Žalgiris VilniusFK Žalgiris is the most decorated football club in Lithuania, founded on 16 May 1947 in Vilnius under the name Dinamo Vilnius. The founding squad was formed from players transferred from the Kaunas clubs Spartakas and Dinamo Kaunas, and the team's first match ended in a 1–1 draw against Stroitel Moscow. The club adopted its current name in 1962, referencing the victorious Battle of Žalgiris (Grunwald) — the Lithuanian word Žalgiris literally translates as "green forest" — a symbolic assertion of national identity during the Soviet occupation.
The team plays in green and white, giving rise to the nickname Žaliai Balti (The Green Whites). Home matches are held at the LFF Stadium in Vilnius, a venue originally built in 1957 as Lokomotyvas Stadium, later rebuilt and known for a time as Vėtra Stadium; its current capacity is approximately 5,067. During the Soviet era, when the club competed in the USSR Top League, its greatest achievement was a bronze medal in the 1987 season.
Following Lithuania's independence, Žalgiris became the dominant force in domestic football. The club has won the Lithuanian championship ten times, the Lithuanian Cup fourteen times, and the Lithuanian Supercup seven times, making it the record holder for trophies in the history of Lithuania's top flight. A particularly fruitful period came under coach Valdas Dambrauskas, who led the team from 2014 to 2017; the 2016 season culminated in a clean sweep of all four available domestic titles, an achievement later commemorated in a documentary film about that campaign.
A historic breakthrough in European competition arrived in the summer of 2022. In the second qualifying round of the Champions League, Žalgiris eliminated Sweden's Malmö FF, winning the tie 3–0 on aggregate, which secured the club's place in the group stage of European competition after a subsequent play-off defeat to Bulgaria's Ludogorets in Europa League qualifying sent the team into the Europa Conference League group stage — the first time a Lithuanian club had ever reached the group stage of a UEFA club competition. In a group featuring Switzerland's Basel, Slovakia's Slovan Bratislava, and Armenia's Pyunik, Žalgiris collected five points from six matches, with a memorable 2–2 away draw against Basel among the highlights.
