Belarus national football team
| Nickname(s) | White Wings (Belarusian: Белыя крылы, Belyya kryly) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Football Federation of Belarus | ||
| Confederation | UEFA (Europe) | ||
| Head coach | Igor Kriushenko | ||
| Captain | Alyaksandr Martynovich | ||
| Most caps | Alyaksandr Kulchy (102) | ||
| Top scorer | Maksim Romaschenko (20) | ||
| Home stadium | Dinamo Stadium, Minsk | ||
| FIFA code | BLR | ||
| |||
| FIFA ranking | |||
| Current |
80  | ||
| Highest | 36 (February 2011) | ||
| Lowest | 142 (March 1994) | ||
| Elo ranking | |||
| Current |
76 | ||
| Highest | 47 (17 November 2010) | ||
| Lowest | 122 (+?) (1997–1998) | ||
| First international | |||
Unofficial:.svg.png){kind=small} .svg.png){kind=small} (Vilnius, Lithuania; 20 July 1992) Official:  (Minsk, Belarus; 28 October 1992) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
.svg.png){kind=small} (Minsk, Belarus; 7 June 1998)   (Borisov, Belarus; 4 September 2014)  (Minsk, Belarus; 8 September 2018) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
 (Innsbruck, Austria; 11 June 2003) | |||
Belarus national football team (Belarusian: Нацыянальная зборная Беларусі па футболе, Natsyyanalnaya zbornaya Bielarusi pa futbolie) represents Belarus in association football and is controlled by the Football Federation of Belarus, the governing body for football in Belarus. Belarus' home ground is Borisov Arena in Borisov. Belarus has not yet qualified for a FIFA World Cup or UEFA European Championship. Since March 2017 the team is coached by Igor Kriushenko.
History
After the split of the Soviet Union, Belarus played their first match against Lithuania on 20 July 1992. Before that, several 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. Despite the lack of any significant success during the 1990s, some notable results were still achieved, like a home win against the Netherlands in the qualifiers for Euro 1996, and two draws against Italy during Euro 2000 qualifiers.
Under coach Eduard Malofeyev, the team came very close to playing Germany in a play-off round to qualify for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, but were defeated by Wales in the last group stage match, missing the chance to overtake Ukraine, who drew their last game, finishing the group second behind Poland.
Their Euro 2004 qualifying campaign was very unsuccessful as Belarus lost seven of their eight games. Around the same time, a generational change occurred and a number of players from the U-21 team (which qualified for the 2004 European U-21 Championship) joined the senior national team. With each subsequent head coach (Anatoly Baidachny, Yuri Puntus and Bernd Stange) the team improved their attacking skills. As a result, in each subsequent qualifying tournament starting with the 2006 World Cup, Belarus scored more goals (total and average per game) than in previous campaigns. However, problems in defense and a lot of missed goals prevented them from finishing higher than fourth in the group. Some notable results during this period, included a high-scoring 3–4 away loss to Italy in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers (the first time Italy conceded 3 goals in a home qualifying game since 1983), another home victory against the Netherlands during the Euro 2008 qualifiers as well as an away win and a home draw against France in the Euro 2012 qualifiers.
Belarusians achieved some success in minor tournaments. In 2002, the team beat out 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. The first with its Olympic Squad, and the later with the first team (many starters were only available for the last game against Malta).
Home venue
The team played the majority of its home matches at the Dinamo Stadium in Minsk.
Occasionally other venues are also used: Molodechno City Stadium in May 1996 (friendly against Azerbaijan), Vitebsky Central Sport Complex in Vitebsk in November 2005 (friendly against Latvia), Central Stadium in Gomel in October 2007 (Euro 2008 qualifying match against Luxembourg), Neman Stadium in Grodno June 2009 (2010 World Cup qualifier against Andorra), Borisov City Stadium just a few days later (friendly against Moldova) and Regional Sport Complex Brestskiy in Brest in October 2009 (another 2010 World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan).
In late 2012 Dinamo Stadium was closed for renovation and the team started alternating between different home venues: Central Stadium in Gomel (2014 World Cup qualifiers against Finland and France), Borisov City Stadium (friendly against Kyrgyzstan) and Torpedo Stadium in Zhodino (friendlies against Montenegro and Japan).
From 2014 till 2017 Belarus played at Borisov Arena. In 2018 they returned to Dinamo Stadium, which was re-opened after major renovation.
Colors
Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s Belarus played home games in all white, occasionally changing shorts to green. All green uniform or green jerseys/white shorts were used as away kits. Since qualifying campaign for UEFA Euro 2004 Belarus changed their primary colors to red jerseys and green shorts, and away kits to all white. 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.
Nickname
In August 2016, the Football Association announced that the team's nickname would be the "White Wings".[1] The name was influenced by the book The Land Beneath White Wings (1977) by famous Belarusian writer Uladzimir Karatkevich. The BFF’s new marketing and communications director, Uladzimir Berezhkov, 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!"[2]
Kit suppliers
| Kit provider | Period |
|---|---|
 |
2002–2004 |
 |
2004–2012 |
|
2012–2018 |
 |
2018–present |
UEFA European Championship record
| Finals record | Qualification record | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Result | Pos | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | |
| 1960–1992 | Part of  | |||||||||
 |
Did Not Qualify | 4 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 13 | −5 | |
.svg.png){kind=small}  |
5 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 10 | −6 | ||
 |
5 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 20 | −16 | ||
 |
4 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 17 | 23 | −6 | ||
 |
4 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 7 | +1 | ||
 |
4 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 14 | −6 | ||
 |
To Be Determined | |||||||||
| Total | 0/15 | – | 48 | 11 | 10 | 27 | 41 | 73 | -32 | |
UEFA Euro 2016 qualification
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
 |
|
|
 |
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |
10 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 23 | 3 | +20 | 27 | Qualify for final tournament | — | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 4–0 | 5–1 | |
| 2 | |
10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 8 | +9 | 22 | 2–1 | — | 0–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | ||
| 3 | |
10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 4 | +10 | 19 | Advance to play-offs | 0–1 | 0–1 | — | 3–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | |
| 4 | |
10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 14 | −6 | 11 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 0–2 | — | 2–0 | 0–0 | ||
| 5 | |
10 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 27 | −21 | 4 | 0–4 | 2–4 | 0–3 | 1–1 | — | 1–0 | ||
| 6 | |
10 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 18 | −12 | 4 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 3–2 | — |
UEFA Nations League record
2018–19 UEFA Nations League
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion | |
|
 |
| |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |
4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 1 | +9 | 9 | Promotion to League C | — | 15 Nov | 4–0 | 3–0 | |
| 2 | |
4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | +6 | 8 | 1–0 | — | 0–0 | 5–0 | ||
| 3 | |
4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 5 | 18 Nov | 0–0 | — | 2–0 | ||
| 4 | |
4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 13 | −13 | 0 | 0–3 | 18 Nov | 15 Nov | — |
FIFA World Cup record
| Finals record | Qualification record | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Result | Pos | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | |
| 1930–1990 | Part of | |||||||||
 |
Did not enter | |||||||||
|
Did not qualify | 6 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 21 | −16 | |
  |
3 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 11 | +1 | ||
|
5 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 12 | 14 | −2 | ||
 |
4 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 19 | 14 | +5 | ||
 |
5 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 16 | −9 | ||
 |
6 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 21 | −15 | ||
 |
To be determined | |||||||||
  | ||||||||||
| Total | 0/23 | – | 58 | 13 | 12 | 33 | 61 | 97 | -36 | |
2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
{{2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group A table |show_matches=yes}}
Fixtures and results
Recent results
2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
Georgia  | 2–2 | |
|---|---|---|
Sikharulidze  Dvali |
Report | Stasevich Nyakhaychyk |
Azerbaijan  | 0–1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Medvedev |
| Belarus | 1–0 | |
|---|---|---|
| Saroka |
Report |
Upcoming fixtures
| Belarus | v | |
|---|---|---|
Record versus different opponents
| Tournament | Pld | W | D | L | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Cup Qualifying | 58 | 13 | 12 | 33 | 61–97 |
| Euro Qualifying | 58 | 14 | 12 | 32 | 49–87 |
| UEFA Nations League | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6–0 |
| Friendly | 105 | 39 | 34 | 32 | 148–129 |
| Opponent | Pld | W | D | L | Goals |
| 11 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 11–5 |
| 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 5–12 |
 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 15–5 |
| 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 5–17 |
 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 9–9 |
| 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 9–7 |
 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5–9 |
 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 6–12 |
 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 13–7 |
| 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10–9 |
| 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6–10 |
 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8–5 |
 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8–5 |
 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 8–9 |
 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4–5 |
 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 4–7 |
 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4–10 |
 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2–16 |
 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 11–4 |
 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7–8 |
 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2–5 |
.svg.png){kind=small} | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5–7 |
| 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5–9 |
| 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4–8 |
 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3–11 |
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1–10 |
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0–12 |
 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 10–2 |
 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4–1 |
 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7–4 |
 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4–3 |
| 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4–3 |
| 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2–4 |
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2–7 |
 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1–2 |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0–4 |
 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4–3 |
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3–2 |
 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3–2 |
| 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2–1 |
 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3–3 |
 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1–1 |
 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2–2 |
 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0–1 |
 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1–4 |
 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0–3 |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1–6 |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6–1 |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5–0 |
 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5–1 |
 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4–0 |
 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3–1 |
 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2–0 |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3–2 |
 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2–1 |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1–0 |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1–0 |
 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1–0 |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2–2 |
 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2–2 |
.svg.png){kind=small} | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1–1 |
 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1–1 |
 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1–1 |
 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0–0 |
 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0–0 |
 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0–1 |
 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0–2 |
 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0–3 |
 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0–3 |
| Total: | 224 | 68 | 59 | 97 | 264–313 |
Players
Current squad
The following players were called up for the UEFA Nations League matches against Luxembourg and Moldova on 12 and 15 October 2018.
Caps and goals are correct as of 12 October 2018, after the game against Luxembourg.
Recent call-ups
The following players have also been called up to the Belarus squad during last 12 months.
| Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Goals | Club | Latest call-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GK | Andrey Klimovich | 27 August 1988 | 1 | 0 | |
v. |
| GK | Denis Scherbitskiy | 14 April 1996 | 1 | 0 | |
v. |
| GK | Pavel Pavlyuchenko | 1 January 1998 | 1 | 0 | |
v. |
| GK | Syarhey Ignatovich | 26 June 1992 | 1 | 0 | |
v. |
| DF | Igor Shitov | 24 October 1986 | 60 | 1 | |
v. |
| DF | Syarhey Matsveychyk | 5 June 1988 | 11 | 0 | |
v. |
| DF | Aleksandr Pavlovets | 13 August 1996 | 4 | 0 | |
v. |
| DF | Aleh Veratsila | 10 July 1988 | 17 | 0 | |
v. |
| DF | Alyaksey Hawrylovich | 5 January 1990 | 3 | 0 | |
v. |
| DF | Maksim Shvyatsow | 2 April 1998 | 0 | 0 | |
v. |
| DF | Zakhar Volkov | 12 August 1997 | 0 | 0 | |
v. |
| DF | Nikita Naumov | 15 November 1989 | 1 | 0 | |
v. |
| DF | Alyaksandr Sachywka | 5 January 1986 | 4 | 0 | |
v. |
| MF | Syarhey Balanovich | 29 August 1987 | 32 | 2 | |
v. |
| MF | Renan Bressan | 3 November 1988 | 28 | 3 | |
v. |
| MF | Pavel Savitski | 12 July 1994 | 14 | 4 | |
v. |
| MF | Alyaksandr Karnitsky | 14 February 1989 | 6 | 0 | |
v. |
| MF | Dzmitry Baha | 4 January 1990 | 2 | 0 | |
v. |
| MF | Artem Bykov | 19 October 1992 | 9 | 0 | |
v. |
| MF | Pavel Sedko | 3 April 1998 | 1 | 0 | |
v. |
| MF | Vladislav Klimovich | 12 June 1996 | 2 | 0 | |
v. |
| MF | Oleg Yevdokimov | 25 February 1994 | 2 | 0 | |
v. |
| FW | Mikhail Gordeichuk | 23 October 1989 | 25 | 4 | |
v. |
| FW | Yevgeniy Shikavka | 15 October 1992 | 1 | 0 | |
v. |
| FW | Gleb Rassadkin | 5 April 1995 | 0 | 0 | |
v. |
- INJ Withdrew due to an injury
- PRE Preliminary squad
- RET Retired from national team
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 typically consists of domestic league players who are considered a potential backup for the main senior team. The team was most recently assembled for participation in 2017 King's Cup in Thailand on 14–16 July 2017.
Records
As of 12 October 2018
Most capped players
Currently active players are listed in bold
| Rank | Player | Caps | Goals | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alyaksandr Kulchy | 102 | 5 | 1996–2012 |
| 2 | Sergei Gurenko | 80 | 3 | 1994–2006 |
| 3 | Sergei Kornilenko | 78 | 17 | 2003–2016 |
| 4 | Alexander Hleb | 77 | 6 | 2001–2016 |
| 5 | Timofei Kalachev | 76 | 10 | 2004–2016 |
| 6 | Syarhey Amelyanchuk | 74 | 1 | 2002–2011 |
| 7 | Syarhey Shtanyuk | 71 | 3 | 1995–2007 |
| 8 | Syarhey Kislyak | 67 | 9 | 2009– |
| 9 | Maksim Romaschenko | 64 | 20 | 1998–2008 |
| 10 | Alyaksandr Martynovich | 60 | 2 | 2009– |
| Igor Shitov | 60 | 1 | 2008– |
Sergei Aleinikov has reached combined 81 caps and 6 goals for Soviet Union, CIS and Belarus during 1984–1994.
Top scorers
Currently active players are listed in bold.
| Rank | Player | Goals | Caps | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maksim Romaschenko | 20 | 64 | 1998–2008 |
| 2 | Sergei Kornilenko | 17 | 78 | 2003–2016 |
| 3 | Vitali Kutuzov | 13 | 52 | 2002–2011 |
| 4 | Vyacheslav Hleb | 12 | 45 | 2004–2011 |
| 5 | Raman Vasilyuk | 10 | 24 | 2000–2008 |
| Vitali Rodionov | 10 | 48 | 2007–2017 | |
| Valyantsin Byalkevich | 10 | 56 | 1992–2005 | |
| Timofei Kalachev | 10 | 76 | 2004–2016 | |
| 9 | Syarhey Kislyak | 9 | 67 | 2009– |
| 10 | Vital Bulyga | 8 | 37 | 2003–2008 |
Managers
| Manager | Career | Games Managed | Wins | Draws | Loses | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1992–1994, 1997–1999 | 24 | 2 | 6 | 16 | 22–40 |
|
1994–1996, 1999–2000 | 26 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 21–43 |
|
2000–2003 | 22 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 31–31 |
|
2002 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0–3 |
|
2003–2005 | 22 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 34–29 |
|
2006–2007 | 14 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 19–26 |
|
2007–2011 | 49 | 17 | 14 | 18 | 65–54 |
|
2011–2014 | 27 | 9 | 8 | 11 | 37–35 |
|
2014 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3–5 |
|
2014–2016 | 18 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 14–19 |
|
2017– | 18 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 18–28 |
| Total: | 1992–Present | 224 | 68 | 59 | 97 | 264–313 |
See also
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Belarus national football team. |
- Belarus Federation of Football (in Russian) (in English)
- Football.by (in Russian)
- Fan Site of the Belarus National Team (in Belarusian)
References
- ↑ "Владимир Бережков: «3 сентября приглашаем всех на открытую тренировку сборной»". abff.by (in Russian). 11 August 2016.
- ↑ "UEFA Direct – August/September 2016" (pdf). 3 August 2016.
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