Latvia national football team

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 relegated the Austrian team, however, Latvia was not invited to the tournament by FIFA as the group's runner-up.[6]

Latvian fans at Euro 2004

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, though 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.

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.

As of 19 November 2019 after match against  Austria[17]

Opponent	Pld	W	D *	L	GF	GA	GD
Albania	5	0	5	0	6	6	0
Andorra	7	5	2	0	14	1	+13
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 PR	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	59	28	21	10	93	60	+33
Finland	17	4	3	10	18	32	−14
Faroe Islands	3	0	2	1	1	3	−2
France	1	0	0	1	0	7	−7
Georgia	10	3	2	5	10	18	−8
Germany	3	0	1	2	1	6	−5
Ghana	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1
Gibraltar	2	1	0	1	5	1	+4
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	55	28	12	15	116	76	+40
Luxembourg	7	6	1	0	20	4	+16
Malta	5	3	0	2	7	3	+4
Moldova	3	2	0	1	6	5	+1
Montenegro	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2
Netherlands	3	0	0	3	0	11	−11
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	2	1	0	1	4	3	+1
Oman	1	0	0	1	2	3	−1
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	4	3	1	0	6	1	+5
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	6	1	4	1	9	10	−1
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	392	112	91	189	467	660	−193

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Head coaches

Vitālijs Astafjevs played for Latvia more than anyone else, with 167 caps from 1992 to 2010.[18] He also held the European record for 7 years for most matches played for the national team from 2009 until March 2017, when his record was beaten by Gianluigi Buffon.[19] Astafjevs has netted 16 times.[19] Aleksejs Višņakovs is the most capped active player for Latvia with 81 appearances, as of November 2020.[19] Māris Verpakovskis is the nation's top goalscorer with 29 goals.[19] Other high scorers include Ēriks Pētersons with 24 goals scored in the 1930s and Marians Pahars and Juris Laizāns, who both scored 15 goals each for Latvia.[19]

Current squad

The following players have been called up for the friendly game against San Marino on 11 November 2020 and 2020–21 UEFA Nations League matches against Faroe Islands on 14 November 2020 and Andorra on 17 November 2020.
All caps and goals as of 13 October 2020 after the match against Malta.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
12	1GK	Roberts Ozols	(1995-09-10) 10 September 1995	4	0	Riga
-	1GK	Kaspars Ikstens	(1988-06-05) 5 June 1988	2	0	RFS
23	1GK	Dāvis Ošs	(1994-12-03) 3 December 1994	0	0	Spartaks Jūrmala
4	2DF	Kaspars Dubra	(1990-12-20) 20 December 1990	42	3	Oleksandriya
3	2DF	Mārcis Ošs	(1991-07-25) 25 July 1991	14	1	Lugano
13	2DF	Raivis Jurkovskis	(1996-12-07) 7 December 1996	11	0	Dundalk F.C.
6	2DF	Antonijs Černomordijs	(1996-09-26) 26 September 1996	8	1	Riga
21	2DF	Krišs Kārkliņš	(1996-01-31) 31 January 1996	6	0	Valmiera
5	2DF	Elvis Stuglis	(1993-07-04) 4 July 1993	3	0	Riga
2	2DF	Vladislavs Sorokins	(1997-05-10) 10 May 1997	1	0	RFS
17	3MF	Artūrs Zjuzins	(1991-06-18) 18 June 1991	40	7	RFS
-	3MF	Ritvars Rugins	(1989-10-17) 17 October 1989	39	0	Riga
10	3MF	Jānis Ikaunieks	(1995-02-16) 16 February 1995	32	6	RFS
-	3MF	Vladimirs Kamešs	(1988-10-28) 28 October 1988	27	3	Riga
11	3MF	Roberts Savaļnieks	(1993-02-04) 4 February 1993	24	0	RFS
14	3MF	Andrejs Cigaņiks	(1997-04-12) 12 April 1997	13	0	Zorya Luhansk
15	3MF	Vladislavs Fjodorovs	(1996-09-27) 27 September 1996	8	1	Riga
19	3MF	Mārtiņš Ķigurs	(1997-03-31) 31 March 1997	9	0	Liepāja
16	3MF	Alvis Jaunzems	(1999-06-16) 16 June 1999	5	0	Valmiera
8	3MF	Daniels Ontužāns	(2000-03-07) 7 March 2000	5	0	Bayern Munich II
-	3MF	Aleksejs Saveljevs	(1999-01-30) 30 January 1999	3	0	Mantova
2	3MF	Eduards Tīdenbergs	(1994-12-18) 18 December 1994	1	0	Liepāja
-	3MF	Ingars Stuglis	(1996-02-12) 12 February 1996	1	0	Liepāja
9	4FW	Dāvis Ikaunieks	(1994-01-07) 7 January 1994	27	4	Mladá Boleslav
22	4FW	Vladislavs Gutkovskis	(1995-04-02) 2 April 1995	23	2	Raków Częstochowa
16	4FW	Raimonds Krollis	(2001-10-28) 28 October 2001	4	1	METTA/LU

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	Pāvels Šteinbors	(1985-09-21) 21 September 1985	15	0	Jagiellonia Białystok	v.  Malta, 13 October 2020
MF	Igors Tarasovs	(1988-10-16) 16 October 1988	36	2	Ethnikos Achna	v.  Faroe Islands, 14 November 2020INJ
MF	Gļebs Kļuškins	(1992-10-01) 1 October 1992	19	2	Sūduva	v.  Malta, 13 October 2020
MF	Eduards Emsis	(1996-02-23) 23 February 1996	5	0	Noah	v.  San Marino, 11 November 2020INJ
MF	Kristers Tobers	(2000-12-13) 13 December 2000	8	0	Lechia Gdańsk	v.  Malta, 13 October 2020
FW	Roberts Uldriķis	(1998-04-03) 3 April 1998	18	1	Sion	v.  Faroe Islands, 14 November 2020CLUB
Notes COV = Withdrew because of COVID-19. U21 = Was called up from national U21 squad. WD = The player withdrew for private reasons. PRE = Preliminary squad. CLUB = It is not part of the current squad after the club has not allowed him to join. INJ = It is not part of the current squad due to injury.

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

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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Latvia national football team.

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