The Latvia national football team ( lv, Latvijas futbola izlase) represents

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

in international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and is controlled by the

Latvian Football Federation The Latvian Football Federation (LFF) ( lv, Latvijas Futbola federācija) is the governing body of football in Latvia with its headquarters located in the capital Rimi Sports Centre in Riga. Its activities include the organizing of the Latvian ...

, the governing body for football in Latvia. They have never qualified for the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

, however, they have qualified for the European Championship in 2004 under head coach

Aleksandrs Starkovs Aleksandrs Starkovs (born 26 July 1955) is a Latvian football coach and a former player. Most recently he coached FK Liepāja. Starkovs has managed clubs such as Spartak Moscow in Russia, FK Baku in Azerbaijan and Skonto FC in Latvia. He had t ...

. Latvia, alongside their

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

rivals,

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

and

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

, 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 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

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

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

History

Early years

Latvia played their first match in 1922, a game against

, 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. In 1937, the Latvian team participated in the first qualification tournament for the 1938 World Cup. Latvia were placed in Group 8, alongside

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

. Latvia beat Lithuania 4–2 in Riga, after a

Fricis Kaņeps Fricis Kaņeps (10 August 1916, in Ventspils – 30 November 1981, in Staicele) was a Latvian footballer. He was one of the most powerful Latvian forwards of the 1930s who didn't have a very good technique but compensated it mostly by his physica ...

hat-trick and an

Iļja Vestermans Iļja Vestermans (28 September 1915 – 2005) was a Latvian football forward of Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins an ...

goal. In

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

, they won 5–1, after two goals each from Kaņeps, Vaclavs Borduško, and Vestermans, but lost 1–2 in the decisive away match against Austria, despite an early goal from Vestermans. In April 1938, the Austrian

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

made the Austrian team unable to participate, however, despite being the group's runner-up, Latvia was not invited to the tournament by

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

to replace Austria . In 1940, Latvia was occupied and annexed by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

; the country regained its independence in 1991 and played their first match against

on 16 November of that year in the Baltic Cup, and their first

-recognized match against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

on 8 April 1992 in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, a match, which Latvia lost 2–0. Latvian kannattajia

In September 2003, Latvia surprisingly finished second, ahead of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, in their qualifying group for

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

. This meant they qualified for the play-offs, where they were drawn against

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. Latvia won the first leg 1–0, through top goalscorer,

Māris Verpakovskis Māris Verpakovskis (born 15 October 1979), is a Latvian retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He represented the Latvia national team at UEFA Euro 2004 and is the only Latvian player to score at the end stage of a major int ...

. The second leg finished in a 2–2 draw, with Latvia winning 3–2 on aggregate, thus qualifying for the tournament. This resulted in Latvia being the first and only

team, as well as being the second former-Soviet state in Europe at the time (after Russia) to qualify for a European Championship. At Euro 2004, Latvia were drawn in Group D, alongside

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, and

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Latvia faced Czech Republic in their opening match on 15 June 2004, with Verpakovskis scoring before half-time. However, the Czechs would later come back to win the game 2–1. Four days later, Latvia earned a respectable 0–0 draw against Germany to earn their first point in a major tournament. They lost their final match with 3–0 against Netherlands, and were eliminated, finishing fourth, with one point from their draw and two losses. Latvia have since failed to qualify for another major tournament, although they came close to qualifying for the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

. After eight qualifying matches, Latvia were level on points with their next opponent, second-placed

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, 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

. Between 2000 and 2018, the main base for the team was the

Skonto Stadium Skonto Stadium ( lv, Skonto stadions) is a football stadium in Riga, Latvia. The stadium was built in 2000 and currently has 8,087 seats in total (open for spectators & VIP guests on matchdays). It is the 2nd-largest stadium in Latvia, behind Dau ...

, 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. .

Results and fixtures

2022

2023

Coaching staff

Coaching history

*Technical Commission (1922–1923) * Juris Rēdlihs-Raiskums (1924) * Willy Malousek (1924) * Walter Wilson (1925) *

Ferenc Molnár Ferenc Molnár ( , ; born Ferenc Neumann; 12 January 18781 April 1952), often anglicized as Franz Molnar, was a Hungarian-born author, stage-director, dramatist, and poet, widely regarded as Hungary’s most celebrated and controversial play ...

(1926) * Karl Kurz (1927) * Willy Malousek (1929) * Juris Rēdlihs-Raiskums (1930–1931) * Jānis Lapiņš (1932–1934) * Ferenc Voggenhuber (1935) * Rudolf Stanzel (1936–1939) * Kārlis Upenieks (1940) *

Jānis Gilis Jānis Gilis (27 April 1943 – 13 September 2000), was the first general manager of Latvia national football team after Latvia regained independence. Playing career His first senior team was ASK Riga. From 1965 to 1968 Gilis played in the s ...

(1992–1997) *

Revaz Dzodzuashvili Revaz Mikheilis dze Dzodzuashvili ( ka, რევაზ მიხეილის ძე ძოძუაშვილი; born 15 April 1945) is a Georgian football manager and a former player. He coaches FC Dinamo Sukhumi. He earned 49 caps for t ...

(1998–1999) *

Gary Johnson Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman, author, and politician. He served as the 29th governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party. He was the Libertarian Party nominee for Presid ...

(1999–2001) *

(2001–2004) *

Jurijs Andrejevs Jurijs Andrejevs (born 16 January 1957 in Riga, Latvia, USSR) is a former footballer who is currently the sporting director of Latvian Football Federation. Previously he was the manager of the team but was released in 2008 after an unsuccess ...

(2004–2007) *

(2007–2013) *

Marians Pahars Marians Pahars (born 5 August 1976) is a Latvian professional football manager and a former player. As a player, he spent the majority of his career operating as a striker for English club Southampton, where he played in the Premier League an ...

(2013–2017) *

(2017–2018) *

Mixu Paatelainen Mika-Matti Petteri Paatelainen (born 3 February 1967) is a Finnish former professional football player and the head coach of Veikkausliiga club HIFK. He scored 18 goals in 70 appearances for the Finnish national team, which makes him Finland's ...

(2018) *

Slaviša Stojanovič Slaviša Stojanović (born 6 December 1969) is a Slovenian professional football manager and former player. As manager, Stojanović has won the Slovenian PrvaLiga twice, with Domžale, and the Serbian SuperLiga once, with Red Star Belgrade. Mana ...

(2019–2020) * Dainis Kazakevičs (2020–present)

Players

Current squad

The following players have been called up for the

2022 Baltic Cup The 2022 Baltic Cup was the 29th Baltic Cup, an international football tournament contested by the Baltic states. Iceland won their first ever title and was the first guest team in the tournament to ever win it. Format This year Iceland joine ...

matches on 16 and 19 November 2022. ''Caps and goals as of 25 September 2022, after the match against

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

.''

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up within the last twelve months. ^INJ Withdrew due to injury

Player records

:''Players in bold are still active with Latvia.''

Most capped players

Top goalscorers

Hat-tricks

* ⁴ Player scored 4 goals

Clean sheets

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

UEFA European Championship

UEFA Nations League

Baltic Cup

Olympic Games

Head-to-head record

''As of 11 October 2021 after match against '' :''*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

, Latvia's jersey from the 2018 features the Latvia National Teams brand #11wolves.

Kit suppliers

References

External links

Official website

Latvia
at

Latvia
at

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...