© EuroFootball.com
After signing a sponsorship agreement with a German company, the Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF) continues to strengthen its ties with one of the most powerful football countries.
On April 13-15, LFF President Julius Kvedaras and National Teams Department Head Robert Tautkus visited Lower Saxony, where they negotiated cooperation with the football federation of this region.
Lower Saxony is the second largest state in the Federal Republic of Germany, with nearly 8 million inhabitants. In this region, there are two Bundesliga clubs - VfL Wolfsburg and Hannover 96, as well as Eintracht Braunschweig and VfL Osnabruck playing in the second Bundesliga from the third division.
The football federation of this region (NFV - German Niedersächsischen Fußballverbandes) unites about 2700 football clubs, 21300 teams, and almost 700 thousand players.
Representatives of the LFF delegation discussed with NFV President Karl Rothmund the possibilities for our national and youth teams to train at the NFV base in Barsinghausen near Hanover.
This training camp has been organized by the German national team, while the Polish national team prepared for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals here.
"It is a popular place because everything is arranged in a cozy location near the forest, there is all the infrastructure, four natural pitches, and one artificial turf field. Geographically, it is also convenient because there are many potential opponents for friendly matches nearby," said R. Tautkus.
LFF and NFV representatives agreed to cooperate not only in organizing training camps but also in conducting courses for football coaches and referees. In the coming weeks, the federations plan to sign an official cooperation agreement.
In the second part of their visit to Germany, J. Kvedaras and R. Tautkus visited Wolfsburg, where they met with the club's VfL Wolfsburg officials, inspected the club's base, football academy, and watched the Bundesliga match between Wolfsburg and Augsburg.
"The Wolfsburg club base is one of the potential places where the Lithuanian national team could train in Lower Saxony. The pitches here are excellent, and modern technologies are used for their maintenance," explained R. Tautkus.
With Jochen Sauer, head of the Wolfsburg football department, LFF representatives discussed the possibilities for our young footballers to intern at this club's academy. The Wolfsburg youth academy team was the national champion last year and is also leading the youth championships this year.
The Germans invited LFF President J. Kvedaras to come to Leipzig on May 31, where the Lithuanian national team will play a preparation match against Israel with the German national team.
Shortly before that - on May 29 - our national team will meet the Russian team in Nyon, Switzerland. On June 1, our team will face Latvia in the Baltic Cup match in Vero, and two days later, they will play against Estonia or Finland.
