Latvia women's national football team

Latvia women's national football team
The Latvia women's national football team (Latvian: Latvijas sieviešu futbola izlase) represents Latvia in international football and is controlled by the Latvian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Latvia. They have never qualified for the major tournament.
Latvia, alongside their Baltic rivals, Lithuania and Estonia, is also participating in the local sub-regional Women's Baltic Cup, which takes place every year. Latvia has won this tournament five times, the first time in 1997. The next moment of triumph had to wait until 2011, and in 2017, 2018 and 2019 Latvia won the trophy three years in a row.
History
In the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), women's football was not a recognized sport – in 1972, the Sports Committee of the USSR even banned women's football competitions. That is why women played the first official football matches in Latvia only in 1989, when the first women's team "Latvija" was created. The players were mostly invited from other sports, so the football players had good physical preparation, and several players from Lithuania were also invited to help. In 1990, the team was renamed to RAF Jelgava, participating in the first championship of the highest league of the USSR, where they took eighth place in the competition of 24 teams. RAF played one more season in the top league of the USSR, but another team from Latvia – Ogres "Fortūna" – competed in the first league of the USSR. After the collapse of the USSR, the "RAF" professional team disbanded, and thus women's football in Latvia continued to exist only at the amateur level.
On 18 August 1993, The Latvian women's national team made its debut and played its first international match in the European Championship qualification tournament, losing in the first match away to Sweden, which was already one of the most important women's football countries in the world at the time.
After the first qualifying tournament, Latvia did not participate anymore in European Championship qualifying tournaments until 2006. Changes had already been introduced in the selection system, by holding the previous preliminary tournament for the weakest European national teams before the qualification, which the Latvian national team never managed to overcome, which meant that Latvia did not have the opportunity to meet the best national women's football teams in Europe for a long time.
After participating in the UEFA Women's Euro 1995 qualifying and withdrew from all qualification until the qualification for the European Championships in 2009. Latvia's record in international qualification games is poor. In their competitive games, Latvia lost their first two games, against Israel and Bosnia and Herzegovina by three goals, before losing by one goal to Armenia. Mini-tournaments after the qualification disaster proved no better for Latvia. Finishing last, in December 2008, Latvia lost 0–3 to Croatia and 0–5 to Turkey.
The first victory
Latvia won its first official match on 5 March 2011 over Lithuania in the qualifying 2013 European Championship preliminary round with a lone goal by Jūlija Sokolova. However, Latvia lost the other two games against Luxembourg and Macedonia so it didn't go through.
First World Cup qualification
In 2013, the Latvian women's national team took part in the World Cup qualification tournament for the first time, in the first round of the preliminaries, they drew 0:0 with Luxembourg in their debut match, but then lost 0–2 to Albania and Malta. After four years, the Latvian women's national team won the first victory in the World Cup selection, defeating Estonia 4–0 in the preliminaries, but it was not enough to enter the basic qualification tournament, as the first place in the group was won by the national team of Kazakhstan, with whom Latvian football players played a draw 2–2.
Modern times
The Latvian women's football team won its first World Cup qualification victory against Luxembourg. Latvia won its first World Cup qualification victory on 24 June 2022 over Lithuania in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group D with a lone goal by Nelle Treimane.
On November 30, 2021, the Latvian national team lost to England in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group D match with 20–0. After the game, this game received a huge amount of attention, shining a light on the shortcomings of the qualifiers and European women qualifying system. Several experts emphasized that such a game should not have happened. This game again sparked discussions about going back to pre-qualification.
Results and fixtures
The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.
Legend
2023
Coaching staff
Current coaching staff
Manager history
Viktors Lūkins (1992–1996)
Grigorijs Rožkovs (1996–2003)
Agris Bandolis (2003–2010)
Didzis Matīss (2010–2021)
Romāns Kvačovs (2021–present)
Players
Current squad
The following players have been called up for the 2023–24 UEFA Women's Nations League C matches against Malta and Andorra on 22 and 26 September 2023.
Caps and goals are correct as of 14 September 2023.
Recent call ups
The following players have been called up to the Latvia squad in the past 12 months.
Records
*Active players in bold, statistics correct as of 19 August 2021.
Most capped players
Top goalscorers
Competitive record
FIFA Women's World Cup*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.UEFA Women's Championship*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.''
Women's Baltic Cup
See also
Sport in Latvia
Football in Latvia
Women's football in Latvia
Latvia women's national football team
Latvia women's national football team results
List of Latvia women's international footballers
Latvia women's national under-20 football team
Latvia women's national under-17 football team
Latvia men's national football team
Notes
References
External links
Official website
FIFA profile
European women's national association football teams
National