© EuroFootball.com
During the regular conference of the Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF) held on March 17, Julius Kvedaras was elected as the new president of the organization.
"A lot of hard, black work is ahead. We can achieve our goals only by working together," Kvedaras told members of the football community after his election.
According to the new president of LFF, we must understand that we are a small country, and in the world of football, there is huge competition.
"If we want to keep up, it is important to continue developing infrastructure. We have already done that and will continue to do so. We plan to further expand the network of academies and attract investments from Germany," said Kvedaras. "Through collective efforts, we will strive to assemble the strongest national and youth teams, and strengthen not only the highest league in our country, but also the first league."
Since 2000, Kvedaras has served as the general director of LFF and has been a member of the UEFA Professional Football Committee since 2007.
As a football player, Kvedaras played for the champion teams of Klaipėda's "Atlantas" and Vilnius' "Žalgiris" in Russia. In his coaching career, he worked with the Lithuanian national teams and several clubs in Kaunas. In 1995-1996, the team he coached, Kauno "Inkaras," became the champion of Lithuania. As both a player and a coach, Kvedaras participated in the Lithuanian Cup finals 9 times and won 6 times.
Other candidates who submitted applications to participate in the elections, including Liutauras Varanavičius who had led the federation for 12 years and Gintautas Babravičius who had served as deputy president of LFF in recent years, withdrew their candidacies.
"I can confidently say that I am leaving a stable foundation and I am pleased that a football person has taken on this challenge instead of me. I wish him success. I will contribute as much as I can," said Varanavičius.
After Kvedaras left his previous positions, the new general director of LFF will be appointed by the LFF Executive Committee. By the decision of the LFF Executive Committee, Varanavičius was appointed as the first vice president of LFF.
At the conference, a new executive committee of the Lithuanian Football Federation was also elected. The most votes were received by representatives of five county football federations - Romanas Levinskas (Kaunas County Football Federation), Romas Kukis (Marijampolė AFF), Vidmantas Šulčius (Šiauliai AFF), Sigitas Jukna (Tauragė AFF), and Leonas Dunauskas (Telšiai AFF).
The other five members, according to the newly approved LFF statutes, were association presidents: Jonas Braga (Referees), Romualdas Lavrinavičius (Children and Youth), Vidmantas Butkevičius (Futsal), Anatolijus Stecenko (Beach Soccer), and Stasys Stankus (Football Development).
By the decision of the conference regarding gross violations of the LFF statutes, the Vilnius County Football Federation (VAFF) was removed from the LFF members. Following this decision, Vilnius Regional Football Association (VRFS) was admitted as LFF members.
The LFF Conference is the highest LFF body. According to the LFF statutes, federation members, of which there are currently 16, delegate 5 representatives to the Conference.
Currently, 80 delegates address the main football issues of the country. The regular conference takes place once a year, and decisions are made by a simple majority of votes.
At the Saturday conference attended by 76 delegates (4 delegates did not attend), the new LFF statutes were also approved, as well as the LFF activities report from the previous year, financial statements, and an independent auditor's report, and the LFF budget for 2012.
Julius Kvedaras' Bio Born: October 3, 1949, in Kaunas Player Career: - Kauno "Banga" (1967), Kauno "Inkaras" (1969-1972), Vilnius "Žalgiris" (1971), Tomsko "Tomles" (Russia, 1973-1975), Klaipėdos "Atlantas" (1973-1975), Kauno "Kelininkas" (1976-1984), Kauno "Aidas" (1985) - Winner of Lithuanian Championship silver medals (1977, 1979, 1981), winner of Lithuanian Cups (1969, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980) Coach Career: - Kauno "Maistas" (1982-1983, city champion), Kauno "Kelininkas" (1984), Kauno "Inkaras-Grifas" (1994-1996) - Lithuanian champion (1995, 1996), winner of LFF Cup (1995) - Lithuanian national team (assistant coach 1994-1995 and 2000) and youth national team (assistant coach, 1996) Organizational Activity: - General Director of LFF (2000-2012) - Member of UEFA Professional Football Committee (since 2007)
