Vasco Vujovich and Vadim Lashenko Photo: LFF
The Latvian national football team will be led by Montenegrin specialist Vasko Vujovičs, the Latvian Football Federation (LFF) announced on Tuesday. Vasko Vujovičs, a 48-year-old Montenegrin specialist, has been confirmed as the head coach of the Latvian national indoor football team, with whom a 1 + 1 year contract will be signed.
From 2017 to 2022, he led Finland’s strongest club, Kampuksen Dynamo, from Jyväskylä, with which he became the Finnish champion four times, was named the best coach of the championship four times and regularly participated in the UEFA Champions League tournament. At the same time he did an internship for the Serbian national team and several clubs in Spain.
“This is a new page in my career. I see that this will be a new page in Latvian indoor football as well. I very much appreciate this offer to work with the Latvian national football team and from the bottom of my heart I would like to contribute to Latvian indoor football, because there is a good potential to achieve good results here. In Finnish football, I achieved my best and a new challenge is needed. I would like to pay tribute to the previous coach of the Latvian national team Artūrs Šketovas for what he has done. With the opening of the new page, I will try to give the team a new philosophy. I am sure that the players will like it, ”says the head coach of the Latvian national team. “I would like to think that my main hallmark is the winning mentality. I believe that it can be given step by step to any player of the Latvian national team, as a result of which we will create a better team through culture, ethics and my philosophy. Of course, time will tell what the results will be. ”
During his career, the Montenegrin specialist received a wide range of theoretical and practical training, including the qualification of indoor football coach in Montenegro, the B-UEFA “Futsal” category and the A-FIFA “Futsal” category.
“Vasco has long been in our sight as a good indoor football coach. As a Finnish champion, he also played against our own FC Raba. This year, too, he was recognized as the best coach in Finland, and his attitude and working methods have received good feedback from the Finnish Football Federation and other colleagues in European indoor football. During our meeting, talking about the development of Latvian indoor football, we found a lot in common and discussed interesting ideas that could be implemented here. The coach has a plan to invite one of the Latvian specialists to each sample run, thus creating a rotation and giving experience to our coaches. We feel that he has also followed the events of Latvian indoor football and knew a lot about it. This will be a new challenge for him, because after a lot of success in Finland, it is time to take the next step in his career, and we are ready to give such an opportunity, ”comments Vadim Lashenko, President of LFF.
Vujovich will prepare a team for the 2024 World Cup qualifiers, in which the national team will participate from the qualifying round. In it, the 36 leading European teams will be divided into 12 subgroups of three each, playing a two-round tournament with home and away games. The draw is scheduled for July 6, but the games are scheduled for March 2023.
