The general secretary of the Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF) Edgaras Stankevičius assures that the Lithuanian football forum that took place last weekend was not intended to discuss the change of the LFF statutes, but to go deeper and speak about the problems faced by different areas of Lithuanian football. According to him, the members of the Seimas who participated in the event could hear that, and the state, after the changes in the LFF's statutes, should accordingly undertake to invest in football, its infrastructure and the club promotion fund.
"What we wanted to hear from the participants and give them the opportunity to speak, is that everyone from different areas, starting with women, ending with indoor football, youth, etc., spoke. There were also several members of the Seimas who also heard about the problem areas. There was more here event it is not intended to change or not to change the statutes, how to change them, etc., but to what we need through the club, academic side, through different fields, what kind of help we need from the state", E. Stankevičius said to Eltai.
He explained that in order to explain how the state could contribute to the development of football, the general secretary of the Sakartwell Football Federation was invited to the event.
"For that matter, the general secretary of the Sakartwell Federation was invited, who presented how the state contributes to the promotion of excellence through the highest league, the first league, etc. It is a similar package that we are preparing for the state, that we agree to change the statutes, we see the need to involve clubs, etc., but we also want the state to commit to investing in football, infrastructure, basketball, club promotion fund, etc.," said the general secretary of the LFF .
E. Stankevičius testified that he did not have a chance to talk with the members of the Seimas after the event, but he noted that the LFF is ready to change its statutes and expects further state contribution to improving the quality of football in the country.
"I didn't have to talk to them too much, because right after that I had to go to the stadium, because they had the opening ceremony, etc. At a minimum, we exchanged a few words with them that we really see the need for what I mentioned earlier (change of the LFF statutes - ELTA) and that we will present our vision, a proposal, how all this could continue and what kind of contribution we want from the state", he explained.
The General Secretary of the LFF explains that at the moment, due to the planned draft of the statutes, in the first half of November, the federation must receive an initial proposal from FIFA and UEFA, and then, at the end of November, the LFF will have a final draft of the statutes to submit to the Conference.
"Next work is in the working group together with FIFA and UEFA. We hope that in the first half of November we will receive an initial proposal from FIFA and UEFA, how our statutes could look like, what points (change - ELTA), how the entire electoral process could look like, how the membership issue would be resolved, what the Conference would consist of, etc. Then it's normal , that we will discuss internally with the members of our Executive Committee, the whole community, we will discuss what needs to be corrected and I very much believe that by the end of November we will have a ready draft, a draft of the statutes, which we will present to the Conference", asserted E. Stankevičius.
ELTA reminds that last Sunday Beautiful Lithuanian football forum was held, where the football community discussed possible changes in the statutes of the Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF), and the situation in both international, club and women's football was presented. The event was attended by Seimas members Mykolas Majauskas, Julius Sabatauskas, Artūras Skardžius, Andrius Kupčinskas and Justinas Urbanavičius. Also, Thierry Favre, Deputy Director of UEFA National Associations, and David Mujiri, Secretary General of Sakartwell Football, came to the event.
At the beginning of October, in the consideration of the draft law "On the direct management of the Lithuanian Football Federation" held in the Seimas Budget and Finance Committee (BFK), in which UEFA representatives also participated, it was decided to postpone the consideration of the issue and give the Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF) time to make the decisions demanded by the parliamentarians. .
The issue of direct management of the LFF was raised by politicians at the joint meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee of the Seimas and the Youth and Sports Affairs Commission held at the end of July, in which representatives of the LFF participated.
Member of the Seimas Laurynas Kasčiūnas then claimed that when politicians talk about the direct management of the LFF, they have a clear plan on how to solve the problem that has arisen - the closedness of the LFF and unfair procedures when electing representatives to the Executive Committee (EC).
August 3 The LFF has received a joint response from FIFA and UEFA, which states that the LFF statutes, which were adopted on April 30 this year. held at the Conference, meets the requirements stipulated in the FIFA and UEFA statutes. These statutes were adopted to bring them into line with the amended Sports Law. UEFA and FIFA have insisted that the LFF's statutes are broadly in line with the guidelines and have offered to help the federation set up a working group to consider possible changes to improve the governance of the LFF.
In the assessment of international football organizations, of which the Lithuanian Football Federation is a member, the adoption of such a law is a violation of the provisions of the FIFA and UEFA statutes, for which Lithuanian football is threatened with direct consequences: suspension of the participation of national teams and clubs in tournaments organized by FIFA and UEFA, termination of financial assistance to Lithuanian football.
However, in mid-September, it was announced that the Special Working Group of the LFF decided to submit the project of amending the statutes to the highest governing body of the LFF - the general conference of members.
However, after the announcement of the proposed amendment to the federation's statutes, members of the Seimas remained strict - the fate of the law on direct management of the LFF depends on whether the provisions written in it will be fully implemented. Seimas member M. Majauskas claimed that the compromise decisions of the LFF will not restore public trust. He was also supported by L. Kasčiūnas, who testified that LFF's decisions do not mean that politicians will sit idly by.
At the end of September Seimas after submission, approved the implementation of the draft of the temporary law "On the direct management of the Lithuanian Football Federation". According to the initiators of the law, it aims at a transparent and democratic management of the Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF), in which there are no representatives of the criminal world.
88 voted for the draft law, 13 against, 21 members of the Seimas voted against it.
Ignas Dobrovolskas (ELTA)
