Few foreign coaches have left as visible – and controversial – a mark on Lithuanian football as Mariano Barreto.
The Portuguese coach led Kauno Stumbras from June 2016 until January 2019, during a period that brought the club its first major trophy, two European qualification campaigns and, less than a year after his departure, financial collapse and removal from professional football.
At the beginning of the 2016 season, Stumbras was acquired by foreign investors. Barreto became both head coach and the club’s largest shareholder. From the outset, he describes it as a defined cycle. “It was always a three-year project,” he says. “I told my partners clearly – three years, and after that I leave.”
On the field, progress came quickly. In 2017, despite fighting near the bottom of A Lyga (now known as Toplyga) with one of the youngest squads in the league, Stumbras reached the LFF Cup final and defeated Vilnius Žalgiris. The victory secured the first trophy in the club’s history and qualification for the UEFA Europa League. In 2018, the team finished fourth in A Lyga and again earned a European spot. For a relatively young club, it was rapid growth.
Barreto attributes that success to work culture rather than budget or infrastructure. “There are no secrets,” he says. “Work is the secret. After team training we stayed. Individual sessions. Hundreds of hours.” He insists that development must be personalized. “You cannot train every player the same. One is fast but cannot shoot. Another has technique but poor defensive awareness. Why not spend 30 more minutes improving that? Because nobody does it? That’s not an excuse.”
However, by late 2018, public warning signs appeared. In September, FIFPro released a statement highlighting delayed salaries, one-sided contracts and alleged pressure on players regarding media comments. Soon after, The New York Times published a critical article portraying the club as operating unprofessionally and questioning its ownership model. Barreto does not deny financial tension but rejects the idea that Stumbras was uniquely dysfunctional. “Show me a club without financial problems,” he says. “Salary delays happen everywhere.”
He claims he personally earned €20,000 per month during his time in Kaunas. “If you want quality, you pay for quality,” he says bluntly. “If you don’t have money, don’t waste people’s time. If you go to a bar and you cannot pay for whiskey, stay home.”
His outspoken style also brought disciplinary consequences. After comments following a November 7, 2018 match against Trakai, the Lithuanian Football Federation’s Disciplinary Committee suspended him for the final league game and fined him €500. “It was for expressing my opinion,” he says. “If you believe something is wrong, you must speak.”
When speaking about Lithuanian football development, Barreto is direct. “Training exercises are the same everywhere – Portugal, Italy, Lithuania. The difference is competence and strategy.” He criticizes a culture where youth coaches focus primarily on results rather than development. “If youth coaches are selected to win matches instead of developing players, you will not produce top footballers.” He is equally blunt about resources. “You cannot pay a youth coach €500 per month and expect elite players.”
Comparing Lithuania to its Baltic neighbors, Barreto offers a pragmatic assessment. “Lithuania reflects the Baltic region,” he says. “The difference is that Latvia has more money. Because of that, some of the better players choose Latvia instead of Lithuania.” In his view, financial capacity directly influences competitive level and player attraction.
During his time at Stumbras, several Lithuanian players were given opportunities abroad. Barreto singles out Nauris Petkevičius as one of the most talented prospects he has coached. “He was the most talented young player I have seen,” he says. “I opened doors. After that, whether a player stays or not depends on many factors.” When asked why some did not establish themselves abroad, he responds, “If they had no quality, they would not even get the trial.”
Rumors about links between football and criminal structures in Kaunas also surfaced during that era. Barreto dismisses them. “I didn’t speak Lithuanian,” he says with a laugh. “It would have been very difficult for me to communicate with the mafia. Nobody has seen me with anyone like that because I didn’t know them.”
After the 2018 season, Barreto left the club, as planned. His assistant João Martins briefly took over before moving to Vilnius Žalgiris. Financial management passed to Richard Walsh and other investors. By June 2019, players began leaving. That summer, Stumbras’ Europa League qualifying spot was reassigned to Kauno Žalgiris by decision of the LFF Executive Committee. Shortly afterward, the federation revoked the club’s A Lyga and First League licenses. The first team was removed from A Lyga competition, while Stumbras B was expelled from the I Lyga. Because the main team had completed more than half of its fixtures, its results stood, with remaining matches recorded as 0-3 defeats. The reserve team’s results were annulled.
Barreto says he was surprised when he learned the club had been dissolved. “It is sad the project ended like that,” he admits. “But when I leave a club, I leave completely. After 2018, I was no longer involved.”
Before football, Barreto served 18 months in Portugal’s special naval forces and later became an instructor. He holds a university degree in physical education and has worked with internationally known players such as Luis Figo, Ricardo Carvalho, Maniche and Michael Essien. His later career included roles in Russia and Saudi Arabia, where he worked on structural development projects.
Would he return to Lithuania? “I don’t know if people remember me,” he says. “But if someone believes I can help – as sporting director, head coach, even with the national team – I am open. It must be serious.”
The Stumbras project remains one of the most dramatic episodes in modern Lithuanian club football – a rapid rise, a historic cup victory, European appearances, international scrutiny and eventual administrative collapse. For Mariano Barreto, it was always meant to last three years. “You must test your ideas in new places,” he says. “That is football.”
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