Belarus national football team

Belarus national football team
The Belarus men's national football team represents Belarus in international football and is controlled by the Football Federation of Belarus, the governing body for football in Belarus. Belarus' home ground is Dinamo Stadium in Minsk. Since independence in 1991, Belarus has not yet qualified for a FIFA World Cup or UEFA European Championship.
History
After the split of the Soviet Union, Belarus played their first match against Lithuania on 20 July 1992. Before that, a number of Belarusian players played for the Soviet Union national team. The first FIFA-recognized international was a friendly against Ukraine on 28 October 1992, and their first win came in a match against Luxembourg on 12 October 1994.
Belarus have never qualified for either the FIFA World Cup, or the UEFA European Championship. The team were defeated by Wales in the last 2002 group stage match, missing the chance to overtake Ukraine, who drew their last game, finishing the group second.
Their Euro 2004 qualifying campaign was very unsuccessful as Belarus lost seven of their eight games.
Belarus achieved some success in minor tournaments. In 2002, the team defeated Russia and Ukraine to win the LG Cup. In 2004 and 2008, they won the 12th and 14th editions of the Malta International Tournament respectively.
During UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying, Belarus finished fourth in their group. With Belarus managing to top their group in the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League D, it qualified for the country's first ever play-offs, and the team was scheduled to play against Georgia. However, they lost 1–0, the team missed out on a place at Euro 2020.
Due to Belarusian involvement in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, UEFA, the European governing body for football, banned Belarusian national and club teams from hosting international matches and competitions while allowing the Belarusian national team to play competitively, albeit at a neutral ground.
Team image
Nickname
In August 2016, the Football Federation announced that the team's nickname would be the "White Wings". The name was influenced by the book (1977) by Belarusian writer Uladzimir Karatkievich. The BFF's marketing and communications director said: "We are looking at various ways of establishing links with our literary heritage and cultural traditions", commenting that "If the Belarusian people opt to associate the team with Karatkevich, almost every phrase in the book can be used as a hashtag!"
Home venue
The team played the majority of its home matches at the Dinamo Stadium in Minsk. In late 2012 Dinamo Stadium was closed for renovation and the team started alternating between different home venues.
Since September 2021, Central Stadium in Kazan, Russia is the home venue because of travel sanctions imposed after an incident with Ryanair Flight 4978.
Kit
In 2011, home colors were changed to all red. All-White became the home colour a short time later and now appears with the pattern on the Belarus flag, with the away kit being in Black in 2016, also using an adidas template and placing the flag pattern on it.
Kit suppliers
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.
2022
2023
2024
Coaching history
Players
Current squad
The following players were called up for UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying matches against Romania and Switzerland on 12 and 15 October 2023.
Caps and goals are correct as of 15 October, after the game against Switzerland.
Recent call-ups
The following players have also been called up to the Belarus squad during last 12 months.
INJ Withdrew due to injury
PRE Preliminary squad / standby
COV Withdrew due to positive COVID-19 test result
Records
Players in bold are still active with Belarus.
Most appearances
NB Sergei Aleinikov reached a combined 81 caps and 6 goals for Soviet Union, CIS and Belarus between 1984–1994.
Top goalscorers
Competitive record
FIFA World Cup
2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
UEFA European Championship
UEFA Euro 2024 qualification
UEFA Nations League
2022–23 UEFA Nations League
Relegation play-outs
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Head-to-head record
B-team
Belarus B national team has been assembled a number of times throughout the history to participate in occasional minor friendly matches and tournaments. The team was most recently assembled for participation in 2017 King's Cup in Thailand on 14–16 July 2017.
See also
Belarus national under-23 football team
Belarus national under-21 football team
Belarus national under-19 football team
Belarus national under-17 football team
Belarus women's national football team
References
External links
Belarus Federation of Football
Belarus at FIFA
Belarus at UEFA
Football.by
Fan Site of the Belarus National Team
European national association football teams
National sports teams established in 1992
1992 establishments in Belarus