The Belarus national football team (Belarusian: Зборная Беларусі па футболе, romanized: Zbornaja Biełarusi pa futbole; Russian: Сборная Беларуси по футболу, romanized: Sbornaya Belarusi po futbolu) represents Belarus in men's 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.
After the split of the Soviet Union, Belarus played their first match against Lithuania on 20 July 1992.[3] 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.
Belarus won their group in the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League D that contained Luxembourg, Moldova, and San Marino, and qualified for the country's first-ever playoffs after they finished fourth in their group during UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying, and the team was scheduled to play against Georgia. However, they lost 1–0, missing out on a place at Euro 2020.[4][5]
Due to Belarusian involvement in the 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 club and national team to play competitively, albeit at a neutral ground and behind closed doors.[6][7][8]
In August 2016, the Football Federation announced that the team's nickname would be the "White Wings".[9] The name was influenced by the book The Land Beneath White Wings (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!"[10]
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.[11][12][13]
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.
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
The following players were called up for UEFA Nations League matches against Bulgaria and Luxembourg on 5 and 8 September 2024.
Caps and goals are correct as of 8 September 2024, after the game against Luxembourg.
The following players have also been called up to the Belarus squad during last 12 months.
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.
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