The Latvian National Football Team
From being one of the best 16 teams in Europe to European minnows 16 years on.
How did a team that qualified for EURO 2004 become the level of the likes of San Marino, Malta and Liechtenstein?
Anyone who follows European international football will know the names of nations that spring to mind when looking who to avoid on your football coupon. San Marino, Andorra, Moldova to name a few of the regulars who are a likely pick on the handicap market but a new European minnow seems to have joined the usual suspects. Latvia, 16 years ago one of the best 16 teams in Europe now find themselves below Luxembourg, Kazakhstan and Kosovo in the current FIFA rankings in what has been a huge decline as the 21st century continues.
While Greece got all the headlines after winning against all odds at EURO 2004, Latvia was another underdog story of the tournament. The Baltic nation had never qualified for a major tournament before but a play off game win over World Cup semi-finalists 2 years earlier, Turkey saw them reach the tournament in Portugal. Latvia went out at the group stage with only a point but secured a famous draw against Germany, who 2 years earlier had finished runners-up at the World Cup. Star men included Southampton cult-hero, Marians Pahars, Arsenal flop, Igor Stepanovs and scorer of the only Latvian goal at the tournament, Māris Verpakovskis. So why have Latvia declined so much? Over the last few years, they’ve lost to Gibraltar, Faroe Islands and Malta to name a few. A world away from that draw against the efficient, powerhouse nation of Germany. We asked @mmfootynews on Twitter, who is half Latvian and stuyding sports journalism in London to give a insight on what has happened and why they’ve only won once in 2 and a half years.
Q: Can you put your finger on why their has been such a decline in the Latvian national football team?
A: I would say that it doesn’t help that football is not the most popular sport here with a small population of 1.9 million, as hockey, basketball and even floorball have better attendance rates. A lack of investment in youth football is a huge issue, especially with many nations around Europe transforming their academies. Nothing has changed in the last 10-20 years in Latvian youth teams. Also corruption within the federation is a huge issue with workers taking bribes.
Q: Do you think Latvia can escape the minnow tag what has started to form or would it take big changes all round?
A: I think that it will take time, and it all depends on results of course. Riga FC is the one club in Latvia that is actually performing well in Europe as they just fell short of the Europa League group stages last season. As long as Latvia are in the bottom group of Nations League, we will always be minnows.
Q: Is their a core of supporters still there or have they moved onto other sports you mentioned?
In the Latvian top league (Virsliga) the attendance rates per season are from 300-1000 spectators per game depending on the team. For national team games the attendance used to be much better (cause of better results) and had around 7-8k fans per game. Now it’s around 2-4k. Results are a huge factor for national team games. For example ten years ago, ice hockey was by far the most watched & talked about sport in Latvia, but since we had Porzingis and other players join the NBA, the sport has skyrocketed and many people now stay up late to watch the NBA games. If the results start coming in Latvian football, whether it’s the NT or a club qualifying for CL/EL, you will see more people jumping on board.
Thanks to @mmfootynews for answering questions on the article, give him a follow on Twitter.
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