by Mantas Aliukonis
The disappointment of Lithuania’s recent World Cup qualifiers still lingers. Two defeats — 1:2 away to Finland and 0:2 at home to Poland — have left the national team languishing near the bottom of Group G, ahead only of Malta. For many fans, this is nothing new, but for former national coach Algimantas Liubinskas, it is a sign of how deep the malaise in Lithuanian football has become.
Before the campaign began, Lithuanian Football Federation president Edgaras Stankevičius had boldly spoken of finishing second in the group. He later claimed four points were possible from the October fixtures. “Of course, we could and should have played better,” Liubinskas says dryly. “But these phrases don’t mean much anymore. The crisis in our football has lasted far too long.”
He speaks with the quiet authority of someone who has seen both the best and worst of Lithuanian football. Under his leadership, Lithuania once held its own against Germany and Denmark and even beat Poland 1–0 in 2006 — a result that still feels like a distant echo of another era.
Today, he says, the problems are structural and painfully visible. “We concede goals we shouldn’t concede — basic communication errors in defence. And our play has become predictable. We run, we fight, but we don’t have a clear plan. Look at the Poles: you could see exactly what they wanted to do. Their goals came from our mistakes.”
The coach doesn’t pull any punches when talking about his successor. “There’s no one on the staff with the competence to advise Edgaras Jankauskas in difficult situations,” he says. “As a former striker, he naturally focuses on attacking, but every coach needs good assistants. We’ve talked about this, but he insists on keeping his people.”
For Liubinskas, the root cause is clear: a team without strong defence can never win. “All success begins with balance. The side that defends better wins. Right now, we’ve fallen to around 150th in the FIFA rankings — and there’s nowhere left to fall.”
He believes Lithuania’s troubles extend far beyond the national team. In his view, the flood of mediocre foreign players in domestic leagues has weakened both clubs and the national side. “We’ve let in too many third-rate foreigners,” he says. “The rule that only three Lithuanians have to be on the pitch in A Lyga is a strategic mistake. It must be changed immediately. Look at Poland or Žalgiris Kaunas in basketball — they rely on their own players.”
The solution, he argues, lies in restoring opportunities for Lithuanian footballers and tightening standards for foreign recruits. “We should gradually increase the number of Lithuanians in starting lineups — five next year, six the year after. In the First Division, no more than two foreigners per team; in the Second Division, none. If we keep signing cheap players from abroad just to save money, we’ll never grow.”
Even on tactics, Liubinskas remains unsparing. “We still don’t know how to defend,” he says bluntly. “Players don’t mark their opponents properly. They give them too much space. Some of our defenders don’t even know how to position themselves — these are basics that should be taught in childhood.”
Yet amid the frustration, he points to examples of how things could be done differently. Lithuania’s basketball team, which finished fifth at EuroBasket, shows the power of professional structures. “Their staff is much more competent. When Rimas Kurtinaitis brought in Tomas Pačėsas as assistant, people criticised him, but Pačėsas understands the game deeply. Jankauskas also needs someone beside him who can challenge him, not just agree with everything.”
Liubinskas’ memories drift back to 2006, to the day his team beat Poland in Bełchatów. “Most of our players came from A Lyga then,” he recalls. “We weren’t full of low-level foreigners. The federation’s later policies ruined that balance. It’ll take years to recover. But we still have good young players — we just need to trust them.”
He sees hope, too, in smaller nations that have outgrown their limitations. “Look at the Faroe Islands,” he says. “They used to lose by big margins, but they built a system, invested in youth, and trusted competent coaches. That’s what we lack — a strategy, a vision.”
But he doesn’t hide his anger at how football has been treated at home. “We have no clear sports policy. In Georgia, the government invested in football, built stadiums, and the whole system improved. In Lithuania, parents pay €120 a month for a child’s training, while quality and infrastructure lag behind. Everything is built on money, not development.”
He points to a recent youth match that ended 0–44 as proof of how broken the system is. “That’s a tragedy,” he says. “It shows the scale of our problems.”
In the end, Liubinskas returns to his central message — that football, unlike art, is judged by results, not aesthetics. “Good football is football that wins points,” he says firmly. “A painting can be beautiful, but football is not art. It’s not gymnastics — no one gives you points for style. If you’re not earning points or winning games, something isn’t working. And it hasn’t worked for years.”
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