© EuroFootball.com
In 2005, the winner of the LFF First League, Alytus, will not join the teams competing in the Lithuanian "A League." The people of Alytus earned the right to play with the strongest teams in the country, but they did not take advantage of it.
"We have finally decided not to participate in the "A League" championship and have submitted a request to stop participating in the licensing process of the "A League" clubs. What is the main reason? The central stadium of the city of Alytus does not meet the requirements. There are also smaller reasons. We failed to reach an agreement with the Alytus municipality on solving the stadium issues," said Darius Jezukevicius, the director of "Alytis," to alyga.lt website.
When asked if the team could temporarily play in a stadium in another city, D. Jezukevicius replied, "We considered that possibility, but later changed our minds. Taking a temporary step back can benefit "Alytis". There is no need to rush. We are definitely not giving up on the goal of playing in the elite Lithuanian "A League". We will improve our foundation and I believe that in two years we will be playing in the country's top football league.
Now, "Alytis" has expressed a desire to participate in the licensing process of the LFF First League clubs, as the stadium infrastructure requirements in this league are much simpler.
The director of "Alytis" stated that in the 2006 season, there would be few new players in the team. "All the players who represented the team last year should remain. The team may be supplemented by a few young players," said D. Jezukevicius.
On December 29, Daiva Jakubauskiene, a representative of the Alytus city municipality's sports department, stated to the internet portal EuroFootball.com that the municipality "requests the club to submit an investment project for the Alytus stadium and a long-term development strategy for the city's football." Only then, according to D. Jakubauskiene, would the possibility of leasing the stadium to "Alytis" for 99 years be considered.
Furthermore, this news likely finally confirms that this year we will also see Kedainiai's "Nevezis" club, which performed disastrously in the top league last year, in the Lithuanian "A League" championship.
