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The wisdom of the people testifies that surprises occur in every family. The Lithuanian football community is no exception, unfortunately, the role of the "football player" - Ritas Vaiginas, has decided to take on this role. The head of the Vilnius County Football Federation (VAFF) has recently publicly started accusing the Lithuanian Football Federation and its leaders by presenting distorted, false, and demeaning "facts" that diminish the achievements of the entire country's football community. One would like to believe that this is not out of malice, but out of ignorance. As the representative of the Vilnius County Football community, R. Vaiginas not only can but should participate in the activities of the LFF - for example, deliberating on the LFF budget, financial activities audit, and activity report at the annual conference. However, the president of VAFF is probably too busy for that - he barely attended the LFF conference a few times in over 10 years. Certainly, his busy schedule does not allow him to even open the official LFF website and view these documents (http://www.lff.lt/lt/Veiklos_dokumentai). In order to present information to R. Vaiginas so that he familiarizes himself with the facts (based on official documents) and does not mislead the public, the LFF administration will once again send the activity report and an invitation to come and familiarize himself with the LFF Conference's approved, auditor-checked, and publicly disclosed financial and activity report. If necessary, R. Vaiginas will be included in computer literacy courses by the LFF. We hope that there will be no need to include him in basic literacy courses. Since even in the official statistics of the Ministry of Education and Sport (which a former Ministry of Education and Sport director should know), football is among the few sports where the number of athletes is constantly growing, contrary to general trends. Also alarming is R. Vaiginas's health. As he still thinks that "the stadiums are not being maintained" while participating in various reconstructed football stadium opening celebrations and new pitch presentation events. Meanwhile, there are some facts about the development of Lithuanian football that R. Vaiginas does not see when looking through the windows of the abandoned Vilnius "Žalgiris" stadium. Facts supported by official documents: Infrastructure (since 2000) - More than 40 small artificial turf pitches have been installed near schools with LFF funding; - National Football Academy in Kaunas (1 full-size artificial turf pitch, 3 training pitches, covered football manege, Technical center, and the academy's dormitory) - LFF investment of about 20 million litas; - Standard-size artificial turf pitches, 5 out of 10 planned have already been installed - LFF investment of about 8 million litas; - Reconstruction of the LFF stadium in Vilnius - the only stadium in Lithuania meeting UEFA 3-4 category standards. The only A league stadium in the capital; - Through the efforts of LFF, municipalities, and private business, 20 renovated stadiums in Lithuania meet A and I league requirements; - New stadiums in Marijampolė and Alytus; a new stadium will open in Tauragė this weekend, and in the near future - in Telšiai; planned - in Utena, Panevėžys, Šilalė, Jonava, and other cities. Other achievements: - The number of people participating in mass football events has grown more than 10 times: from 6000 (2003) to 70,000 (2010); - The Lithuanian national team has recently entered the top 50 on the FIFA rankings and is 3rd among former Soviet Union countries (this year's team results will be evaluated and corresponding decisions will be made after the qualification cycle, i.e., after the Lithuanian national team's match with Czechia); - The National Football Academy (NFA) was established 4 years ago, where the most talented young Lithuanian footballers live, study, and train; - Youth and junior national teams are formed based on the NFA academy graduates. Although according to global practice, results can only be expected after 8-10 years, the first signs are visible this year - the Palanga U-17 international tournament was won for the first time since independence was restored. - Six NFA graduates have already signed contracts with well-known European clubs: Lukas Lidakevičius - "Barnsley" FC (England); Aurimas Vilkaitis - Rome's "Lazio" (Italy); Martynas Dapkus - Maccabi Haifa (Israel); Edvinas Girdvainis - Calcio Padova SpA (Italy); Deimantas Petravičius - "Nottingham Forest" FC (England); - The attendance for the LFF A league is around 1500 spectators on average; - 6 standard-size artificial turf pitches have been given a FIFA two-star category; LFF revenues (financial activity audits have been conducted annually since 2000): • The LFF budget has increased by more than 4 times: from 5 million in 2000 to 21.6 million in 2011; • The biggest boost to this growth came from commercial activities, i.e., attracting investments and partners - these revenues account for 43% of the total LFF budget; • One-third of the budget consists of UEFA and FIFA subsidies; • The total state contribution to the LFF budget is 3% (unfortunately, these 3% later return to the State budget in the form of various taxes); • The remaining funds are attracted for the implementation of various programs and continuing projects; LFF expenses • More than half of the expenses (53%) consist of financing sports activities (national and youth teams, children-youth, women, indoor, beach, and regional football development) and the maintenance of the National Football Academy (together with the training complex) and football technical development activities. • 11% is allocated for various competitions, international tournaments, and international organization fees; • 4% for mass football projects at the LFF; • 3% for taxes to the state (0.7 million litas); • Administrative LFF expenses account for 13%. It is worth noting that the salaries of LFF leaders are several times lower than they appear to Mr. Vaiginas, by the way, for 8 out of 10 years, LFF President Liutauras Varanavičius worked on a voluntary basis."
