Latvia national under-21 football team

Latvia Under-21
	Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)	Sarkanbaltsarkanie (The red-white-reds)
Association	Latvian Football Federation
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Dainis Kazakevičs
Captain	Reinis Flaksis
Most caps	Edgars Vardanjans (25)
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 CIS Cup 2016 tournament matches, taking place in Saint Petersburg, Russia on 17-23 January 2016.

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

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1GK	Vladislavs Kurakins	(1996-07-09) 9 July 1996 (age 28)	13	0	BFC Daugavpils
1GK	Dāvis Ošs	(1994-12-03) 3 December 1994 (age 29)	0	0	Metta/Latvijas Universitāte Rīga

2DF	Reinis Flaksis (captain)	(1994-04-03) 3 April 1994 (age 30)	28	1	Liepāja
2DF	Endijs Šlampe	(1994-07-24) 24 July 1994 (age 30)	27	0	Liepāja
2DF	Dmitrijs Klimaševičs	(1995-04-16) 16 April 1995 (age 29)	25	4	BFC Daugavpils
2DF	Ņikita Bērenfelds	(1995-06-07) 7 June 1995 (age 29)	14	0	Liepāja
2DF	Antonijs Černomordijs	(1996-09-26) 26 September 1996 (age 28)	8	0	Lech Poznań
2DF	Viktors Litvinskis	(1996-02-07) 7 February 1996 (age 28)	8	0	Jelgava
2DF	Ņikita Koļesovs	(1996-09-25) 25 September 1996 (age 28)	3	0	Ventspils
2DF	Vladislavs Sorokins	(1997-05-10) 10 May 1997 (age 27)	3	0	Jelgava

3MF	Andrejs Kiriļins	(1995-11-03) 3 November 1995 (age 29)	25	0	Jelgava
3MF	Iļja Šadčins	(1994-07-02) 2 July 1994 (age 30)	22	3	Liepāja
3MF	Jevgēņijs Kazačoks	(1995-08-12) 12 August 1995 (age 29)	21	4	Spartaks Jūrmala
3MF	Eduards Tīdenbergs	(1994-12-18) 18 December 1994 (age 29)	21	2	Ventspils
3MF	Dāvis Ikaunieks	(1994-01-07) 7 January 1994 (age 30)	16	2	Liepāja
3MF	Ingars Sarmis Stuglis	(1996-02-12) 12 February 1996 (age 28)	9	1	Metta/Latvijas Universitāte Rīga

4FW	Vladislavs Gutkovskis	(1995-04-02) 2 April 1995 (age 29)	24	6	LKS Nieciecza
4FW	Kaspars Svārups	(1994-01-28) 28 January 1994 (age 30)	21	3	Ventspils
4FW	Ņikita Ivanovs	(1996-03-25) 25 March 1996 (age 28)	11	1	Rīgas Futbola skola
4FW	Sergejs Vorobjovs	(1995-10-09) 9 October 1995 (age 29)	11	2	Grumellese Calcio

In addition to that, other players were capped or are under consideration of the team management to be capped during the year 2015.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1GK	Toms Vīksna	(1995-01-14) 14 January 1995 (age 29)	2	0	1625 Liepāja
1GK	Roberts Ozols	(1995-09-10) 10 September 1995 (age 29)	0	0	Dinamo Rīga

2DF	Deniss Bezusčonoks	(1996-08-20) 20 August 1996 (age 28)	1	0	BFC Daugavpils
2DF	Antons Tumanovs	(1997-04-16) 16 April 1997 (age 27)	1	0	Liepāja
2DF	Klāvs Bāliņš	(1996-02-09) 9 February 1996 (age 28)	1	0	Metta/Latvijas Universitāte Rīga
2DF	Raivis Vītolnieks	(1995-07-29) 29 July 1995 (age 29)	3	0	Spartaks Jūrmala
2DF	Madis Miķelsons	(1994-01-18) 18 January 1994 (age 30)	2	0	1625 Liepāja
2DF	Kārlis Kņūts	(1995-06-18) 18 June 1995 (age 29)	2	0	1625 Liepāja
2DF	Kārlis Plendišķis	(1994-12-10) 10 December 1994 (age 29)	4	0	Oldenburg

3MF	Andris Krušatins	(1996-09-01) 1 September 1996 (age 28)	7	0	Liepāja
3MF	Raivis Andris Jurkovskis	(1996-12-09) 9 December 1996 (age 27)	2	0	Liepāja
3MF	Anastasijs Mordatenko	(1996-08-24) 24 August 1996 (age 28)	2	0	BFC Daugavpils
3MF	Ņikita Juhnevičs	(1997-05-28) 28 May 1997 (age 27)	0	0	Metta/Latvijas Universitāte Rīga
3MF	Andrejs Cigaņiks	(1997-04-12) 12 April 1997 (age 27)	2	0	Bayer Leverkusen
3MF	Dāvis Indrāns	(1995-06-06) 6 June 1995 (age 29)	12	1	Skonto Rīga
3MF	Artis Jaudzems	(1995-04-04) 4 April 1995 (age 29)	3	0	Jelgava
3MF	Alekss Regža	(1994-07-16) 16 July 1994 (age 30)	3	0	Dinamo Rīga
3MF	Ņikita Dobratuļins	(1995-07-20) 20 July 1995 (age 29)	1	0	BFC Daugavpils

4FW	Jānis Ikaunieks	(1995-02-16) 16 February 1995 (age 29)	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
5 March 2014	Friendly match	Achna	Cyprus	0:1
8 June 2014	2015 EC qualification	Cherkassy	Ukraine	1:2	Vladislavs Gutkovskis
3 September 2014	2015 EC qualification	Jelgava	Croatia	1:3	Vladislavs Gutkovskis
8 September 2014	2015 EC qualification	Lugano	Switzerland	1:7	Dmitrijs Klimaševičs
12 October 2014	2014 Under-21 Baltic Cup	Liepāja	Estonia	1:1	Igors Denis Rei
14 October 2014	2014 Under-21 Baltic Cup	Liepāja	Lithuania	1:0	Vladislavs Gutkovskis
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		Czech Republic
31 May 2016	2016 Under-21 Baltic Cup		Lithuania
3 June 2016	2016 Under-21 Baltic Cup		Estonia
2 September 2016	2017 EC qualification		Moldova
6 September 2016	2017 EC qualification		Montenegro
7 October 2016	2017 EC qualification		Malta
11 October 2016	2017 EC qualification		Belgium

Most capped players

yet to be properly updated. Only official matches against U-21 national teams, not including against clubs or any other matches.

#	Name	Career	Caps	Goals
1.	Reinis Flaksis	2013–Present	28	1
2.	Endijs Šlampe	2014–Present	27	0
3.	Edgars Vardanjans	2011–2014	25	1
	Dmitrijs Klimaševičs	2014–Present	25	4
	Andrejs Kiriļins	2014–Present	25	0
6.	Vladislavs Gutkovskis	2014–Present	24	6
7.	Vitālijs Barinovs	2013–2014	23	0
8.	Vadims Žuļevs	2008–2010	22	1
	Aleksejs Giļničs	2012–2014	22	0
	Iļja Šadčins	2013–Present	22	3

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
2.	Vladislavs Gutkovskis	2014–Present	24	6
4.	Artjoms Rudņevs	2009–2009	10	4
	Jevgēņijs Kazačoks	2013–Present	21	4
	Dmitrijs Klimaševičs	2014–Present	25	4

References

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

External links

www.lff.lv

[1] ttp://www.rsssf.com/tableso/ol1996q.html#Europe

[1]