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Belarus national football team facts for kids

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Belarus
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s) Белыя крылы / Bielyia kryly
(The White Wings)
Association Football Federation of Belarus
Confederation UEFA (Europe)
Head coach Georgy Kondratyev
Captain Yevgeny Yablonsky
Most caps Alyaksandr Kulchy (102)
Top scorer Maksim Romaschenko (20)
Home stadium Dinamo Stadium, Minsk
FIFA code BLR
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current 78 Decrease 2 (7 February 2019)
Highest 36 (February 2011)
Lowest 142 (March 1994)
Elo ranking
Current 73 Increase 10 (3 March 2019)
Highest 47 (17 November 2010)
Lowest 122 (1997–1998)
First international
Unofficial:
 Lithuania 1–1 Belarus 
(Vilnius, Lithuania; 20 July 1992)
Official:
 Belarus 1–1 Ukraine 
(Minsk, Belarus; 28 October 1992)
Biggest win
 Belarus 5–0 Lithuania 
(Minsk, Belarus; 7 June 1998)
 Belarus 6–1 Tajikistan 
(Borisov, Belarus; 4 September 2014)
 Belarus 5–0 San Marino 
(Minsk, Belarus; 8 September 2018)
Biggest defeat
 Belgium 8–0 Belarus 
(Leuven, Belgium; 30 March 2021)

The Belarus national football team (Belarusian: [Зборная Беларусі па футболе] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help); Russian: Сборная Беларуси по футболу, romanized: Sbornaya Belarusi po futbolu) represents Belarus in 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.

History

After the split of the Soviet Union, Belarus played their first match against Lithuania on 20 July 1992. 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.

During UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying, Belarus finished fourth in their group. With Belarus managing to top their group in the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League D, it qualified for the country's first ever play-offs, and the team was scheduled to play against Georgia. However, they lost 1–0, the team missed out on a place at Euro 2020.

Due to Belarusian involvement in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, UEFA, the European governing body for football, banned Belarusian national and club teams from hosting international matches and competitions.

Team image

Nickname

In August 2016, the Football Federation announced that the team's nickname would be the "White Wings". The name was influenced by the book The Land Beneath White Wings (1977) by Belarusian writer Uladzimir Karatkevich. 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!"

Home venue

Dinamostadiuminsk
Dinamo Stadium in Minsk is the venue for most Belarus international matches

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.

Kit

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.

Kit suppliers

Kit provider Period
United Kingdom Umbro 2002–2004
Germany Puma 2004–2012
Germany Adidas 2012–2018
Italy Macron 2018–2022
Italy Erreà 2022–present

Recent results and upcoming fixtures

      Win       Draw       Loss

2022

2023

2024

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for friendly matches against Syria and Oman on 17 and 20 November 2022.

Caps and goals are correct as of 20 November, after the game against Oman.

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Maksim Plotnikov (1998-01-29) 29 January 1998 (age 26) 3 0 Belarus Shakhtyor Soligorsk
1GK Syarhey Ignatovich (1992-06-29) 29 June 1992 (age 31) 2 0 Belarus Isloch Minsk Raion
1GK Andrey Kudravets (2003-09-02) 2 September 2003 (age 20) 1 0 Belarus BATE Borisov

2DF Denis Polyakov (1991-04-17) 17 April 1991 (age 32) 53 1 Israel Hapoel Haifa
2DF Sergey Politevich (1990-04-09) 9 April 1990 (age 33) 36 1 Belarus Shakhtyor Soligorsk
2DF Kiryl Pyachenin (1997-03-18) 18 March 1997 (age 27) 18 0 Russia Orenburg
2DF Gleb Shevchenko (1999-02-17) 17 February 1999 (age 25) 15 0 Belarus Shakhtyor Soligorsk
2DF Maksim Shvyatsow (1998-04-02) 2 April 1998 (age 25) 12 0 Belarus Dinamo Minsk
2DF Danila Nechayev (1999-10-30) 30 October 1999 (age 24) 7 0 Belarus BATE Borisov
2DF Zakhar Volkov (1997-08-12) 12 August 1997 (age 26) 6 0 Russia Khimki
2DF Ilya Lukashevich (1998-08-01) 1 August 1998 (age 25) 0 0 Belarus Energetik-BGU Minsk

3MF Vladislav Klimovich (1996-06-12) 12 June 1996 (age 27) 29 1 Cyprus Nea Salamina
3MF Yevgeny Yablonsky (1995-05-10) 10 May 1995 (age 28) 28 3 Cyprus Aris Limassol
3MF Max Ebong (1999-08-26) 26 August 1999 (age 24) 26 2 Kazakhstan Astana
3MF Ivan Bakhar (1998-07-10) 10 July 1998 (age 25) 22 2 Belarus Dinamo Minsk
3MF Valery Gromyko (1997-01-23) 23 January 1997 (age 27) 11 1 Belarus BATE Borisov
3MF Vladislav Malkevich (1999-12-04) 4 December 1999 (age 24) 8 1 Belarus BATE Borisov
3MF Valery Bocherov (2000-08-10) 10 August 2000 (age 23) 6 0 Belarus BATE Borisov
3MF Denis Grechikho (1999-05-22) 22 May 1999 (age 24) 3 0 Belarus Dinamo Minsk
3MF Kirill Kaplenko (1999-06-15) 15 June 1999 (age 24) 2 0 Russia Orenburg

4FW Dmitry Podstrelov (1998-09-06) 6 September 1998 (age 25) 14 1 Belarus Shakhtyor Soligorsk
4FW Uladzimir Khvashchynski (1990-05-10) 10 May 1990 (age 33) 6 1 Belarus Minsk
4FW Yegor Bogomolsky (2000-06-03) 3 June 2000 (age 23) 6 0 Azerbaijan Neftchi Baku

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 Pavel Pavlyuchenko (1998-01-01) 1 January 1998 (age 26) 11 0 Poland Nieciecza v.  Slovakia, 25 September 2022
GK Yegor Khatkevich (1988-04-09) 9 April 1988 (age 35) 7 0 Belarus Dinamo Minsk v.  Slovakia, 25 September 2022
GK Raman Stsyapanaw (1991-08-06) 6 August 1991 (age 32) 0 0 Belarus Shakhtyor Soligorsk v.  Bahrain, 29 March 2022

DF Alyaksandr Sachywka (1986-01-05) 5 January 1986 (age 38) 12 1 Belarus Dinamo Minsk v.  Syria, 17 November 2022 PRE
DF Ruslan Yudenkov (1987-04-28) 28 April 1987 (age 36) 10 0 Kazakhstan Maktaaral v.  Slovakia, 25 September 2022
DF Ruslan Khadarkevich (1993-06-18) 18 June 1993 (age 30) 8 0 Belarus Shakhtyor Soligorsk v.  Slovakia, 25 September 2022
DF Roman Begunov (1993-03-22) 22 March 1993 (age 31) 9 0 Belarus Dinamo Minsk v.  Azerbaijan, 13 June 2022
DF Roman Yuzepchuk (1997-07-24) 24 July 1997 (age 26) 16 1 Belarus Shakhtyor Soligorsk v.  Bahrain, 29 March 2022
DF Aleksey Zalesky (1994-10-07) 7 October 1994 (age 29) 0 0 Belarus Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino v.  India, 26 March 2022 PRE

MF Nikita Korzun (1995-03-06) 6 March 1995 (age 29) 17 0 Belarus Shakhtyor Soligorsk v.  Syria, 17 November 2022 PRE
MF Pavel Savitsky (1994-07-12) 12 July 1994 (age 29) 24 7 Belarus Neman Grodno v.  Slovakia, 25 September 2022
MF Pavel Sedko (1998-04-03) 3 April 1998 (age 25) 11 1 Belarus Gomel v.  Slovakia, 25 September 2022
MF Dmitry Bessmertny (1997-01-03) 3 January 1997 (age 27) 7 0 Belarus BATE Borisov v.  Slovakia, 25 September 2022
MF Ruslan Lisakovich (2002-03-22) 22 March 2002 (age 22) 5 0 Belarus Isloch Minsk Raion v.  Slovakia, 25 September 2022
MF Aleksandr Selyava (1992-05-17) 17 May 1992 (age 31) 5 0 Russia Rostov v.  Kazakhstan, 22 September 2022 INJ
MF Artyom Bykov (1992-10-12) 12 October 1992 (age 31) 21 1 Belarus Dinamo Minsk v.  Azerbaijan, 13 June 2022

FW Andrey Solovey (1994-12-13) 13 December 1994 (age 29) 8 2 Belarus Shakhtyor Soligorsk v.  Azerbaijan, 13 June 2022
FW Artem Kontsevoy (1999-08-26) 26 August 1999 (age 24) 3 1 Belarus Dinamo Minsk v.  India, 26 March 2022 PRE

INJ Withdrew due to injury
PRE Preliminary squad / standby
COV Withdrew due to positive COVID-19 test result

Records

Players in bold are still active with Belarus.

Most appearances

Aleksandr Kulchiy 2011
Alyaksandr Kulchy is the most capped player in the history of Belarus
Rank Player Caps Goals Years
1 Alyaksandr Kulchy 102 5 1996–2012
2 Alexander Hleb 80 6 2001–2019
Sergei Gurenko 80 3 1994–2006
4 Sergei Kornilenko 78 17 2003–2016
5 Timofey Kalachyov 76 10 2004–2016
6 Alyaksandr Martynovich 75 2 2009–2020
7 Syarhey Kislyak 74 9 2009–2021
Syarhey Amelyanchuk 74 1 2002–2011
9 Syarhey Shtanyuk 71 3 1995–2007
10 Stanislaw Drahun 68 11 2011–2020
NB Sergei Aleinikov reached a combined 81 caps and 6 goals for Soviet Union, CIS and Belarus between 1984–1994.

Top goalscorers

Maksim Romaschenko
Maksim Romaschenko is the top scorer in the history of Belarus with 20 goals
Rank Player Goals Caps Ratio Years
1 Maksim Romaschenko 20 64 0.31 1998–2008
2 Sergei Kornilenko 17 78 0.22 2003–2016
3 Vitali Kutuzov 13 52 0.25 2002–2011
4 Vyacheslav Hleb 12 45 0.27 2004–2011
5 Stanislaw Drahun 11 68 0.16 2011–2020
6 Raman Vasilyuk 10 24 0.42 2000–2008
Vitali Rodionov 10 48 0.21 2007–2017
Valyantsin Byalkevich 10 56 0.18 1992–2005
Timofey Kalachyov 10 76 0.13 2004–2016
10 Syarhey Kislyak 9 74 0.12 2009–2021

Coaching history

Manager Career Games Managed Wins Draws Loses Goals
Belarus Mikhail Vergeyenko 1992–1994, 1997–1999 24 2 6 16 22–40
Belarus Sergei Borovsky 1994–1996, 1999–2000 26 4 9 13 21–43
Belarus Eduard Malofeyev 2000–2003 22 10 5 7 31–31
Belarus Valery Streltsov (caretaker) 2002 1 0 0 1 0–3
Russia Anatoly Baidachny 2003–2005 22 10 4 8 34–29
Belarus Yuri Puntus 2006–2007 14 3 4 7 19–26
Germany Bernd Stange 2007–2011 49 17 14 18 65–54
Belarus Georgy Kondratyev 2011–2014, 2021– 45 13 11 21 50–57
Belarus Andrei Zygmantovich (caretaker) 2014 2 1 0 1 3–5
Belarus Alyaksandr Khatskevich 2014–2016 18 6 6 6 14–19
Belarus Igor Kriushenko 2017–2019 25 8 4 13 23–37
Belarus Mikhail Markhel 2019–2021 18 7 3 9 23–35
Belarus Oleg Radushko (caretaker) 2021 1 0 0 1 0–2
Total: 1992–Present 268 81 66 121 305–382

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup record FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year Results Position Pld W D L GF GA Pos Pld W D L GF GA
Uruguay 1930 to Italy 1990 Part of the  Soviet Union Part of the  Soviet Union
United States 1994 Did not enter Did not enter
France 1998 Did not qualify 6th 10 1 1 8 5 21
South Korea Japan 2002 3rd 10 4 3 3 12 11
Germany 2006 5th 10 2 4 4 12 14
South Africa 2010 4th 10 4 1 5 19 14
Brazil 2014 5th 8 1 1 6 7 16
Russia 2018 6th 10 1 2 7 6 21
Qatar 2022 5th 8 1 0 7 7 24
Canada Mexico United States 2026 To be determined To be determined
Total 0/7 66 14 12 40 68 121

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group E

UEFA European Championship

UEFA European Championship record UEFA European Championship qualifying record
Year Results Position Pld W D L GF GA Pos Pld W D L GF GA
France 1960 to Sweden 1992 Part of the  Soviet Union Part of the  Soviet Union
England 1996 Did not qualify 4th 10 3 2 5 8 13
Belgium Netherlands 2000 5th 8 0 3 5 4 10
Portugal 2004 5th 8 1 0 7 4 20
Austria Switzerland 2008 4th 12 4 1 7 17 23
Poland Ukraine 2012 4th 10 3 4 3 8 7
France 2016 4th 10 3 2 5 8 14
Europe 2020 4th 9 1 1 7 4 17
Germany 2024 To be determined To be determined
Total 0/7 67 15 13 39 53 104

UEFA Euro 2024 qualification

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
First match(es) will be played on 25 March 2023. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

UEFA Nations League

UEFA Nations League record
Year Division Group Pos Pld W D L GF GA P/R RK
2018–19 D 2 1st 6 4 2 0 10 0 Rise 43rd
2020–21 C 4 2nd 6 3 1 2 10 8 Same position 38th
2022–23 C 3 4th 6 0 3 3 3 7 0TBA 46th
Total 18 7 6 5 23 15 38th

2022–23 UEFA Nations League

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Relegation play-outs

Team #1   Agg.   Team #2   1st leg     2nd leg  
Lithuania   Belarus 21–23 Mar '24 24–26 Mar '24

Head-to-head record

Tournament Pld W D L Goals
World Cup Qualifying 66 14 12 40 68–121
Euro Qualifying 67 15 13 39 53–104
UEFA Nations League 18 7 6 5 23–15
Friendly 116 45 35 38 161–142
Opponent Pld W D L Goals
 Luxembourg 12 6 4 2 13–5
 Lithuania 10 5 4 1 19–7
 Netherlands 10 2 0 8 6–23
 Estonia 9 4 1 4 10–10
 Ukraine 9 1 3 5 5–12
 Moldova 8 2 4 2 9–7
 Bulgaria 8 3 0 5 7–12
 Kazakhstan 7 4 2 1 16–6
 Armenia 7 3 2 2 9–9
 Albania 7 2 2 3 10–10
 Norway 7 2 2 3 5–9
 Wales 7 1 0 6 8–16
 Latvia 6 4 1 1 13–7
 Poland 6 2 2 2 10–9
 France 6 1 2 3 6–10
 Romania 6 0 2 4 7–15
 Czech Republic 6 0 0 6 3–14
 Slovenia 5 2 2 1 8–5
 Israel 5 2 0 3 8–9
 Azerbaijan 5 1 2 2 4–6
 Slovakia 5 1 1 3 3–9
 Finland 5 0 3 2 4–7
 Sweden 5 0 0 5 2–16
 Andorra 4 3 0 1 11–4
 Georgia 4 1 1 2 4–4
 Turkey 4 1 1 2 7–8
 Scotland 4 1 1 2 2–5
 Montenegro 4 0 2 2 1–4
 Italy 4 0 2 2 5–9
 Russia 4 0 2 2 4–8
 Spain 4 0 0 4 1–10
 Austria 4 0 0 4 0–12
 Malta 3 2 1 0 4–1
 Uzbekistan 3 2 1 0 5–3
 Hungary 3 1 2 0 7–4
 Iran 3 1 2 0 4–3
 Macedonia 3 1 1 1 2–4
 Germany 3 0 1 2 2–8
 Switzerland 3 0 0 3 0–4
 Northern Ireland 3 0 0 3 1–6
 San Marino 2 2 0 0 7–0
 Oman 2 1 0 1 4–2
 Cyprus 2 1 0 1 3–2
 Canada 2 1 0 1 2–1
 United Arab Emirates 2 1 0 1 3–3
 Greece 2 1 0 1 1–1
 Jordan 2 1 0 1 1–1
 Honduras 2 0 2 0 3–3
 Libya 2 0 2 0 2–2
 Denmark 2 0 1 1 0–1
 Croatia 2 0 0 2 1–4
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 2 0 0 2 0–3
 England 2 0 0 2 1–6
 Belgium 2 0 0 2 0–9
 Tajikistan 1 1 0 0 6–1
 Liechtenstein 1 1 0 0 5–1
 India 1 1 0 0 3–0
 Kyrgyzstan 1 1 0 0 3–1
 Iceland 1 1 0 0 2–0
 Mexico 1 1 0 0 3–2
 Republic of Ireland 1 1 0 0 2–1
 South Korea 1 1 0 0 1–0
 Japan 1 1 0 0 1–0
 New Zealand 1 1 0 0 1–0
 Bahrain 1 1 0 0 1–0
 Syria 1 1 0 0 1–0
 Peru 1 0 1 0 1–1
 Ecuador 1 0 1 0 1–1
 Saudi Arabia 1 0 1 0 1–1
 Argentina 1 0 1 0 0–0
 Gabon 1 0 1 0 0–0
 Egypt 1 0 0 1 0–2
 Tunisia 1 0 0 1 0–3
Total: 268 81 66 121 305–382

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 was most recently assembled for participation in 2017 King's Cup in Thailand on 14–16 July 2017.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Selección de fútbol de Bielorrusia para niños

  • Belarus national under-23 football team
  • Belarus national under-21 football team
  • Belarus national under-19 football team
  • Belarus national under-17 football team
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