2012 A Lyga

General Financing A Lyga

Season	2012
Champions	Ekranas
Relegated	REO
Champions League	Ekranas
Europa League	Žalgiris Sūduva TBD
Matches played	167
Goals scored	505 (3.02 per match)
Top goalscorer	Artūras Rimkevičius
Biggest home win	Žalgiris 7–0 Atlantas
Biggest away win	Atlantas 0–5 Tauras
Highest scoring	Šiauliai 7–3 Tauras
← 2011 2013 →

The 2012 A Lyga, also known as General Financing A Lyga for sponsoring purposes, was the 23rd season of the A Lyga, the top-tier football league of Lithuania. The season started on 10 March 2012 and ended on 11 November 2012.^[1] Ekranas were the defending champions.

Changes from 2011

The league changed its number of teams for the third time in a row, reducing it from twelve teams in 2011 to ten sides. As a consequence, the schedule expanded from 33 to 36 matches per team, which each team playing every other team four times in total, twice at home and twice away.

Teams

On 2 February 2012, the Lithuanian Football Federation announced the teams which had passed the licensing criteria for the 2012 season.^[2] Among them were the best eight teams of the 2011 season, eleventh-placed FK Atlantas from Klaipėda and 2011 First League champions FK REO Vilnius. Tenth-placed side FBK Kaunas were only granted a First League licence, while FK Mažeikiai and FC Klaipėda did not apply for a licence in any of the top two Lithuanian football leagues. In July 2012, LFF banned REO from registering new players due to clubs debts to referees.^[3] On 21 July 2012, REO failed to appear on the match against Ekranas, and the game was awarded 3–0 to Ekranas with REO receiving a fine of 6000 Lithuanian Litas.^[4] REO have withdrawn from the competition in August 2012, after they were unable to attract investors.^[5] Since they have played more than half of matches in the season, according to the LFF rulebook, those matches were considered valid and all REO's upcoming matches were awarded 3–0 to their opponents.^[6]

Stadiums and locations

Atlantas

Banga

Dainava

Ekranas

Kruoja

REO
Žalgiris

Šiauliai

Sūduva

Tauras

Location of teams in the 2012 A Lyga

Club	Location	Stadium	2011 season
Atlantas	Klaipėda	Žalgiris Stadium (Klaipėda)	11th
Banga	Gargždai	Gargždai Stadium	6th
Dainava	Alytus		8th
Ekranas	Panevėžys	Aukštaitija Stadium	1st
Kruoja	Pakruojis	Pakruojis Stadium	5th
REO	Vilnius		1 Lyga, 1st
Sūduva	Marijampolė	Sūduva Stadium	3rd
Šiauliai	Šiauliai	Savivaldybė Stadium	4th
Tauras	Tauragė	Vytauto Stadium	7th
Žalgiris	Vilnius	LFF Stadium	2nd

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Ekranas (C)	36	27	7	2	83	25	+58	88	2013–14 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round
2	Žalgiris Vilnius	36	27	6	3	80	22	+58	87	2013–14 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round ^1
3	Sūduva Marijampolė	36	21	7	8	77	37	+40	70	2013–14 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round
4	Kruoja	36	20	5	11	56	31	+25	65
5	Šiauliai	36	17	4	15	79	57	+22	55
6	Banga	36	13	8	15	43	41	+2	47
7	Dainava	36	9	5	22	42	71	−29	32
8	Atlantas	36	7	6	23	33	92	−59	27
9	Tauras	36	7	2	27	35	97	−62	23
10	REO (R)	36	5	4	27	26	81	−55	19	Relegation to 2013 I Lyga

Updated to games played on 11 November 2012.
Source: UEFA.com lff.lt
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
¹Winners of the 2012–13 Lithuanian Football Cup.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

First half of season Home ╲ Away ATL BAN DAI EKR KRU REO SŪD ŠIA TAU ŽAL Atlantas 1–1 0–0 0–3 0–1 0–0 0–4 0–3 0–5 0–1 Banga 0–1 2–1 1–1 1–1 2–2 0–1 0–1 1–0 1–2 Dainava 1–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 3–2 2–4 1–0 3–1 1–3 Ekranas 2–0 3–0 3–2 1–0 3–0 2–0 2–2 5–0 1–0 Kruoja 5–1 1–0 2–0 1–1 2–1 2–1 0–4 1–0 0–1 REO 3–0 1–0 1–0 0–1 2–2 0–2 3–1 0–1 1–2 Sūduva Marijampolė 6–0 3–1 3–1 3–1 0–1 0–0 4–1 1–0 0–0 Šiauliai 5–1 1–2 4–2 0–1 2–1 2–0 3–3 7–3 2–2 Tauras 0–0 3–2 2–4 1–2 0–4 2–0 1–4 1–0 0–2 Žalgiris Vilnius 7–0 2–0 4–0 0–0 0–2 0–1 4–0 2–0 2–0 Updated to games played on 26 June 2012. Source: UEFA.com 1 ^^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column. Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season Home ╲ Away ATL BAN DAI EKR KRU REO SŪD ŠIA TAU ŽAL Atlantas 2–2 2–1 1–2 2–1 4–2 1–5 1–2 4–1 3–4 Banga 1–0 5–0 0–2 1–0 2–1 0–0 2–1 4–0 0–0 Dainava 1–2 0–4 2–2 1–2 2–0 0–3 0–2 2–0 1–2 Ekranas 6–2 2–0 3–0 2–0 3–0^† 2–2 3–0 5–0 0–0 Kruoja 5–0 2–1 2–0 0–2 3–0^† 2–1 1–0 3–1 0–1 REO 0–3^† 0–3^† 0–3^† 0–3^† 0–3^† 0–3^† 3–5 2–3 0–3^† Sūduva Marijampolė 2–0 3–0 3–2 2–3 1–1 3–0^† 1–0 4–1 1–2 Šiauliai 6–0 0–1 3–3 3–4 1–0 3–0^† 1–0 7–2 2–4 Tauras 1–1 1–3 1–3 0–2 0–4 3–0^† 1–2 0–4 0–4 Žalgiris Vilnius 3–1 2–0 3–0 2–1 2–1 3–0^† 2–2 4–1 5–0 Updated to games played on 11 November 2012. Source: UEFA.com 1 ^^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column. Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goalscorers

Including matches played on 29 October 2012

Pos.	Player	Club	Goals
1	Artūras Rimkevičius	Šiauliai	35
2	Rafael Ledesma	Sūduva	21
3	Arsenij Buinickij	Ekranas	17
	Calum Elliot	Žalgiris	16
5	Serhiy Zhyhalov	Kruoja	15
6	Kamil Bilinski	Žalgiris	12
7	Povilas Lukšys	Sūduva	11
8	Santiago Cesanelli	Šiauliai	10
	Tino Lagator	Atlantas	10
	Ramūnas Radavičius	Žalgiris	10
11	Igors Kozlovs	Šiauliai	9

References

1. "2012 m. A lygos, LFF Taur s ir tarptautinių rungtynių preliminarus tvarkaraštis" (PDF) (in Lithuanian). Lithuanian Football Federation. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
2. "2012 metų Lietuvos futbolo A lygoje rungtyniaus 10 komandų" (in Lithuanian). Lithuanian Football Federation. 2 February 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
3. "LFF pareiškimas dėl informacijos žiniasklaidoje apie galimą "REO" klubo pasitraukimą" (in Lithuanian). Lithuanian Football Federation. 20 July 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
4. "Už neatvykimą į rungtynes "REO" įskaityti pralaimėjimai ir skirtos baudos" (in Lithuanian). Lithuanian Football Federation. 26 July 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
5. "LFF gavo raštą dėl "REO" pasitraukimo iš LFF varžybų" (in Lithuanian). Lithuanian Football Federation. 21 August 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
6. "Patvirtintas "REO" pasitraukimas iš Lietuvos čempionato" (in Lithuanian). Lithuanian Football Federation. 31 August 2012. Retrieved 30 August 2012.