Kauno futbolo beisbolo klubas is a
Lithuanian football club from the city of
Kaunas, that currently plays in the LFF I Lyga (2nd Lithuanian League).
History
Originally the team was founded in 1960 as Banga Kaunas. After
Lithuania regained its independence the club was restructured. In 1993 Banga Kaunas was renamed Žalgiris Kaunas and then FBK Kaunas. The
baseball section added (which later separated and became BK Lituanica Kaunas), hence the original name in
Lithuanian is
Kauno futbolo beisbolo klubas. FBK Kaunas are sponsored by
Ūkio bankas, a bank which has
Vladimir Romanov as its principal shareholder. In October 2005 Mr Romanov became the majority shareholder of Scottish Premier League side,
Heart of Midlothian. Romanov has since used Kaunas as a feeder club for Hearts by allowing the
SPL side to loan many players, such as
Edgaras Jankauskas,
Bruno Aguiar,
Andrius Velička,
Nerijus Barasa,
Marius Žaliūkas and
Roman Bednář, the latter signing a permanent deal for Hearts on 31 August 2006. Kaunas have played
Celtic,
Rangers and
Liverpool in
Champions League qualifying stages. On 5 August 2008, FBK Kaunas defeated Rangers, 2-1, to advance to the third qualifying round of the
UEFA Champions League for the first time. The game was won in dramatic circumstances as Kaunas had to come from behind and finally took the lead just four minutes from time.
Linas Pilibaitis was the scorer.
2009 season
After finishing second in 2008 A Lyga championship the club's president...
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