The Latvia national handball team is the national

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

team of

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

and is controlled by the Latvian Handball Federation. It has competed since 1993, playing its opening match in the 1994 European Championship qualifiers against

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

on 15 April 1993 in

Nicosia Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities. Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...

, winning 32:28. In 2019 the team qualified for the 2020 European Championships for the first time in their history, previously reaching the qualification play-off stage in 2005. The team has not yet qualified for neither the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

nor

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

, with their best results so far being participation in the world qualifiers play-offs in 2004 and 2016. To this date Andris Gulbis has had the longest stint managing the team, working in 1998 and from 2005 to 2010. From 2017 til the end of Euro 2020 the team was managed by former player Armands Uščins. The current head coach is Sandris Veršakovs.

Competitive record

European Championship

IHF Emerging Nations Championship

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

– 1st place

Team

Current squad

Squad for the

2020 European Men's Handball Championship The 2020 EHF European Men's Handball Championship was the 14th edition of the tournament and the first to feature 24 national teams. It was co-hosted for the first time in three countries – Austria, Norway and Sweden – from 9 to 26 January ...

. Head coach: Armands Uščins

Notable players

* Aivis Jurdžs * Evars Klešniks * Dainis Krištopāns * Ēriks Velde – a member of the

1964 World Men's Handball Championship The 1964 World Men's Handball Championship was the fifth team handball World Championship. It was held in Czechoslovakia. Romania won the championship. Preliminary round Group A All games are played in Gottwaldov. Group B All gam ...

All-Star Team

References

External links

*
IHF profile
Men's national handball teams

Handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

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