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Already on Wednesday after the meeting of the Executive Committee of the Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF), it will become clear who will become the new national team coach.
The position became vacant after the unsuccessful 2012 European Championship qualifying tournament, when Raimondas Žutautas resigned from the position.
The committee, consisting of 11 members, will choose from three candidates: Hungarian Csaba Laszlo, Lithuanians Liudas Rumbutis and Valdas Ivanauskas. It is said that the conditions of the contract have been agreed with all three, so once the decision on the name is made, the formalities will be finalized and the signatures will be placed on the contract. The decision should be announced around 5 pm.
"EuroFootball.com" fans participating in the survey would trust the helm of the national team to Hungarian Laszlo.
Members of the Executive Committee:
Liutauras Varanavičius (LFF President), Romanas Levinskas (Kaunas County Football Association), Romualdas Jonaitis (Klaipėda County Football Association), Romas Kukis (Marijampolė County Football Association), Gediminas Juozaitis (Panevėžys County Football Association), Leonas Dunauskas (Telšiai County Football Association), Nerijus Dunauskas (Professional Football Committee), Stasys Stankus (Technical-Methodical Committee), Sergejus Sliva (Referees Committee), Romualdas Lavrinavičius (Youth and Children's Committee), Anatolijus Stacenka (Mass Football Committee).
Candidates up close:
Csaba Laszlo - a 47-year-old coach who ended his football career in 1991 due to injury. In 1996, he obtained the UEFA Pro coaching license and began his career at lower levels, and in 2004 he took over at the helm of "Ferencvaros". He finished second in the national championship, reached the cup final and the UEFA group stage, so he was elected the best Hungarian coach of the year and soon invited to work as an assistant to Hungarian national team strategist Lothar Matthaus.
Later, he worked for a few months with the "Sopron" team, and from 2006 to 2008 he led the exotic Ugandan national team, with which he failed to secure historic victories due to a weaker goal difference - a ticket to the 2008 African Nations Cup tournament.
Then Csaba turned to Britain and took over at Edinburgh's "Hearts" team, which is owned by Lithuanian businessman Vladimir Romanov. With this club, the Hungarian finished third in the national championship and was recognized as the best coach of the 2009 Scottish Premier League.
However, in the next season, the "Hearts" performance declined and Laszlo, after disagreeing with the owner, was forced to step down. Last season, the Hungarian coached "Charleroi" in Belgium, where he spent half a year.
Valdas Ivanauskas - a 45-year-old specialist, one of Lithuania's most famous footballers - during his career, he became the Austrian champion three times and was voted the best Lithuanian player of the year four times.
He retired in 2002, obtained the UEFA Pro license in 2003, and worked as an assistant coach for the Lithuanian national team in 2004-2005. He then coached Vilnius' "Vėtra", "FBK Kaunas", Edinburgh's "Hearts", Jena's "Carl Zeiss", Gargždai's "Banga", the Lithuanian youth national team, Baku's "Standard", and "Šiauliai".
In 2004, he won the Lithuanian Cup and championship with "Kaunas", he finished second in the Scottish championship in 2005-2006, and triumphed in the country's cup tournament. In 2008, he took third place in Lithuania's second league.
Liudas Rumbutis - a 55-year-old resident of Telšiai, sports master. During his football career, he represented Vilnius "Žalgiris" (1974-75) and Minsk "Dynamo" (1976-86) clubs.
Having become a coach, he spent almost all his time in Belarus, where he led teams such as Brest's "Dynamo", "Minsk", Minsk's "Dynamo-93", "Darida", "Neman", and others. In 1999-2000, he was an assistant coach for the Lithuanian national team. In recent years, he has been the sports director of Minsk "Partizan", a club leading the second league in Belarus.
In 2011, he obtained the UEFA Pro license.
