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The Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF) informs that the information appeared in the media about alleged payments of honoraria to the Lithuanian "B" national team football players in Chechnya does not correspond to reality at all, and considers it to be a misconception.
We are surprised that such groundless, rumor-level information from a website of unclear reputation is irresponsibly spread in the country's media.
Once again we emphasize that the Russian Football Union (RFS) invited the Lithuanian "B" national team to play international friendly matches, and also chose the match location and coordinated other organizational details for the match.
The agreement with the hosts of the match location is the responsibility of the inviting party - RFS - therefore LFF had no connections with representatives of the Chechen Republic, and even did not see the often mentioned in the media, President of this republic, Ramzan Kadyrov.
We would like to point out that the goal of these friendly matches was not commercial, and LFF did not receive any income related to these matches. According to the usual practice of international friendly matches, the inviting country RFS undertook to pay for the travel, accommodation, and meals for the Lithuanian "B" national team delegation.
The same conditions were agreed upon for the last friendly matches of the Lithuanian national team as guests in Norway, Hungary, and so on. Therefore, in the opinion of LFF, talk about special conditions in Grozny is exaggerated and unfounded.
LFF thanks the players and coaches of the Lithuanian "B" national team. Many of them sacrificed their vacations, some risking losing their place in club lineups, agreed to play these matches despite the long exhausting journey.
Once again, we would like to reiterate that the opponent of the Lithuanian "B" football team was chosen based on sporting criteria. In this case, it was taken into account that for many Lithuanian clubs representing players and players not included in the main national team, the match with the Russian "B" team, made up of players from the top six of the most powerful Russian "Premier" league in Europe, would be beneficial for international match practices.
LFF would gladly invite famous national teams from foreign countries to play in our country, but reminds that Lithuania is one of the few European countries that still does not have a modern stadium meeting European Football Association (UEFA) requirements for national team matches, where it would not be ashamed to invite guests.
