Remind me, when was the last time the Lithuania national football team won an official match under Edgaras Jankauskas? On 26 March 2024 against Gibraltar. Against one of the weakest teams in Europe. When was the last time Lithuania won the Baltic Cup? The men’s national team has not won the Baltic Cup since 2010, while Estonia are rapidly closing the gap in the medal standings as they continue to reduce the deficit to second place.
Is it a coincidence, or a deliberate agreement among the majority (not all) of journalists not to criticise the Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF)? The opinion pushed onto viewers by the country’s largest media outlets and well-paid television presenters – that the national team is actually playing quite well but is simply lacking a bit of luck in key moments – is nothing more than brainwashing the public through manipulation in order to conceal the majority of the LFF’s problems.
Perhaps they could boast on their programmes about how many times they have travelled with the national team to major football events and what their relationships with the LFF are? In any case, many people from the “Prelegentai” circle have somehow ended up working within the LFF – as assistants, Edgaras Jankauskas’ aides or analysts. Others have jobs in sports media as regular television personalities. What is the competence of all LFF employees and the federation’s structure itself? What is the competence and professionalism of the coaching staffs across all Lithuanian national teams?
The very same Deividas Šemberas, who previously criticised the national team and once offered one million euros for the resignation of the late LFF General Secretary Julius Kvedaras, became the LFF’s Technical Director in 2025. Have his views changed? I don’t think so. Perhaps his interest increased because, after ending his playing career, he never really found himself? Or maybe the LFF simply needed a respected former footballer to add credibility in public photographs in front of sponsors and the wider football community?
The Emperor Has No Clothes
Many of these football programmes are sponsored by betting companies, first and foremost Kaunas-based Top Sport and other bookmakers, who are also the main sponsors of the LFF and the Top Lyga. In the sports sections of most major Lithuanian news portals, you will see advertisements from these betting companies. Perhaps they understand this perfectly well and simply do not want to saw off the branch they have been sitting on for years? They do not want to become inconvenient and lose their comfortable positions.
There would also be far less protection for the LFF if Tautvydas Vencevičius – long-time LFF employee and press officer, who has also served as President of the Lithuanian Sports Journalists Federation (LSŽF) since 2017 (and is also a former police officer) – were not sitting in two chairs at once. As head of the LSŽF, Vencevičius presents awards to LFF President Edgaras Stankevičius while simultaneously working for the very same organisation. There is no point even talking about impartiality. Yes, perhaps the regulations and journalistic code allow these two roles to be combined, but situations like this inevitably raise legitimate questions about double standards across different sports.
At the Lithuanian Sports Journalists Federation (LSŽF) awards held in December 2025, the Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF) and its president Edgaras Stankevičius were honoured with the Football Executive of the Year award.
Why All This Introduction About Football?
This brings us to another question. Why do these very same journalists, major news portals and basketball television presenters relentlessly tear apart the entire Lithuanian national basketball team, together with Lithuanian Basketball Federation (LKF) president Mindaugas Balčiūnas and one of the greatest coaches in Lithuanian basketball history?
Despite losing starting point guard Rokas Jokubaitis to a serious injury, the three-time European champion coach still guided the national team to an excellent fifth-place finish last autumn – the country’s best result since 2015, when Jonas Kazlauskas led Lithuania to the silver medal.
Back then, the team featured stars such as Real Madrid standout Jonas Mačiulis, while Kaunas Žalgiris was represented by point guard Mantas Kalnietis, attack-minded Renaldas Seibutis and defensive anchor Robertas Javtokas. At the peak of their careers were also the small forwards Mindaugas Kuzminskas and Artūras Milaknis.
Is all this anger really because some difficulties have emerged halfway through the World Cup qualifying campaign? Yes, defeats are unpleasant and painful, but we have a saying in Lithuania: “You don’t change horses in midstream.”
This means that during a critical moment, or once an important job has already begun, you should not replace leaders, change strategy or remove the key members of a team you trust and with whom you have already gone through fire together – through difficult situations in the past. Changes can upset the balance, and a team backed into a corner may have nowhere left to turn. Perhaps that will also be reflected in the upcoming international windows?
Changes for the Sake of Change?
This saying emphasises the importance of stability, because changes made in the middle of a process can create chaos and ruin the entire plan. It is in such moments that strength of character and continuity of the work already started become visible.
Yes, the critics have many complaints about the poor results in the World Cup qualifying campaign. They are right. Criticism is necessary and justified, but it should be constructive and based on an assessment of the entire cycle, rather than attacking from every direction before the job has even been completed.
Part of the nation supports the current direction of the LKF, another part has doubts, while a third is radically opposed. This was also reflected in the Lithuanian Basketball Federation presidential elections held a few years ago.
The mainstream media are trying to undermine confidence in both the LKF and the coaching staff by pushing their own narrative onto the wider public, encouraging people to question the decisions made by the national team’s coaches.
The Job Is Not Finished Yet
As events have shown, the call-up of Matas Buzelis became such a huge sensation that it was as if he were the Sun King himself and the entire basketball machine revolved solely around him. Yet there are other players who are perfectly capable of becoming leaders when needed. That was clearly demonstrated during the previous European Basketball Championship.
This coming autumn, Matas Buzelis and Kasparas Jakučionis will most likely not be part of the national team, as they will continue preparing for the upcoming NBA season. There is also talk that team captain Jonas Valančiūnas could miss the next qualifying cycle. Meanwhile, his young successor, Ąžuolas Tubelis, is improving at an incredible rate, has already surpassed him in terms of current playing level, and is becoming the key figure in Lithuania’s offence.
There will be less time for experimentation, while at the end of August the national team will face a do-or-die battle that will demand maximum effort from both the coaching staff and the players in terms of commitment and concentration.
Perhaps, with a longer preparation period over the summer, everything will look much better in the next international window and the critics will be silenced. Time will tell.
The two-time LKL champion with the then Vilnius Lietuvos Rytas feels most comfortable when he has sufficient time to prepare his team. When preparations begin in the summer, the three-time Olympic medallist knows how to achieve results, while players often go on to produce outstanding club seasons after the physical work they have put in with the national team.
The cases of Arnas Velička and Marekas Blaževičius are worth highlighting. After spending the summer with the national team, both players not only increased their market value but also saw clear improvements reflected in their statistics during the following season, in Lithuania and Turkey respectively.
The seven-time Azerbaijani champion knows most of the players he has called up extremely well, and throughout this summer – before the next FIBA qualifying window – he will have time to work more closely with them, analyse them in greater detail and extract the maximum possible performance at the end of August.
The FIBA Window System
In this respect, the FIBA windows create difficulties for many national teams throughout the preparation process. Former Lithuania head coach Darius Maskoliūnas also experienced the problems caused by the current FIBA qualifying system.
We can recall the EuroBasket 2022 qualifier against Denmark in Vilnius, when only Mantas Kalnietis’ quick reactions and his last-second block under Lithuania’s own basket prevented an absolute disaster, which would have seen the national team fail to qualify for the European Championship altogether.
Jonas Kazlauskas was strict but fair, and under his leadership the Lithuanian national team usually stood on the medal podium.
Lithuania’s era of medals came to an end together with the Kazlauskas era. At the time, finishing seventh at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games seemed like a tragedy, but in today’s context it would probably be considered a very respectable result by the public.
The medal drought, combined with the lack of coaches possessing a long-term vision, has gradually led Lithuania into a situation where the national team regularly struggles to come through FIBA qualifying campaigns. This summer is therefore far from the first time that qualification for a major tournament has hung in the balance.
The coaches who followed – Dainius Adomaitis, who led Lithuania to ninth place at EuroBasket 2017 and the 2019 FIBA World Cup, and Kazys Maksvytis, whose team finished sixth at the 2023 FIBA World Cup in Asia – have in fact produced Lithuania’s best performances on the global stage since the fourth-place finish at the 2014 World Cup in Spain under Jonas Kazlauskas, if European Championships are excluded.
Blood Must Be Drawn
But the major news portals and the journalists opposed to the LKF no longer remember that. At the moment, they are demanding blood and calling for Rimas Kurtinaitis’ head. On their own channels, they are already building the profile of the national team’s next head coach, presenting Dainius Adomaitis as the ideal choice, claiming that he has gained valuable experience in Japan and is a more modern coach than the old-school Rimas Kurtinaitis. On top of that, Dainius enjoys a very good relationship with journalists.
Also mentioned – although not promoted nearly as strongly – are other Lithuanian coaches such as Kazys Maksvytis and Giedrius Žibėnas.
Ever since the FIBA window system was introduced in 2017, all of Europe’s strongest national teams have faced major difficulties. We should not become hostages to the long-running conflict between the EuroLeague and FIBA, but we must understand that we have to adapt to the current reality.
In the past, national teams traditionally played only during the summer, but the format has changed. With these qualifying windows spread throughout the calendar year, every coaching staff must have a Plan B and be ready to react instantly to changing circumstances, especially during the closing stages of matches.
The Ghosts of Past LKF Elections
Nearly two years have passed since the autumn of 2024, when much of the mainstream media – led primarily by the BasketNews.com portal – attempted to influence the Lithuanian Basketball Federation presidential elections by actively involving themselves throughout the campaign and placing obstacles in the path of the future president, Mindaugas Balčiūnas.
It didn’t work? Are there still scores left to settle? Is this now the perfect moment to strike? From their perspective, the timing certainly seems right. The majority of basketball journalists have now joined in as well, including the Scandinavian-owned Delfi.
To complete the picture, we should also add the recent public criticism of the LKF by former Kaunas Žalgiris and EuroLeague executive Paulius Motiejūnas. However, it is worth reminding everyone that earlier this year, Motiejūnas was removed from his position as EuroLeague CEO following a decision by the league’s shareholders.
Even before that, during his time as Žalgiris’ chief executive, tensions regularly arose over whether Kaunas Žalgiris players would be released to represent the Lithuanian national team during FIBA windows.
Judge for yourselves whether this is merely a conflict between two executives or something more. Perhaps someone has an interest in disrupting the work of the Lithuanian Basketball Federation and, when the right opportunity presents itself, taking control of the federation itself.
Let’s Return to Football
Let’s return to football, because the author specialises in the football market and understands it no less than Lithuania’s second religion – basketball.
Where are you, journalists, every qualifying campaign when Edgaras Jankauskas once again fails to beat Europe’s football minnows?
When the Lithuanian Football Federation, led by basketball executive Edgaras Stankevičius, competes – I hesitate to even say plays, because what is happening on the pitch often resembles an imitation of football rather than football itself – in the weakest qualifying group imaginable, nobody seems to ask any questions.
After Lithuania’s defeat to Kosovo in November 2024, the national team was relegated to UEFA Nations League D, where it will compete in 2026.
Has the football community simply become accustomed to living at the bottom? Or is there simply no political will to change anything?
It is also worth paying attention to the LFF’s annual budget. Funding received from FIFA and UEFA amounts to €12.5 million – twice as much as Lithuanian basketball receives.
Despite operating with significantly less money, Lithuanian women’s basketball has risen considerably, while the men’s national team remains among the world’s top ten, ranking ninth in the FIBA World Rankings and fifth among European nations.
Yes, football is nowhere near basketball’s level in Lithuania. Lithuania currently sits 149th in the FIFA World Rankings. Nevertheless, the double standards are visible to the naked eye.
The headquarters of both the Lithuanian Football Federation and the Lithuanian Basketball Federation are located in Kaunas. Could that perhaps be a sign that influential figures in Kaunas have an interest in controlling both of Lithuania’s most important sporting organisations, given the country’s enormous interest in these two sports and the volume of media coverage they receive?
The more aggressive sports journalists should also investigate how much the purchase of the LFF headquarters in Kaunas actually cost. Was too much paid? Were funds provided by international organisations spent irresponsibly?
But nobody talks about that because those so-called journalists would lose all their privileges: trips abroad with the national football team and exclusive interviews.
The new LFF headquarters next to Darius and Girėnas Stadium is not even large enough to accommodate the required number of people. Larger meetings have to be held in lecture halls at the nearby university close to Ąžuolynas Park.
P.S.
For years, we have seen the same faces in the Lithuanian national football team, no new tactical ideas and consistently worsening results.
The national team’s performances have become so poor that they are no longer even interesting to watch. Sitting 149th in the FIFA World Rankings places Lithuania somewhere alongside Third World African nations.
This ranking matches the lowest position Lithuania has ever occupied in its history, a mark that was first reached in 2017.
As for youth football, it is also failing to develop as quickly as it is elsewhere abroad.
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