© EuroFootball.com
On Friday in Druskininkai, the traditional season closing event awarded the champions and winners of the country's football championships, announced the best football players, coaches, and referees of the year.
The completed work sets an optimistic tone.
Greeting the guests at the end of the season, the president of the Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF), Liutauras Varanavicius, said that this year, the results of the national team, which received a lot of public attention, unjustly overshadowed the efforts of the football community in nurturing this sport.
"In football, victories and disappointments alternate, but the most important thing is to believe in ourselves and in the work we do for the good of football. The most important thing is that we are united," said the LFF president. "I believe that planned work oriented towards the future will eventually yield results."
Thanking those gathered, Varanavicius suggested recalling the best achievements of the past decade and the future challenges captured in a short film about Lithuanian football.
Team and individual awards.
The highlight of the evening traditionally became the announcement of the best referees, football players, and coaches.
In the traditional LFF 2011 elections of the best players and coaches, new laureates triumphed. Overall, the best football player of our country this year was chosen as the goalkeeper of the national team, Žydrūnas Karčemarskas, and the best Lithuanian football player playing in Lithuania was recognized as the veteran of Panevezys "Ekranas" Ignas Dedura. The best young player (up to 21 years old) was named Tadas Eliošius for the second year in a row, and the best coach for the second time in his career was Valdas Urbonas.
The best Lithuanian football assistant referee this year became the Kaunas-born Vytautas Šimkus, who officiated in the European U-21 Championship final, and the field referee was Nerijus Dunauskas from Vilnius.
All the winners of this year's Lithuanian football championships were awarded at the solemn ceremony. The trophies and medals were presented to the champions of the Lithuanian Women's Football A League, the team of Šiauliai "Gintros-Universiteto", the winners of the LFF I League, the team of Vilnius "REO", the winners of the LFF A League Doubles Championships, the team of Vilnius "Žalgiris" doubles, the champions of the LFF A League, Panevezys "Ekranas", as well as to all the clubs that took second and third places.
