© EuroFootball.com
On Friday, the Executive Committee of the Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF) decided to extend the work of Igoris Pankratjevas in the position of the head coach of the national football team.
During the LFF Executive Committee meeting held at the National Football Academy in Kaunas, the report of the national team for 2013 was presented and the candidacies for the position of team's head coach were discussed.
After discussions, the LFF Executive Committee made a decision that I. Pankratjevas should continue his work in this position, as he has been part of the coaching staff for two years already.
Since the beginning of last year, I. Pankratjevas has been the assistant coach of the team, and in September of this year, he was temporarily appointed as the head coach when the team parted ways with the Hungarian coach Csaba László.
"When selecting from the candidates, the Executive Committee took into account that I. Pankratjevas could immediately continue the work, as he knows the team's situation best, and has already demonstrated his abilities leading the team in the last three matches of this year," said Robertas Tautkus, the head of the LFF National Teams Department.
The Lithuanian footballers trained by I. Pankratjevas won against Latvia 2:0 in the World Cup qualifying matches, lost 0:1 to Bosnia and Herzegovina who made it to the World Cup, and played a draw 1:1 with Moldova in a friendly match in November.
The coaching staff and program of the national team are planned to be presented to the public at the beginning of 2014.
During the LFF Executive Committee meeting, the report on this year's regional mass football was also reviewed, the A League season was summarized, and the guidelines for the next season were discussed.
Being 49 years old, I. Pankratjevas, as a football player in the past, represented the legendary Vilnius team "Žalgiris", later played for clubs in Russia, Ukraine, and Germany.
Starting his coaching career, I. Pankratjevas led the teams of Kaunas "Inkaras", Klaipėda's "Atlantas", worked multiple times with Vilnius "Žalgiris" and Kaunas FBK clubs, as well as Marijampolė's "Sūduva", the national youth (U-21) team, and in Azerbaijan. In 2010, he was named the best coach in the country's championship.
