Lithuania’s best team will probably be forced to play a historic Champions League qualifier later this month away from home after renting their stadium out for a show by US rapper Pitbull.
- FK Kauno Zalgiris qualified for the Champions League second qualifying round, securing about €1.7m in prize money.
- A concert by Pitbull booked at Darius and Girenas Stadium forces a likely move to Jonava, a 2,500-capacity venue.
- Coach Zeljko Sopic and Mantas Kalnietis expressed frustration; club says concert income boosts the team, while LFF called it unfortunate.
On Tuesday night, the Toplyga champions, FK Kauno Zalgiris, beat Kosovo champions Drita 3-2, and 4-3 on aggregate, to book their place in the Champions League second qualifying round, in the process securing around €1.7m in prize money. They are scheduled to travel to Faroe Islands champions, KI , on Tuesday before hosting the second leg in Lithuania on 28 or 29 July.
However, not expecting such success in Europe, Zalgiris, best known as Lithuania’s most decorated basketball franchise, had already booked a concert by Pitbull at their 15,000-seater Darius and Girenas Stadium on 31 July, leaving them scrambling for an alternative venue.
Zalgiris are understood to have tried to swap the legs to play at home first, but this is unlikely. The Faroe Islands have their national holidays, St Olav’s Day, on 28 and 29 July. Furthermore, another Faroese club, HB, are scheduled to play Motherwell in the Conference League second qualifying round on 30 July, putting additional strain on local policing. So instead of playing at home, Zalgiris will most likely now have to play in Jonava, a town about 30km away, at a stadium holding just over 2,500 people.
Speaking after the game in Kosovo, Zalgiris’s head coach, Zeljko Sopic did not hide his frustration at the scheduling clash, complaining that the team will have to move “because of a concert by some dog or somebody”, adding: “It’s better I don’t say anything about that. It is what it is.”
The Zalgiris chair, Mantas Kalnietis, told the Guardian that the club were aware of the potential clash but had hoped to play the first match at home to avoid it. “For the stadium, concerts like this are a major source of revenue, and for the city’s residents it’s also great time,” Kalnietis said. “Ultimately the income generated strengthens our entire organisation, enabling us to build a better team and improve our chances of reaching the group stage.
“This will be the only concert at the stadium this summer, so we will not face this issue again in the later rounds this year.”
Edgaras Stankevicius, president of the Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF), described the double booking as “really unfortunate”, adding: “Jonava stadium is nice and tidy as well, but it is still a big difference.
“It is normal to want to play these big games in your home stadium. Situations like these certainly do not do any good for the development of Lithuanian football as a whole.”
Pitbull will be in Kaunas, Lithuania’s second-largest city, as part of his European “I’m back!” tour, fresh off beating the Guinness world record for the “largest gathering of people wearing bald caps” at his London show last week.
