Kauno ŽalgirisIn Lithuanian sport, the name Kaunas Žalgiris was for decades associated almost exclusively with the legendary basketball team; however, in 2025 the football branch of the same organisation wrote a historic chapter of its own. FK Kauno Žalgiris, founded in 2004 as FM Spyris Kaunas by coaches from the Kaunas football school Tauras, officially adopted the name of the basketball giant at the start of the 2016 season, following a two-year legal dispute over the right to use it. After years of gradually building its position in the A Lyga, Lithuania's top division, the club won its first-ever national championship in 2025, finishing the season with 75 points, eight clear of runners-up FC Hegelmann.
The historic triumph opened the door to the club's debut in UEFA Champions League qualifying. In the summer of 2026, Kauno Žalgiris eliminated Kosovo's Drita Gjilan in the first qualifying round, winning the tie 4–3 on aggregate, before beating Armenia's Ararat-Armenia 1–0 on aggregate in the second round — the club's first-ever wins in Champions League qualifying. The sporting success was rounded out by the 2026 Lithuanian Super Cup, won earlier that year with a 1–0 victory over Panevėžys.
Despite this breakthrough, the football section of Žalgiris still operates in the shadow of its basketball counterpart, which, through its participation in the EuroLeague and decades of domestic dominance, generates incomparably greater media attention and attendance. The club is owned by EuroLeague general director Paulius Motiejūnas and Lithuanian basketball legend Mantas Kalnietis, who serves as club chairman. It is also worth noting that in UEFA's international rankings, the Kaunas side is often confused with its capital-city namesake, FK Žalgiris Vilnius — an older, far more decorated club domestically, though one the Kaunas side has now surpassed in terms of the most recent league achievement.
The team plays its home matches at the Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas Stadium in Kaunas, a venue with a capacity of over 15,000 that became the stage for the club's historic season. The team plays in green and white, colours adopted alongside the Žalgiris name and symbolising the link to the organisation's basketball heritage.
