© EuroFootball.com
On March 10th, at a meeting of the LFF Executive Committee held in Palanga, the agreement between the NFKA and the LFF regarding the organization of the "A Lyga" championship was finally confirmed. The "A Lyga" championship, like in previous years, will be organized by the National Football Clubs Association.
The LFF Executive Committee approved the "A Lyga" schedule projects that were previously approved by the NFKA Board. Committee members voted in favor of the suggestion by the NFKA Board to change the system of foreign players playing on the field. The previous rule, which stated that there was no limit to the number of foreign players in teams' applications for NFKA-run competitions, but during matches, a team could have no more than three foreign players on the field, has been changed.
From now on, the rule "three foreigners plus three other citizens of European Union countries" will be in effect in this championship. This means that at any given time on the field, a team can have three players from non-EU countries and three players from other EU countries. A total of six non-Lithuanian athletes will be allowed to play on the field simultaneously.
Meanwhile, it is still unclear how many teams will actually participate in the "A Lyga" championship next season. "Šiauliai" will join the championship this season, but Kėdainiai's "Nevėžis" has not fully decided yet, and furthermore, the latter club does not have a stadium that meets the standards and should play in Kaunas.
"Šilutė" will probably play their matches in Klaipėda again next year, there are also problems in Vilnius, where there are questions about the stadium of "Žalgiris." The first stage of club licensing will end on March 15th, but it is not clear how many clubs will immediately receive licenses, so the final number of participants may be revealed later, leaving very little time before the championship starts on April 3rd.
