LATVIA NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM

The 'Latvian national football team' (''Izlase'' in Latvian) is controlled by the Latvian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Latvia, and represents the country in international football competitions, such as World Cup and the European Championships.

Contents

History

Bad Results

World Cup record

European Championship record

Results and fixtures

Forthcoming fixtures

Recent results

Famous players

Top Latvia goalscorers

Latvia coaches

Current roster

Recent call-up

External links

History

Latvia played its first match in 1922, a game against Estonia; the result was a 1-1 draw. Latvia is the only Baltic team that has qualified to final stage of European Championship, they won the Baltic Cup 19 times.
In 1940, Latvia was annexed by the Soviet Union; the country regained its independence in 1991 and played their first match as a new nation against Estonia on November 16 of that year in the Baltic Cup, and their first FIFA-recognized match against Romania on April 8, 1992, a 0-2 loss at Bucharest.
Latvia was a surprise qualifier for the 2004 European Football Championship, after defeating Turkey in a playoff to reach the final tournament. In Euro 2004, Latvia was drawn into group D with Germany, Czech Republic, and the Netherlands. On June 15, 2004, Latvia played Czech Republic and managed to take a late first half lead with a great goal from Māris Verpakovskis. The Czechs would later come back to win the game 2-1. Four days later Latvia earned a respectable draw 0-0 against Germany to earn their first point in a major tournament. Latvia later lost to the Netherlands 3-0, and was eliminated with one point from their draw and two losses.
In the qualifying for World Cup 2006, Latvia was in group 3 with Portugal, Slovakia, Russia, Estonia, Liechtenstein, and Luxembourg. Latvia was considered as a small threat for the playoff spot. However, Latvia failed to show any surprises as they did in Euro 2004 and failed to qualify for World Cup 2006 finishing fifth with 15 points from four wins, three draws and five losses.
Vitālijs Astafjevs has played for Latvia more times than anyone else, with 129 caps currently. Ēriks Pētersons is the nation's top goal scorer with 24, while modern-day star Māris Verpakovskis is second with 20.

Bad Results

★ 2001: Latvia 1-1 San Marino

★ 2007: Luxembourg 0-0 Latvia

★ 2007: Liechtenstein 1-0 Latvia

World Cup record

★ 1930 to 1934 - ''Did not enter''

★ 1938 - ''Did not qualify''

★ 1950 to 1990 - ''Did not enter, was part of USSR''

★ 1994 to 2006 - ''Did not qualify''

European Championship record

★ 1960 to 1992 - ''Did not enter, was part of USSR''

★ 1996 - ''Did not qualify''

★ 2000 - ''Did not qualify''

★ 2004 - Round 1

Results and fixtures

Forthcoming fixtures

★ 'Euro 2008 Qualifying' Group F:

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★ Latvia v Spain, 2 June 2007 at Latvia

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★ Latvia v Denmark, 6 June 2007 at Latvia

★ 'Friendly':

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★ Latvia v Moldova, August 22, 2007 at Latvia

★ 'Euro 2008 Qualifying' Group F:

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★ Latvia v Northern Ireland, 8 September 2007 at Latvia

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★ Spain v Latvia, 12 September 2007 at Spain

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★ Iceland v Latvia, 13 October 2007 at Iceland

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★ Denmark v Latvia, 17 October 2007 at Denmark

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★ Latvia v Liechtenstein, 17 November 2007 at Latvia

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★ Sweden v Latvia, 21 November 2007 at Sweden

Recent results

This is a list of match results from the past year. Goal scorers in brackets.

★ 'Euro 2008 Qualifying' Group F:

★
★ Liechtenstein 1-0 Latvia, 28 March at Vaduz, Liechtenstein (Liechtenstein: Frick 17)

★ Cyprus International Tournament 2007:

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★ Latvia 0-2 Hungary, 7 February at Limassol, Cyprus (Hungary: Priskin 31, 52)

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★ Bulgaria 2-0 Latvia, 6 February at Larnaca, Cyprus (Bulgaria: Surņins 15 o.g., Yovov 30)

★ 'Euro 2008 Qualifying' Group F:

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★ Northern Ireland 1-0 Latvia, 11 October at Belfast, Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland: Healy 35)

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★ Latvia 4-0 Iceland, 7 October at Rīga, Latvia (Latvia: Karlsons 17, Verpakovskis 18, 28, Višņakovs 54)

★ Friendly:

★
★ Luxembourg 0-0 Latvia, 6 September at Hesperange, Luxembourg

★ 'Euro 2008 Qualifying' Group F:

★
★ Latvia 0-1 Sweden, 2 September at Rīga, Latvia (Sweden: Källström 38)

★ Friendly:

★
★ Russia 1-0 Latvia, 16 August at Moscow, Russia (Russia: V. Berezutskiy 51)

★
★ USA 1-0 Latvia, 28 May at Hartford, USA

Famous players

Before 1940:

★ Ēriks Pētersons

★ Jānis Lidmanis
After 1991:

★ Aleksandrs Koļiņko

★ Igors Stepanovs

★ Vitālijs Astafjevs

★ Māris Verpakovskis

★ Andrejs Rubins

★ Liāukas Aeykavs

Top Latvia goalscorers

Player	Latvia career	Goals (Caps)
Ēriks Pētersons	1929-1939	24 (63)
Māris Verpakovskis	1999-present	20 (61)
Marians Pahars	1996-present	15 (69)
Alberts Šeibelis	1925-1939	14 (54)
Iļja Vestermans	1935-1938	13 (23)
Mihails Zemļinskis	1992-2005	12 (105)
Vitālijs Astafjevs	1992-present	12 (131)
Juris Laizāns	1998-present	11 (80)
Arnolds Tauriņš	1925-1935	10 (39)

Latvia coaches

Coach	Latvia career
Jānis Gilis	1992-1997
Revaz Dzodzuashvili	1998-1999
Gary Johnson	1999-2001
Aleksandrs Starkovs	2001-2004
Jurijs Andrejevs	2004-2007
Aleksandrs Starkovs	2007-

Current roster

See the EURO 2004 squad.
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★ This is the team called up to play and in Euro 2008 Qualifiers
;Goalkeepers

Name	DOB	Club	Caps (goals)	Debut
Aleksandrs Koļinko	June 18 1975	FC Rubin Kazan	74 (0)	v Estonia, 9 July 1997
Andrejs Piedels	September 17 1970	Skonto FC	14 (0)	v Lithuania, 24 April 1998
Pāvels Doroševs	October 9 1980	Skonto FC	0 (0)

;Defenders

Name	DOB	Club	Caps (goals)	Debut
Igors Stepanovs	January 21 1976	Esbjerg fB	92 (3)	v Northern Ireland, 26 April 1995
Artūrs Zakreševskis	August 7 1971	FK Rīga	54 (1)
Dzintars Zirnis	April 25 1977	Liepājas Metalurgs	44 (0)	v Azerbaijan, 19 August 1997
Māris Smirnovs	June 2 1976	Górnik Zabrze	22 (0)	v Estonia, 5 July 2003
Oskars Kļava	August 8 1983	Liepājas Metalurgs	12 (0)	v Thailand, 24 December 2005
Deniss Ivanovs	January 11 1984	Liepājas Metalurgs	6 (0)	v Thailand, 24 December 2005
Kaspars Gorkšs	November 6 1981	Blackpool F.C.	6 (0)	v Thailand, 24 December 2005
Deniss Kačanovs	November 27 1979	FK Ventspils	6 (0)

;Midfielders

Name	DOB	Club	Caps (goals)	Debut
Vitālijs Astafjevs	April 3 1971	Skonto FC	131 (12)	v Denmark, 26 August 1992
Imants Bleidelis	August 16 1975	FK Jūrmala	99 (10)	v Estonia, 19 May 1995
Andrejs Rubins	November 26 1978	FC Spartak Moscow	84 (8)
Juris Laizāns	January 6 1979	FC Kuban Krasnodar	80 (11)	v Georgia, 2 June 1998
Aleksejs Višņakovs	February 3 1984	Skonto FC	20 (3)	v Oman, 1 December 2004
Genādijs Soloņicins	January 3 1980	FHK Liepājas Metalurgs	16 (1)
Andrejs Perepļotkins	December 27 1984	Skonto FC	1 (0)
Aleksandrs Cauņa	January 19 1988	Skonto FC	0 (0)

;Strikers

Name	DOB	Club	Caps (goals)	Debut
Marian Pahars	August 5 1976	Anorthosis Famagusta	69 (15)	v Cyprus, 12 March 1996
Vits Rimkus	June 21 1973	FK Ventspils	65 (10)
Māris Verpakovskis	October 15 1979	Hajduk Split	61 (20)	v Greece, 9 September 1999
Andrejs Prohorenkovs	February 5 1977	Racing de Ferrol	32 (4)	v Poland, 12 October 2003
Ģirts Karlsons	June 7 1981	Liepājas Metalurgs	16 (4)	v Kuwait, 20 December 2003

Recent call-up

The following players have all recently been called up to the Latvia squad.

Name	DOB	Club	Caps (goals)	Debut
Andris Vaņins	April 30 1980	FK Ventspils	5 (0)	v Slovakia, 4 February 2000
Pāvels Surņins	August 4 1985	Liepājas Metalurgs	2 (0)
Viktors Morozs	July 30 1980	Skonto FC	21 (0)	v Azerbaijan, 6 July 2002

External links

★ Official site of national football federation

★ RSSSF archive of Latvia national team results

★ RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers

★ UEFA.com