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Lithuania national football team

The Lithuania national football team (Lithuanian: Lietuvos nacionalinė futbolo rinktinė) represents Lithuania in men's international football, and is controlled by the Lithuanian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Lithuania. They played their first match in 1923. In 1940, Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union; the country regained its independence in 1990 and played their first match thereafter against Georgia on 27 May of that year.

Although Lithuania has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup, nor the UEFA European Championship, they have successfully participated in the regional Baltic Cup tournament, which takes place every two years between Lithuania and their Baltic rivals, Latvia and Estonia. Lithuania has won the Baltic Cup championship 10 times out of 29 appearances, and only Latvia has won it more frequently. Despite this Lithuania holds the record for winning the most consecutive Baltic Cup championships, four titles in a row from 1996 to 2000.

From 2012 until 2022, the national team played their home matches at the LFF Stadium in Vilnius.

History

Lithuanian football team at the 1924 Summer Olympics

On 24 June 1923, Lithuania played their first ever game, at the Lietuvos Fizinio Lavinimosi Sąjunga Stadionas, resulting in a 5–0 loss against Estonia. In 1924, Lithuania entered the 1924 Olympics in France, losing 9–0 against Switzerland on 25 May 1924. Two days later, Lithuania suffered a 10–0 loss to Egypt, a record defeat to date. During the early years of the Lithuanian national team, Lithuania regularly played Baltic neighbours Estonia and Latvia, with Lithuania's first win coming in a 2–1 away win against Estonia on 24 August 1924 in Tallinn. In 1930, Lithuania won the third edition of the Baltic Cup in Kaunas.[3] On 13 October 1940, Lithuania played their final game for just shy of 50 years, a 4–3 win against Latvia, following the first Soviet annexation of the country.[4]

Lithuania's first game following the declaration of independence in 1990 was a 2–2 draw against Georgia in Tbilisi on 27 May 1990.[5] In the 1990s, Lithuania established a respectable presence in the World Cup and European Championship qualifiers: third place in their group in both Euro 1996 and the 1998 World Cup qualifiers. In the Euro 2004 qualifiers, they were once again contenders for qualification and managed an away draw with Germany and a home win over Scotland; however, a 1–0 defeat to Scotland in the final game ended their hopes. Although finishing fifth in their 2006 World Cup qualifying group, Lithuania were nevertheless competitive.

Lithuania drew with world champions Italy 1–1 in Naples in a Euro 2008 qualifying game on 2 September 2006, in the first competitive game that Italy played since the World Cup final.

On 6 September 2008, Lithuania defeated Romania 3–0 in a 2010 World Cup qualifier. The victory was regarded by many as "a historic win."[6] It was followed by another successful 2–0 performance against Austria in Marijampolė on 10 September 2008.

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.

  Win  Draw  Loss  Fixture

2023

2024

Coaching staff

Managers history

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the international matches in June 2024.[8]

Caps and goals correct as of 12 June 2024, after the match against  Estonia.

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up for the team in the last twelve months.

Player records

As of 12 June 2024[9]
Players in bold are still active with Lithuania.

Most appearances

Saulius Mikoliūnas is Lithuania's most capped player with 101 appearances.

Top goalscorers

Tomas Danilevičius is Lithuania's top scorer with 19 goals.

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

UEFA European Championship

UEFA Nations League

*Draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out.
**Group stage played home and away. Flag shown represents host nation for the finals stage.

Baltic Cup

Honours

Baltic Cup

Head-to-head record

As of 19 November 2023.

See also

References

  1. ^ "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 20 June 2024. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  2. ^ Elo rankings change compared to one year ago. "World Football Elo Ratings". eloratings.net. 3 July 2024. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  3. ^ "MATCHES → international football results of Lithuania". eufootball.info. Archived from the original on 21 August 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  4. ^ "International football MATCH: 13.10.1940 Lithuania v Latvia*". eufootball.info. Archived from the original on 18 October 2011. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  5. ^ "International football MATCH: 27.05.1990 Georgia v Lithuania". eufootball.info. Archived from the original on 9 October 2011. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  6. ^ FIFA World Cup Archived 30 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine uefa.com
  7. ^ "Įvyko LFF Vykdomojo komiteto posėdis". LFF (in Lithuanian). 30 January 2023. Archived from the original on 31 January 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  8. ^ https://www.lff.lt/patvirtinta-vyru-rinktines-sudetis-baltijos-taures-turnyrui-2/
  9. ^ Mamrud, Roberto. "Lithuania - Record International Players". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 10 April 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2024.

External links