The first league starts on March 11. the team of Vilnius "Baltijos futbol akademijas" (BFA), one of the largest sports organizations in the country, welcomes the new season with renewed vigor. Even four former pupils continue their careers in prestigious Italian clubs. In the summer, 17-year-old Adrianas Lickūnas left for AC Perugia, at the end of January, Neds Garbaliauskas and Lukas Klišys, who were just 16, signed contracts with Genoa CFC, and this week, 19-year-old striker Martinas Perveinis signed with Salerno "Salernitana". BFA manager Mažena Agneška Stankevič says that the departure of young talents to a higher level should be the path of Lithuanian football.
in 2022 the team assembled from the academy students achieved a historic result during the three years they spent in the First League - 7th place, and the first transfers in the history of the academy started in the summer, allowing the players to rise to a higher level. A. Lickūnas, who has been playing in Italy since the summer, has already established himself in the "Perugia" U-19 team, scores goals and is a solid player in the starting line-up, while N. Garbaliauskas, L. Klišys and M. Perveinis are taking their first steps in Italian football and got a chance to debut this weekend .
"We are happy with the success of the boys and their first steps in Italy. Of course, this is only the beginning, they still have to earn their place under the sun, but for us it is a great impetus to work further. We believe this is the right move. In Italy, there are more opportunities and more competition, which will allow them to improve even more. We believe that this is the way for us and for Lithuanian football: we have and develop talents, but here they will have little chance to show themselves. Unfortunately, Lithuanian football clubs are not interested in our youth. Icelandic and Danish academies and clubs also follow this path: they train players, then send them to a higher level, and therefore these small countries are able to train high-level players and have capable national teams," said the head of the academy, which is attended by almost 1000 young athletes in Vilnius. MA Stankevich.
During the preparation for the season - 8 control matches
The team veteran and captain Lukas Valvonis, who left the team, and last season's best player Dominykas Kodz contributed to the changes. However, Mr. according to team coach Harold Šidlauskas, the departing footballers will be replaced by the growing and promising youth of the academy.
"Part of the players left, some players will play their fourth season in the First League, others - their third or second. So we gained more experience than we spent. Also, the reserve of the academy is inexhaustible, we also invited newcomers: in 2005 footballers born Giedrii Onuškevičius, Artiomas Kočergas, Lukas Mikelėnas, Illja Kashkov from Ukraine, we have more players in the preview. The forward position is still a concern: we sent two of our top scorers to Italy, then Samvel Vardayn suffered an injury that recurred. We have promising forwards in 2008. in the team, but it takes time to prepare a player for the First League, so we had to look for reinforcements", said the manager about the team composition. trainer.
The representative team of BFA trained in the BFA arena all winter and played a total of 7 control meetings with First and A league teams, and this weekend awaits the last and historic meeting with FK "Tukums" team playing in the highest Latvian league. In the first match, BFA lost 1:2 to the partner Kaunas district. "Hegelmann", then played 1:1 with "Dainava" of Alytus, beat Kaunas district 2:0. Garliava lost 0:2 to Vilnius Transinvest, beat Kaunas Žalgiris B 2:1 and last weekend defeated Kėdainiai Nevėži 3:1.
"I would rate the preparation as good. The ripple in the game was felt, it is reflected in the results, but you should not focus on them. It's nice to be able to play against the teams of the A league, on Saturday we will meet the Latvian top league team. I would single out the match against Nevėžius of Kėdainiai, where we played the most attractive football, but there were no perfect matches", H. Šidlauskas described the cycle of control matches.
Male the coach emphasizes that the team will continue to show eye-catching football this season, and also sets the goal of conceding fewer goals.
"We want not to concede goals. We scored a lot last season, but if we had reduced the number of goals conceded, we would have been higher in the table. This season we will want to be active both with and without the ball, move a lot, but I hope we will be smarter this year. Of course, we want to go higher, but now I set myself the goal of collecting more points than last season", said H. Šidlauskas.
BFA First League season on March 11, 13.00:XNUMX p.m. The BFA will start with the Panevėžys B team.
