gargždai Stadium 16 Panevėžys 1–1 DFK Dainava 10 August 2018 (2018-08-10) Aukštaitija Stadium 25 6–2 Kupiškis 13 October 2018 (2018-10-13) 8 17 DFK Dainava 1–0 Žalgiris B 700 17 August 2018 (2018-08-17) Alytus Stadium Panevėžys 4–1 Vilniaus Vytis 19 August 2018 (2018-08-19) Aukštaitija Stadium 24 2–0 Banga 7 October 2018 (2018-10-07)