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Latvia

Nickname(s)	11 vilki[1] (11 Wolves)
Association	Latvijas Futbola federācija
Confederation	UEFA
Head coach	Dainis Kazakevičs
Captain	Antonijs Černomordijs
Most caps	Vitālijs Astafjevs (167)
Top scorer	Māris Verpakovskis (29)
Home stadium	Daugava Stadium
FIFA code	LVA
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	134 5 (6 October 2022)[2]
Highest	45 (November 2009)
Lowest	148 (September 2017)
First international
Latvia 1–1 Estonia  (Riga, Latvia; 24 September 1922)
Biggest win
Latvia 6–1 Lithuania  (Riga, Latvia; 30 May 1935)  Latvia 5–0 Lithuania  (Võru, Estonia; 1 June 2012)  Gibraltar 0–5 Latvia  (Gibraltar; 29 March 2016)  Andorra 0–5 Latvia  (Andorra la Vella, Andorra; 17 November 2020)
Biggest defeat
Sweden 12–0 Latvia  (Stockholm, Sweden; 29 May 1927)
European Championship
Appearances	1 (first in 2004)
Best result	Group stage (2004)

The Latvia national football team (Latvian: Latvijas futbola izlase) represents Latvia in international football and is controlled by the Latvian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Latvia. They have never qualified for the FIFA World Cup, however, they have qualified for the European Championship in 2004 under head coach Aleksandrs Starkovs.

Latvia, alongside their Baltic rivals, Lithuania and Estonia, have also participated in the local sub-regional Baltic Cup tournament, which takes place every two years. Latvia has won the Baltic Cup championship a record 13 times, more than any other country in the history of the tournament, most recently in 2018.

Latvia's current home ground is the Daugava Stadium in Riga.

History

Early years

Latvia played their first match in 1922, a game against Estonia, which finished in a 1–1 draw. Latvia have won the Baltic Cup 12 times, and played 99 official games during its pre-war period from 1922 to 1940.[3][4]

In 1937, the Latvian team participated in the first qualification tournament for the 1938 World Cup. Latvia were placed in Group 8, alongside Austria and Lithuania.[5] Latvia beat Lithuania 4–2 in Riga, after a Fricis Kaņeps hat-trick and an Iļja Vestermans goal.[5] In Kaunas, they won 5–1, after two goals each from Kaņeps, Vaclavs Borduško, and Vestermans,[5] but lost 1–2 in the decisive away match against Austria, despite an early goal from Vestermans.[5] In April 1938, the Austrian Anschluss made the Austrian team unable to participate, however, despite being the group's runner-up, Latvia was not invited to the tournament by FIFA to replace Austria .[6]

In 1940, Latvia was occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union; the country regained its independence in 1991 and played their first match against Estonia on 16 November of that year in the Baltic Cup, and their first FIFA-recognized match against Romania on 8 April 1992 in Bucharest, a match, which Latvia lost 2–0.[7]

In September 2003, Latvia surprisingly finished second, ahead of Poland, in their qualifying group for Euro 2004.[8] This meant they qualified for the play-offs, where they were drawn against Turkey. Latvia won the first leg 1–0, through top goalscorer, Māris Verpakovskis.[9] The second leg finished in a 2–2 draw, with Latvia winning 3–2 on aggregate, thus qualifying for the tournament.[10][11] This resulted in Latvia being the first and only Baltic team, as well as being the second former-Soviet state in Europe at the time (after Russia) to qualify for a European Championship.[10][11] At Euro 2004, Latvia were drawn in Group D, alongside Germany, Czech Republic, and Netherlands.[12] Latvia faced Czech Republic in their opening match on 15 June 2004, with Verpakovskis scoring before half-time.[13] However, the Czechs would later come back to win the game 2–1.[13] Four days later, Latvia earned a respectable 0–0 draw against Germany to earn their first point in a major tournament.[14] They lost their final match with 3–0 against Netherlands,[15] and were eliminated, finishing fourth, with one point from their draw and two losses.[16]

Latvia have since failed to qualify for another major tournament, although they came close to qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. After eight qualifying matches, Latvia were level on points with their next opponent, second-placed Greece, but a 5–2 defeat virtually ended all hopes of qualification and Latvia finished third in UEFA Group 2. Recent years have seen a sharp decline with many losses. In the EURO 2020 qualifiers, Latvia lost 9 out of 10 games, including a woeful 0-5 home loss to Slovenia.

Stadium

The majority of home matches take place at the Daugava Stadium in Riga. Between 2000 and 2018, the main base for the team was the Skonto Stadium, which was built as a temporary location due to the planned renovation of Daugava Stadium, which started only in 2017, with the first stage completed a year later.

Home venues record

The following table provides a summary of Latvia's results at home venues since 1992.

As of 8 June 2021.

Stadium	City / town	Pld	W	D	L	Win %	Last match hosted
Skonto Stadium	Riga	62	19	15	28	030.6	2021
Daugava Stadium	Riga	31	11	7	13	035.5	2020
Daugava Stadium	Liepāja	6	4	0	2	066.7	2016
Olympic Stadium	Ventspils	1	1	0	0	100.0	2002
ASK Stadium	Riga	1	0	0	1	000.0	1994
Ozolnieki Stadium	Ozolnieki	1	0	1	0	000.0	1994
Totals		102	35	23	44		—

Results and fixtures

2021

2022

2023

Coaching staff

As of 20 February 2020

Position	Name
Head coach	Dainis Kazakevičs
Assistant coach	Jurģis Pučinsks
	Jānis Intenbergs
	Marians Pahars
Analyst	Vladimirs Serbins
Fitness coach	Māris Smirnovs
Goalkeeping coach	Aleksandrs Proskurņins
Physiotherapist	Artūrs Ivuškāns
	Jurijs Ksenzovs
	Dmitrijs Jefremenkovs
Masseur	Sergejs Avakovs
Doctor	Boriss Novikovs
Manager	Aivars Vaivods
Kitman	Jānis Zeltiņš
Media officer	Viktors Sopirins

Coaching history

Players

Current squad

The following players have been called up for the UEFA Nations League matches against Moldova and Andorra on 22 and 25 September 2022.[17]

Caps and goals as of 25 September 2022, after the match against Andorra.[18][19]

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Pāvels Šteinbors	(1985-09-22) 22 September 1985 (age 37)	27	0	RFS
12	1GK	Krišjānis Zviedris	(1997-01-25) 25 January 1997 (age 25)	0	0	Liepāja
23	1GK	Rihards Matrevics	(1999-03-18) 18 March 1999 (age 23)	1	0	Valmiera
2	2DF	Vladislavs Sorokins	(1997-05-10) 10 May 1997 (age 25)	4	0	RFS
4	2DF	Kaspars Dubra	(1990-12-20) 20 December 1990 (age 31)	59	3	RFS
5	2DF	Antonijs Černomordijs (captain)	(1996-09-26) 26 September 1996 (age 26)	27	1	Riga
6	2DF	Elvis Stuglis	(1993-07-04) 4 July 1993 (age 29)	7	0	RFS
7	2DF	Daniels Balodis	(1998-06-10) 10 June 1998 (age 24)	0	0	Valmiera
11	2DF	Roberts Savaļnieks	(1993-02-04) 4 February 1993 (age 29)	47	2	Liepāja
13	2DF	Raivis Jurkovskis	(1996-12-07) 7 December 1996 (age 25)	33	0	Riga
17	2DF	Emīls Birka	(2000-04-25) 25 April 2000 (age 22)	0	0	Valmiera
18	2DF	Igors Tarasovs	(1988-10-16) 16 October 1988 (age 34)	46	2	Ypsonas
	2DF	Krišs Kārkliņš	(1996-01-31) 31 January 1996 (age 26)	16	0	Liepāja
3	3MF	Kristers Tobers	(2000-12-13) 13 December 2000 (age 21)	21	0	Lechia Gdańsk
8	3MF	Eduards Emsis	(1996-02-23) 23 February 1996 (age 26)	24	1	Lahti
10	3MF	Jānis Ikaunieks	(1995-02-16) 16 February 1995 (age 27)	47	11	KuPS
14	3MF	Andrejs Cigaņiks	(1997-04-12) 12 April 1997 (age 25)	38	1	DAC Dunajská Streda
16	3MF	Alvis Jaunzems	(1999-06-16) 16 June 1999 (age 23)	23	0	Valmiera
20	3MF	Artūrs Zjuzins	(1991-06-18) 18 June 1991 (age 31)	57	8	RFS
21	3MF	Maksims Toņiševs	(2000-05-12) 12 May 2000 (age 22)	0	0	Valmiera
22	3MF	Aleksejs Saveļjevs	(1999-01-30) 30 January 1999 (age 23)	8	1	Auda
9	4FW	Vladislavs Gutkovskis	(1995-04-02) 2 April 1995 (age 27)	40	11	Raków Częstochowa
15	4FW	Dāvis Ikaunieks	(1994-01-07) 7 January 1994 (age 28)	40	6	Jablonec
19	4FW	Raimonds Krollis	(2001-10-28) 28 October 2001 (age 21)	25	2	Valmiera
	4FW	Roberts Uldriķis	(1998-04-03) 3 April 1998 (age 24)	37	6	Cambuur

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up within the last twelve months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Roberts Ozols	(1995-09-10) 10 September 1995 (age 27)	15	0	Riga	v.  Azerbaijan, 29 March 2022
DF	Mārcis Ošs	(1991-07-25) 25 July 1991 (age 31)	20	1	Free agent	v.  Liechtenstein, 6 June 2022
DF	Iļja Korotkovs	(2000-05-24) 24 May 2000 (age 22)	0	0	Auda	v.  Azerbaijan, 29 March 2022
MF	Vladimirs Kamešs	(1988-10-28) 28 October 1988 (age 34)	38	3	Riga	v.  Liechtenstein, 6 June 2022
MF	Renārs Varslavāns	(2001-08-23) 23 August 2001 (age 21)	4	0	RFS	v.  Liechtenstein, 6 June 2022
MF	Mārtiņš Ķigurs	(1997-03-31) 31 March 1997 (age 25)	12	0	Liepāja	v.  Azerbaijan, 29 March 2022
MF	Vladislavs Fjodorovs	(1996-09-27) 27 September 1996 (age 26)	14	1	RFS	v.  Azerbaijan, 29 March 2022
MF	Daniels Ontužāns	(2000-03-07) 7 March 2000 (age 22)	6	0	SC Freiburg	v.  Kuwait, 25 March 2022 INJ
INJ Withdrew due to injury

Player records

As of 10 June 2022[20]

Players in bold are still active with Latvia.

Most capped players

Rank	Player	Caps	Goals	Period
1.	Vitālijs Astafjevs	167	16	1992–2010
2.	Andrejs Rubins	117	9	1998–2011
3.	Juris Laizāns	113	15	1998–2013
4.	Imants Bleidelis	106	10	1995–2007
5.	Mihails Zemļinskis	105	12	1992–2005
6.	Māris Verpakovskis	104	29	1999–2014
7.	Igors Stepanovs	100	4	1995–2011
	Andris Vaņins	100	0	2000–2019
9.	Aleksandrs Koliņko	94	0	1997–2015
10.	Kaspars Gorkšs	89	5	2005–2017

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Goals	Caps	Average	Period
1.	Māris Verpakovskis	29	104	0.28	1999–2014
2.	Ēriks Pētersons	24	63	0.38	1929–1939
3.	Vitālijs Astafjevs	16	167	0.1	1992–2010
4.	Marians Pahars	15	75	0.2	1996–2007
	Juris Laizāns	15	113	0.13	1998–2013
6.	Alberts Šeibelis	14	54	0.26	1925–1939
7.	Iļja Vestermans	13	23	0.57	1935–1938
8.	Aleksandrs Cauņa	12	45	0.27	2007–2015
	Valērijs Šabala	12	52	0.23	2013–present
	Mihails Zemļinskis	12	105	0.11	1992–2005

Hat-tricks

Player	Competition	Against	Home/Away	Result	Date
Voldemārs Žins	International Friendly	Lithuania	Home	6–3	27 July 1927
Voldemārs Plade	1929 Baltic Cup	Lithuania	Home	3–1	14 August 1929
Ēriks Pētersons	1930 Baltic Cup	Lithuania	Away	3–3	17 August 1930
Ēriks Pētersons 4	International Friendly	Lithuania	Home	5–2	30 June 1931
Ēriks Pētersons	International Friendly	Lithuania	Home	6–2	12 June 1933
Hugo Vītols	International Friendly	Lithuania	Home	6–1	30 May 1935
Fricis Kaņeps	1938 FIFA World Cup qualification	Lithuania	Home	4–2	29 July 1937

• ⁴ Player scored 4 goals

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Games
1	Andris Vaņins	25
2	Aleksandrs Koliņko	21
3	Oļegs Karavajevs	13
4	Raimonds Laizāns	12
5	Arvīds Jurgens	5
	Jānis Bebris	5
	Pāvels Šteinbors	5
8	Jānis Kļaviņš	4
	Roberts Ozols	4
10	Andrejs Piedels	2

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup record										Qualification record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930	Did not enter									Was not invited
1934										Declined participation
1938	Did not qualify									3	2	0	1	10	5
1950	Part of the  Soviet Union									Part of the  Soviet Union
1954
1958
1962
1966
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986
1990
1994	Did not qualify									12	0	5	7	4	21
1998										10	3	1	6	10	14
2002										8	1	1	6	5	16
2006										12	4	3	5	18	21
2010										10	5	2	3	18	15
2014										10	2	2	6	10	20
2018										10	2	1	7	7	18
2022										10	2	3	5	11	14
2026	To be determined									To be determined
Total		0/11								85	21	18	46	93	144

UEFA European Championship

UEFA European Championship record											Qualifying record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	Squad		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1960	Part of the  Soviet Union										Part of the  Soviet Union
1964
1968
1972
1976
1980
1984
1988
1992
1996	Did not qualify										10	4	0	6	11	20
2000											10	3	4	3	13	12
2004	Group stage	14th	3	0	1	2	1	5	Squad		10	6	2	2	13	8
2008	Did not qualify										12	4	0	8	15	17
2012											10	3	2	5	9	12
2016											10	0	5	5	6	19
2020											10	1	0	9	3	28
2024	To be determined										To be determined
Total	Group stage	1/7	3	0	1	2	1	5	—		72	21	13	38	70	116

UEFA Nations League

UEFA Nations League record
Season	Division	Group	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	P/R	RK
2018–19	D	1	6	0	4	2	2	6		51st
2020–21	D	1	6	1	4	1	8	4		53rd
2022–23	D	1	6	4	1	1	12	5		50th
2024–25	C	To be determined
Total			18	5	9	4	22	15	50th

Baltic Cup

Baltic Cup record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1928	Champions	1st	2	2	0	0	4	0
1929	Runners-up	2nd	2	1	1	0	5	3
1930	Runners-up	2nd	2	1	1	0	6	5
1931	Runners-up	2nd	2	1	0	1	2	3
1932	Champions	1st	2	2	0	0	5	1
1933	Abandoned	1st	2	1	1	0	3	2
1935	Runners-up	2nd	2	0	2	0	3	3
1936	Champions	1st	2	2	0	0	4	2
1937	Champions	1st	2	1	1	0	6	2
1938	Runners-up	2nd	2	0	2	0	2	2
1991	Runners-up	2nd	2	1	1	0	3	1
1992	Runners-up	2nd	2	1	0	1	4	4
1993	Champions	1st	2	1	1	0	2	0
1994	Runners-up	2nd	2	1	0	1	2	1
1995	Champions	1st	2	2	0	0	4	0
1996	Third place	3rd	2	0	1	1	2	3
1997	Runners-up	2nd	2	1	0	1	2	2
1998	Runners-up	2nd	2	1	0	1	2	1
2001	Champions	1st	2	2	0	0	7	2
2003	Champions	1st	2	1	1	0	2	1
2005	Runners-up	2nd	1	0	0	1	0	2
2008	Champions	1st	2	2	0	0	3	1
2010	Runners-up	2nd	2	0	2	0	0	0
2012	Champions	1st	2	2	0	0	6	1
2014	Champions	1st	2	2	0	0	1	0
2016	Champions	1st	2	1	1	0	2	1
2018	Champions	1st	2	1	1	0	2	1
2020	Runners-up	2nd	2	1	0	1	4	3
Total	13 Titles	28/28	55	31	16	8	88	47

Olympic Games

Olympic Games record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squad
1924	Second round	15th	1	0	0	1	0	7	Squad
Total	Second round	1/1	1	0	0	1	0	7	—

Head-to-head record

As of 11 October 2021 after match against  Turkey[21]

Opponent	Pld	W	D *	L	GF	GA	GD
Albania	5	0	5	0	6	6	0
Andorra	9	6	3	0	19	1	+18
Angola	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
Armenia	2	1	1	0	2	0	+2
Austria	9	2	1	6	9	24	−15
Azerbaijan	4	0	3	1	3	5	−2
Bahrain	1	0	1	0	2	2	0
Belarus	6	1	1	4	7	13	−6
Belgium	2	0	0	2	1	7	−6
Bolivia	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1
Bosnia and Herzegovina	2	0	0	2	1	9	−8
Brazil	1	0	0	1	0	3	−3
Bulgaria	3	0	0	3	0	6	−6
China	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1
Croatia	4	0	0	4	1	10	−9
Cyprus	2	0	0	2	0	3	−3
Czech Republic	5	0	1	4	4	13	−9
Denmark	4	0	1	3	1	7	−6
Estonia	60	28	21	11	94	62	+32
Finland	17	4	3	10	18	32	−14
Faroe Islands	5	0	4	1	3	5	−2
France	1	0	0	1	0	7	−7
Georgia	10	3	2	5	10	18	−8
Germany	4	0	1	3	2	13	−11
Ghana	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1
Gibraltar	3	2	0	1	8	2	+6
Greece	8	1	2	5	6	13	−7
Honduras	1	0	0	1	1	2	−1
Hungary	7	1	0	6	7	16	−9
Iceland	6	2	2	2	11	11	0
Israel	8	1	1	6	6	18	−12
Japan	2	0	1	1	2	5	−3
Kazakhstan	7	2	4	1	7	5	+2
Kosovo	1	0	0	1	3	4	−1
Kuwait	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2
Liechtenstein	9	7	1	1	15	4	+11
Lithuania	56	29	12	15	119	77	+42
Luxembourg	7	6	1	0	20	4	+16
Malta	7	3	1	3	8	5	+3
Moldova	3	2	0	1	6	5	+1
Montenegro	4	0	2	2	2	5	−3
Netherlands	5	0	0	5	0	14	−14
North Korea	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1
North Macedonia	3	0	0	3	2	7	−5
Northern Ireland	7	2	0	5	4	8	−4
Norway	3	1	0	2	4	5	-1
Oman	2	1	0	1	4	4	0
Poland	15	2	2	11	15	40	−25
Portugal	6	0	0	6	4	18	−14
Qatar	1	0	0	1	1	3	−2
Republic of Ireland	5	0	0	5	1	14	−13
Romania	5	0	1	4	0	9	−9
Russia	4	0	1	3	2	7	−5
San Marino	5	4	1	0	9	1	+8
Saudi Arabia	1	0	0	1	0	2	–2
Scotland	4	0	0	4	1	7	−6
Slovakia	5	0	3	2	5	9	−4
Slovenia	5	1	0	4	2	9	−7
South Korea	2	0	0	2	0	2	−2
Spain	4	0	1	3	0	9	−9
Sweden	17	2	4	11	12	54	−42
Switzerland	5	0	1	4	3	9	−6
Thailand	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
Tunisia	1	0	0	1	0	3	−3
Turkey	8	1	5	2	13	15	−2
Ukraine	3	0	1	2	1	3	−2
United States	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1
Uzbekistan	1	0	0	1	0	3	−3
Wales	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2
Total	408	116	98	194	489	678	−189

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Kits and crest

Latvia's kit is traditionally a carmine red jersey with white trim, carmine red shorts and socks, whilst their current away kit is all predominantly white. Latvia's kits have been produced by various manufacturers. Rather than displaying the logo of the Latvian Football Federation, Latvia's jersey from the 2018 features the Latvia National Teams brand #11wolves.

Kit suppliers

Kit supplier	Period
Umbro	1992-1994
Adidas	1994-1996
Tro	1996-1998
Puma	1998-2000
Tramondi	2000-2002
Adidas	2002–present

See also

• Latvia national under-21 football team
• Latvia national under-19 football team
• Latvia national under-17 football team

References

External links

• Official website (in Latvian)
• Latvia at FIFA
• Latvia at UEFA
• Latvia at RSSSF

На других языках

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- [en] Latvia national football team

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[ru] Сборная Латвии по футболу

Национа́льная сбо́рная Ла́твии по футбо́лу (латыш. Latvijas Nacionālā futbola izlase) — сборная, представляющая Латвию на международных соревнованиях по футболу. До присоединения к СССР ни разу не играла в финальной стадии чемпионатов мира, после распада СССР один раз приняла участие в чемпионате Европы — в 2004 году.

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