© EuroFootball.com
There are three contenders left to train the Lithuanian national football team - Valdas Ivanauskas, Liudas Rumbutis, and Csaba Laszlo. Aurelijus Skarbalius' surname had to be crossed out, as the Lithuanian signed a two-year contract with the Danish club "Brondby".
According to the online portal "Lietuvos rytas", the final decision will be made by the executive committee of the football federation by mid-January. It is expected that all three candidates will participate in the decisive meeting.
Although Ivanauskas is considered a favorite behind the scenes, LFF general secretary Julius Kvedaras is inclined to support the candidacy of Hungarian Laszlo: "He is not spineless and has a strong backbone. He proved this while working in Edinburgh," he said about the 47-year-old specialist.
The candidates up close:
Valdas Ivanauskas - A 45-year-old specialist, one of the most famous Lithuanian footballers. He ended his career in 2002, worked as an assistant coach of the Lithuanian national team. He coached "FBK Kaunas", Edinburgh "Hearts", with which he won the Scottish Cup, Jena "Carl Zeiss", Gargzdai "Bang", Lithuanian youth national team, Baku "Standart", "Siauliai".
Laszlo Csaba - A 47-year-old Hungarian born in Romania, fluent in English, German, Romanian, and Hungarian. Starting his career at lower levels, in 2004 he took over at the helm of "Ferencvaros" and was elected the best Hungarian coach, soon after appointed as the assistant coach of the Hungarian national team strategist Lothar Matthaus. Later, he worked with the "Sopron" team for a few months, and from 2006 to 2008, he led the exotic Ugandan national team, which narrowly missed historical heights due to a worse goal difference - not qualifying for the 2008 African Nations Cup tournament.
Then Csaba turned to the UK and took over at the Edinburgh "Hearts" team, which belongs to Lithuanian businessman Vladimir Romanov. With this club, the Hungarian finished third in the country's championship and was recognized as the best strategist of the Scottish Premier League in 2009. However, in the following season, the "Hearts" performance declined, Laszlo's relationship with the owner cooled, so the coach was forced to step down. Last season, the Hungarian coached "Charleroi" from Belgium, but due to poor results, he lost his job in March.
Liudas Rumbutis - A 55-year-old from Telšiai, a sports master. During his football career, he represented Vilnius "Žalgiris" (1974-75) and Minsk "Dinamo" (1976-86) clubs. As a coach, he spent almost all his time in Belarus, where he led teams such as Brest "Dinamo", "Minsk", Minsk "Dinamo-93", "Darida", "Neman", and others. In 1999-2000, he was an assistant coach of the Lithuanian national team. Recently, he has been the sports director of "Partizan" in Minsk, a club leading the second league of Belarus.
