Latvia national under-21 football team

Latvia Under-21

Nickname(s)	Sarkanbaltsarkanie (The red-white-reds)
Association	Latvian Football Federation
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Dainis Kazakevičs
Captain	Vladislavs Gutkovskis
Most caps	Endijs Šlampe, Reinis Flaksis (31)
Top scorer	Edgars Gauračs (10)
First colours Second colours
First international
Latvia 0 - 0 Lithuania (Vilnius, Lithuania; 28 October 1992)
Biggest win
Latvia 5 - 1 Romania (Riga, Latvia; 9 October 2009)
Biggest defeat
Latvia 0 - 6 Greece (Athens, Greece; 9 June 1999) Latvia 1 - 7 Switzerland (Lugano, Switzerland; 8 September 2014)

The Latvia national under-21 football team represents the under-21s of Latvia and is controlled by the Latvian Football Federation, the governing body of football in Latvia. The team competes in the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, held every two years. The team is coached by former Latvia football team and Southampton F.C. player Marians Pahars and is currently captained by defender Vitālijs Jagodinskis.

Following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976, under-21 football teams in Europe were formed, while Latvian team was formed only in 1991, after regaining independence from USSR. The team is exclusively for football players that are aged 21 or under at the start of the two-year campaign of the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship meaning a player can represent the national team until the age of 23. Many U-21 players later represent the senior side.

Latvia U-21 have never yet qualified for the European U-21 championships, but has produced many players, who have become regular internationals for the senior side. Oskars Kļava, Deniss Ivanovs, Edgars Gauračs and Artjoms Rudņevs have all played for the U-21 side and are now first eleven players for Latvia internationally.

Latvia U-21 team plays its home matches at the Skonto stadions, which is also the home stadium of Latvia senior side. Before the opening of the Skonto stadions the team played its home matches in many different venues all around the country, including Ozolnieki, Daugavpils and Liepāja.

History

As a team, Latvia U-21 was formed in 1992, after regaining independence from the USSR. The team played its first match in Vilnius, Lithuania on October 28, 1992 that ended in a 0-0 draw. The team firstly participated in the European Championship qualification in 1994, playing the first match in Riga against Ireland U-21 on September 6, that ended in a 1-1 draw.^[1] Since 2001 the team also participates in the Baltic Cup, winning in 2008. Since 1992 Latvia have already played more than 100 matches.

Current players

The following squad has been called up for the 2017 EC qualification matches, taking place in Malta and Belgium on 7 October and 11 October 2016.

Players in bold have represented Latvia on senior level. Data as per LFF.

0#0	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	GK	Vladislavs Kurakins	9 July 1996	16	0	Spartaks Jūrmala
	GK	Kristaps Zommers	7 January 1997	4	0	Parma
	DF	Reinis Flaksis (captain)	3 April 1994	31	1	Rīgas Futbola skola
	DF	Endijs Šlampe	24 July 1994	31	0	Liepāja
	DF	Dmitrijs Klimaševičs	16 April 1995	30	4	BFC Daugavpils
	DF	Ņikita Bērenfelds	7 June 1995	17	0	Liepāja
	DF	Antonijs Černomordijs	26 September 1996	14	1	Riga
	DF	Viktors Litvinskis	7 February 1996	13	0	Jelgava
	DF	Vladislavs Sorokins	10 May 1997	9	0	Rīgas Futbola skola
	DF	Antons Tumanovs	16 April 1997	4	0	Liepāja
	MF	Andrejs Kiriļins	3 November 1995	29	0	Spartaks Jūrmala
	MF	Jevgēņijs Kazačoks	12 August 1995	27	5	Spartaks Jūrmala
	MF	Eduards Tīdenbergs	18 December 1994	27	2	Ventspils
	MF	Raivis Andris Jurkovskis	9 December 1996	9	0	Rīgas Futbola skola
	MF	Krišs Kārkliņš	31 January 1996	6	1	Liepāja
	MF	Eduards Emsis	23 February 1996	0	0	Metta/Latvijas Universitāte Rīga
	FW	Kaspars Svārups	28 January 1994	25	3	Ventspils
	FW	Ņikita Ivanovs	25 March 1996	15	1	Skonto Rīga
	FW	Devids Dobrecovs	26 February 1997	3	0	Liepāja
	FW	Marks Kurtišs	26 January 1998	2	0	Liepāja
	FW	Ričards Korzāns	May 3, 1997	0	0	Spartaks Jūrmala

In addition to that, other players were capped or are under consideration of the team management to be capped during the year 2016.

0#0	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	GK	Dāvis Ošs	3 December 1994	0	0	Metta/Latvijas Universitāte Rīga
	GK	Toms Vīksna	14 January 1995	2	0	Free agent
	GK	Roberts Ozols	10 September 1995	0	0	Riga
	DF	Ņikita Koļesovs	25 September 1996	8	0	Ventspils
	DF	Deniss Bezusčonoks	20 August 1996	1	0	BFC Daugavpils
	DF	Klāvs Bāliņš	9 February 1996	1	0	Metta/Latvijas Universitāte Rīga
	DF	Raivis Vītolnieks	29 July 1995	3	0	Olimpia Kowary
	DF	Madis Miķelsons	18 January 1994	2	0	Spartaks Jūrmala
	DF	Kārlis Kņūts	18 June 1995	2	0	Free agent
	DF	Kārlis Plendišķis	10 December 1994	4	0	Jeddeloh
	MF	Ingars Sarmis Stuglis	12 February 1996	13	1	Metta/Latvijas Universitāte Rīga
	MF	Aleksejs Grjaznovs	1 October 1997	0	0	Rīgas Futbola skola
	MF	Andris Krušatins	1 September 1996	8	0	Rīgas Futbola skola
	MF	Andrejs Cigaņiks	12 April 1997	4	0	Viktoria Köln
	MF	Dāvis Ikaunieks	7 January 1994	17	3	Vysočina Jihlava
	MF	Iļja Šadčins	2 July 1994	22	3	Riga
	MF	Anastasijs Mordatenko	24 August 1996	2	0	Radnički Niš
	MF	Ņikita Juhnevičs	28 May 1997	0	0	Riga
	MF	Dāvis Indrāns	6 June 1995	12	1	Metta/Latvijas Universitāte Rīga
	MF	Artis Jaudzems	4 April 1995	3	0	Spartaks Jūrmala
	MF	Alekss Regža	16 July 1994	3	0	Riga
	MF	Ņikita Dobratuļins	20 July 1995	1	0	BFC Daugavpils
	FW	Vladislavs Gutkovskis	2 April 1995	29	6	Termalica Bruk-Bet Nieciecza
	FW	Sergejs Vorobjovs	9 October 1995	12	2	Riga
	FW	Jānis Ikaunieks	16 February 1995	3	0	Metz

Staff

Head Coach	Dainis Kazakevičs
Assistant Coach	Anatolijs Čebans
Assistant Coach	Sergejs Golubevs
Goalkeeping Coach	Aleksandrs Proskurņins
Fitness Coach	Andrés Carrillo Fernández
General manager	Ilvars Grīslis
Doctor	Boriss Novikovs
Physiotherapist	Dmitrijs Jefremenkovs

Recent results

Recent and forthcoming matches

Date	Tournament	Location	Opponent	Result	Latvia scorers
16 January 2015	CIS Cup 2015	Saint Petersburg	Russia	0:1
18 January 2015	CIS Cup 2015	Saint Petersburg	Kyrgyzstan	1:1	Eduards Tīdenbergs
19 January 2015	CIS Cup 2015	Saint Petersburg	Moldova	1:1	Eduards Tīdenbergs
22 January 2015	CIS Cup 2015	Saint Petersburg	Lithuania	2:0	Iļja Šadčins, Ņikita Ivanovs
24 January 2015	CIS Cup 2015	Saint Petersburg	Moldova	1:1	Reinis Flaksis
25 March 2015	Friendly match	Yerevan	Armenia	2:2	Sergejs Vorobjovs, Vladislavs Gutkovskis
16 June 2015	2017 EC qualification	Liepāja	Malta	1:2	Ingars Sarmis Stuglis
4 September 2015	2017 EC qualification	Jelgava	Belgium	0:2
8 September 2015	2017 EC qualification	Jelgava	Czech Republic	1:1	Iļja Šadčins
11 October 2015	2017 EC qualification	Orhei	Moldova	3:0	Dmitrijs Klimaševičs, Jevgēņijs Kazačoks, Vladislavs Gutkovskis
13 November 2015	2017 EC qualification	Podgorica	Montenegro	3:3	Jevgēņijs Kazačoks 2x, Vladislavs Gutkovskis
17 January 2016	CIS Cup 2016	Saint Petersburg	Estonia	1:2	Dāvis Ikaunieks
19 January 2016	CIS Cup 2016	Saint Petersburg	Russia	1:2	Dmitrijs Klimaševičs
21 January 2016	CIS Cup 2016	Saint Petersburg	Tajikistan	3:2	Jevgēņijs Kazačoks, Sergejs Vorobjovs, Iļja Šadčins
23 January 2016	CIS Cup 2016	Saint Petersburg	Belarus	0:0 (4-5p)
25 March 2016	2017 EC qualification	Uherské Hradiště	Czech Republic	1:2	Dāvis Ikaunieks
31 May 2016	2016 Under-21 Baltic Cup	Jelgava	Lithuania	2:0	Krišs Kārkliņš, Jevgēņijs Kazačoks
3 June 2016	2016 Under-21 Baltic Cup	Vändra	Estonia	0:0
2 September 2016	2017 EC qualification	Jelgava	Moldova	0:2
6 September 2016	2017 EC qualification	Jelgava	Montenegro	0:0
7 October 2016	2017 EC qualification	Paola	Malta	0:1
11 October 2016	2017 EC qualification	Leuven	Belgium	1:0	Antonijs Černomordijs

Most capped players

Only official matches against U-21 national teams, not including against clubs or any other matches.

#	Name	Career	Caps	Goals
1.	Endijs Šlampe	2014–Present	31	0
	Reinis Flaksis	2013–Present	31	1
3.	Dmitrijs Klimaševičs	2014–Present	30	4
4.	Andrejs Kiriļins	2014–Present	29	0
	Vladislavs Gutkovskis	2014–Present	29	6
6.	Jevgēņijs Kazačoks	20??–Present	27	5
	Eduards Tīdenbergs	20??–Present	27	2
8.	Edgars Vardanjans	2011–2014	25	1
	Kaspars Svārups	20??–Present	25	3
10.	Vitālijs Barinovs	2013–2014	23	0

Players in bold are still available to play for the U-21 National team.

Best goalscorers

#	Name	Career	Caps	Goals
1.	Edgars Gauračs	2009–2009	9	10
2.	Deniss Rakels	2011–2013	13	6
	Vladislavs Gutkovskis	2014–Present	29	6
4.	Jevgēņijs Kazačoks	2013–Present	27	5
5.	Artjoms Rudņevs	2009–2009	10	4
	Dmitrijs Klimaševičs	2014–Present	30	4

See also

• Latvia football team
• Latvia U-19
• Latvia U-17

References

1. http://www.rsssf.com/tableso/ol1996q.html#Europe

External links

• www.lff.lv