Latvia national football team

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Latvia
Association	Latvian Football Federation
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Aleksandrs Starkovs, 2007-
Captain	Vitālijs Astafjevs
Most caps	Vitālijs Astafjevs (131)
Top scorer	Māris Verpakovskis (23)
Home stadium	Skonto stadions
FIFA code	LVA
FIFA ranking	75
Highest FIFA ranking	51 (December 2003)
Lowest FIFA ranking	111 (July 2007)
Elo ranking	88
First kit 　 Second kit
First international
Latvia 1 - 1 Estonia  (Riga, Latvia; 24 September 1922)
Biggest win
Latvia 6 - 1 Lithuania  (Tallinn, Estonia; 30 May 1935)
Biggest defeat
Sweden 12 - 0 Latvia (Stockholm, Sweden; 29 May 1927)
European Championship
Appearances	1 (First in 2004)
Best result	Round 1, 2004

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 1 History 2 World Cup record 3 European Championship record 4 Results and fixtures 4.1 Forthcoming fixtures 4.2 Recent results 5 Famous players 6 Top Latvia goalscorers 7 Latvia coaches 8 Current Squad 9 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification 9.1 Recent call-up 10 External links

[edit] History

Latvia played their first match in 1922, a game against Estonia; the result was a 1-1 draw. Latvia are the only Baltic team that has qualified for a European Championship and have 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 were surprise qualifiers for the 2004 European Football Championship, after defeating Turkey in a playoff to reach the final tournament. They were drawn into group D with Germany, Czech Republic, and the Netherlands. On June 15, 2004, Latvia played Czech Republic and took half-time lead with a 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 were eliminated with one point from their draw and two losses.

In the qualifying for World Cup 2006, Latvia were in group 3 with Portugal, Slovakia, Russia, Estonia, Liechtenstein, and Luxembourg. Latvia were considered as a small threat for the playoff spot. However, they 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 131 caps currently. Māris Verpakovskis is the nation's top goal scorer with 23, while Marians Pahars has 15.

[edit] 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

[edit] European Championship record

• 1960 to 1992 - Did not enter, was part of USSR
• 1996 - Did not qualify
• 2000 - Did not qualify
• 2004 - Round 1
• 2008 - Did not qualify

[edit] Results and fixtures

[edit] Forthcoming fixtures

• Euro 2008 Qualifying Group F:
  • Sweden v Latvia, 21 November 2007 at Sweden

[edit] Recent results

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

• Euro 2008 Qualifying Group F:
  • Latvia 4-1 Liechtenstein, 17 November 2007 at Latvia
  • Denmark 3-1 Latvia, 17 October at Denmark
  • Iceland 2-4 Latvia, 13 October at Iceland
  • Spain 2-0 Latvia, 12 September at Spain
  • Latvia 1-0 Northern Ireland, 8 September at Latvia
  • Latvia 0-2 Denmark, 6 June at Latvia
  • Latvia 0-2 Spain, 2 June at Latvia
  • Liechtenstein 1-0 Latvia, 28 March at Vaduz, Liechtenstein (Liechtenstein: Frick 17)
• Cyprus International Tournament 2007:
  • Latvia 0-2 Hungary, 7 February at Limassol, Cyprus (Hungary: Priskin 31, 52)
  • Bulgaria 2-0 Latvia, 6 February at Larnaca, Cyprus (Bulgaria: Surņins 15 o.g., Yovov 30)
• Euro 2008 Qualifying Group F:
  • Northern Ireland 1-0 Latvia, 11 October at Belfast, Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland: Healy 35)
  • Latvia 4-0 Iceland, 7 October at Rīga, Latvia (Latvia: Karlsons 17, Verpakovskis 18, 28, Višņakovs 54)
• Friendly:
  • Latvia 1-2 Moldova, 22 August at Latvia
  • 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

[edit] Famous players

Before 1940:

• Ēriks Pētersons
• Jānis Lidmanis
• Alberts Šeibelis

After 1991:

• Aleksandrs Koļiņko
• Igors Stepanovs
• Vitālijs Astafjevs
• Māris Verpakovskis
• Andrejs Rubins
• Marians Pahars
• Juris Laizāns

[edit] Top Latvia goalscorers

Player	Latvia career	Goals (Caps)
Māris Verpakovskis	1999-present	23 (64)
Ēriks Pētersons	1929-1939	21 (63)
Marians Pahars	1996-2007	15 (69)
Juris Laizāns	1998-present	15 (91)
Alberts Šeibelis	1925-1939	14 (54)
Iļja Vestermans	1935-1938	13 (23)
Mihails Zemļinskis	1992-2005	12 (105)
Vitālijs Astafjevs	1992-present	12 (131)
Arnolds Tauriņš	1925-1935	10 (39)

[edit] 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-

[edit] Current Squad

This article or section needs to be updated. Please update the article to reflect recent events / newly available information, and remove this template when finished.

See the EURO 2004 squad.

---

As of May 25, 2008.

Goalkeepers

Name	DOB	Club	Caps (goals)	Debut
Aleksandrs Koļinko	June 18, 1975	FC Rubin Kazan	80 (0)	v Estonia, 9 July 1997
Andris Vaņins	April 30, 1980	FK Ventspils	12 (0)	v Slovakia, 4 February 2000
Deniss Romanovs	February 6, 1978	Dinamo Bucharest	2 (0)
Pāvels Doroševs	October 9, 1980	Skonto FC	0 (0)

Defenders

Name	DOB	Club	Caps (goals)	Debut
Dzintars Zirnis	April 25, 1977	Liepājas Metalurgs	55 (0)	v Azerbaijan, 19 August 1997
Oskars Kļava	August 8, 1983	Liepājas Metalurgs	22 (1)	v Thailand, 24 December 2005
Deniss Ivanovs	January 11, 1984	Liepājas Metalurgs	17 (1)	v Thailand, 24 December 2005
Kaspars Gorkšs	November 6, 1981	Blackpool F.C.	15 (1)	v Thailand, 24 December 2005
Deniss Kačanovs	November 27, 1979	FK Ventspils	10 (0)
Roberts Mežeckis	January 29, 1981	FK Riga	0 (0)
Igors Savčenkovs	November 3, 1982	FK Ventspils	0 (0)

Midfielders

Name	DOB	Club	Caps (goals)	Debut
Vitālijs Astafjevs	April 3, 1971	Skonto FC	142 (14)	v Denmark, 26 August 1992
Andrejs Rubins	November 26, 1978	FHK Liepājas Metalurgs	93 (8)
Juris Laizāns	January 6, 1979	FC Shinnik Yaroslavl	90 (14)	v Georgia, 2 June 1998
Vladimirs Koļesničenko	May 4, 1980	FK Ventspils	31 (4)
Aleksejs Višņakovs	February 3, 1984	Skonto FC	28 (4)	v Oman, 1 December 2004
Genādijs Soloņicins	January 3, 1980	FHK Liepājas Metalurgs	24 (1)
Aleksandrs Cauņa	January 19, 1988	Skonto FC	4 (0)
Jurijs Žigajevs	November 14, 1985	FK Riga	4 (0)
Maksims Rafaļskis	May 14, 1984	FK Riga	0 (0)

Strikers

Name	DOB	Club	Caps (goals)	Debut
Vits Rimkus	June 21, 1973	FK Ventspils	72 (11)
Ģirts Karlsons	June 7, 1981	De Graafschap	18 (1)	v Kuwait, 20 December 2003
Andrejs Perepļotkins	December 27, 1984	Skonto FC	5 (1)
Andrejs Butriks	December 20, 1982	FK Ventspils	2 (0)

[edit] 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Greece 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  Israel 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  Switzerland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  Moldova 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  Latvia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  Luxembourg 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

– 1 Apr '09 10 Oct '09 14 Oct '09 11 Oct '08 15 Oct '08 28 Mar '09 – 5 Sep '09 9 Sep '09 10 Oct '09 6 Sep '08 10 Sep '08 15 Oct '08 – 1 Apr '09 14 Oct '09 9 Sep '09 6 Sep '08 11 Oct '08 28 Mar '09 – 15 Oct '08 10 Oct '09 9 Sep '09 10 Sep '08 6 Sep '08 5 Sep '09 – 28 Mar '09 5 Sep '09 14 Oct '09 11 Oct '08 10 Sep '08 1 Apr '09 –

[edit] Recent call-up

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

Name	DOB	Club	Caps (goals)	Debut
Pāvels Surņins	August 4, 1985	Liepājas Metalurgs	2 (0)
Viktors Morozs	July 30, 1980	Skonto FC	21 (0)	v Azerbaijan, 6 July 2002

[edit] 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

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