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	Reinis Flaksis (28)
Top scorer	Edgars Gauračs (10)
First colours Second colours
First international
Latvia 0 - 0 Lithuania (Vilnius, Lithuania; 28 October 1992)

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. 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 U-21 2016 Baltic Cup matches, taking place in Jelgava, Latvia on 31 May 2016 and in Vändra, Estonia on 3 June 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 1GK Vladislavs Kurakins (1996-07-09) 9 July 1996 15 0 Spartaks Jūrmala 1GK Kristaps Zommers (1997-01-07) 7 January 1997 0 0 Parma 2DF Reinis Flaksis (captain) (1994-04-03) 3 April 1994 28 1 Riga 2DF Endijs Šlampe (1994-07-24) 24 July 1994 28 0 Liepāja 2DF Dmitrijs Klimaševičs (1995-04-16) 16 April 1995 27 4 BFC Daugavpils 2DF Ņikita Bērenfelds (1995-06-07) 7 June 1995 16 0 Liepāja 2DF Antonijs Černomordijs (1996-09-26) 26 September 1996 10 0 Lech Poznań 2DF Viktors Litvinskis (1996-02-07) 7 February 1996 9 0 Jelgava 2DF Ņikita Koļesovs (1996-09-25) 25 September 1996 5 0 Ventspils 2DF Vladislavs Sorokins (1997-05-10) 10 May 1997 5 0 Jelgava 3MF Andrejs Kiriļins (1995-11-03) 3 November 1995 27 0 Spartaks Jūrmala 3MF Jevgēņijs Kazačoks (1995-08-12) 12 August 1995 22 5 Spartaks Jūrmala 3MF Eduards Tīdenbergs (1994-12-18) 18 December 1994 22 2 Ventspils 3MF Ingars Sarmis Stuglis (1996-02-12) 12 February 1996 10 1 Metta/Latvijas Universitāte Rīga 3MF Andris Krušatins (1996-09-01) 1 September 1996 8 0 Rīgas Futbola skola 3MF Raivis Andris Jurkovskis (1996-12-09) 9 December 1996 4 0 Rīgas Futbola skola 3MF Andrejs Cigaņiks (1997-04-12) 12 April 1997 3 0 Bayer Leverkusen 3MF Krišs Kārkliņš (1996-01-31) 31 January 1996 2 1 Liepāja 3MF Eduards Emsis (1996-02-23) 23 February 1996 0 0 Metta/Latvijas Universitāte Rīga 4FW Vladislavs Gutkovskis (1995-04-02) 2 April 1995 26 6 Termalica Bruk-Bet Nieciecza 4FW Kaspars Svārups (1994-01-28) 28 January 1994 21 3 Ventspils 4FW Ņikita Ivanovs (1996-03-25) 25 March 1996 12 1 Rīgas Futbola skola

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

0#0 Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club 1GK Dāvis Ošs (1994-12-03) 3 December 1994 0 0 Metta/Latvijas Universitāte Rīga 1GK Toms Vīksna (1995-01-14) 14 January 1995 2 0 1GK Roberts Ozols (1995-09-10) 10 September 1995 0 0 Riga 2DF Deniss Bezusčonoks (1996-08-20) 20 August 1996 1 0 BFC Daugavpils 2DF Antons Tumanovs (1997-04-16) 16 April 1997 1 0 Liepāja 2DF Klāvs Bāliņš (1996-02-09) 9 February 1996 1 0 Metta/Latvijas Universitāte Rīga 2DF Raivis Vītolnieks (1995-07-29) 29 July 1995 3 0 Spartaks Jūrmala 2DF Madis Miķelsons (1994-01-18) 18 January 1994 2 0 1625 Liepāja 2DF Kārlis Kņūts (1995-06-18) 18 June 1995 2 0 1625 Liepāja 2DF Kārlis Plendišķis (1994-12-10) 10 December 1994 4 0 Oldenburg 3MF Dāvis Ikaunieks (1994-01-07) 7 January 1994 17 3 Liepāja 3MF Iļja Šadčins (1994-07-02) 2 July 1994 22 3 Riga 3MF Anastasijs Mordatenko (1996-08-24) 24 August 1996 2 0 BFC Daugavpils 3MF Ņikita Juhnevičs (1997-05-28) 28 May 1997 0 0 Metta/Latvijas Universitāte Rīga 3MF Dāvis Indrāns (1995-06-06) 6 June 1995 12 1 Skonto Rīga 3MF Artis Jaudzems (1995-04-04) 4 April 1995 3 0 Jelgava 3MF Alekss Regža (1994-07-16) 16 July 1994 3 0 Riga 3MF Ņikita Dobratuļins (1995-07-20) 20 July 1995 1 0 BFC Daugavpils 4FW Sergejs Vorobjovs (1995-10-09) 9 October 1995 12 2 Riga 4FW Jānis Ikaunieks (1995-02-16) 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
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.	Dmitrijs Klimaševičs	2014–Present	26	4
	Andrejs Kiriļins	2014–Present	26	0
5.	Edgars Vardanjans	2011–2014	25	1
	Vladislavs Gutkovskis	2014–Present	25	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
	Vladislavs Gutkovskis	2014–Present	25	6
4.	Artjoms Rudņevs	2009–2009	10	4
	Jevgēņijs Kazačoks	2013–Present	21	4
	Dmitrijs Klimaševičs	2014–Present	26	4

See also

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

External links

• www.lff.lv