Lithuania national football team

Lithuania
Nickname(s)	Rinktine (National team)
Association	Lithuanian Football Federation; (Lietuvos futbolo federacija – LFF)
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Valdas Ivanauskas
Captain	Ernestas Šetkus
Most caps	Saulius Mikoliūnas (96)
Top scorer	Tomas Danilevičius (19)
Home stadium	LFF Stadium
FIFA code	LTU
First colours	Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	136 (23 December 2021)
Highest	37 (October 2008)
Lowest	148 (November 2017)
First international
	Lithuania 0–5 Estonia ; (Kaunas, Lithuania; 24 June 1923)
Biggest win
	Lithuania 7–0 Estonia ; (Riga, Latvia; 20 May 1995)
Biggest defeat
	Egypt 10–0 Lithuania ; (Paris, France; 27 May 1924)

The Lithuania national football team (Lithuanian: Lietuvos nacionalinė futbolo rinktinė) represents Lithuania in 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 11 times, only Latvia has won it more. Despite this Lithuania holds the record for winning the most consecutive Baltic Cup championships, four titles in a row from 1996 to 2000.

Since 2012 the national team has played their home matches at the LFF Stadium in Vilnius.

History[]

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.

Recent results and upcoming fixtures[]

Date	Venue	Opponent	Result	Goalscorer(s)	Captain	Competition
2021
24 March	Pristina, Kosovo	Kosovo	0–4		Fedor Černych	International friendly
28 March	St. Gallen, Switzerland	Switzerland	0–1		Saulius Mikoliūnas	World Cup 2022 qualifiers
31 March	Vilnius, Lithuania	Italy	0–2		Saulius Mikoliūnas	World Cup 2022 qualifiers
1 June	Vilnius, Lithuania	Estonia	0–1		Saulius Mikoliūnas	2021 Baltic Cup
4 June	Riga, Latvia	Latvia	1–3	Paulius Golubickas	Saulius Mikoliūnas	2021 Baltic Cup
8 June	Leganés, Spain	Spain	0–4		Saulius Mikoliūnas	International friendly
2 September	Vilnius, Lithuania	Northern Ireland	1–4	Rolandas Baravykas	Ernestas Šetkus	World Cup 2022 qualifiers
5 September	Sofia, Bulgaria	Bulgaria	0–1		Ernestas Šetkus	World Cup 2022 qualifiers
8 September	Reggio Emilia, Italy	Italy	0–5		Ernestas Šetkus	World Cup 2022 qualifiers
9 October	Vilnius, Lithuania	Bulgaria	3–1	Justas Lasickas, Fedor Černych x2	Ernestas Šetkus	World Cup 2022 qualifiers
12 October	Vilnius, Lithuania	Switzerland	0–4			World Cup 2022 qualifiers
12 November	Belfast, Northern Ireland	Northern Ireland	0–1			World Cup 2022 qualifiers
15 November	Vilnius, Lithuania	Kuwait	1–1	Justas Lasickas		International friendly
16 November	Minsk, Belarus	Belarus	cancelled^[7]			International friendly

Coaching staff[]

Position	Name
Manager	Valdas Ivanauskas
Assistant coach	Rokas Gorbunovas
Assistant coach	Tomas Ražanauskas
Fitness coach	Valentinas Terentjevas
Goalkeeping coach	Audrius Ramonas
Analyst	Rokas Pranaitis

Managers history[]

Name	From	To	Games	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	Win%
Benjaminas Zelkevičius	1990	1991	3	1	2	0	7	4	033.33
Algimantas Liubinskas	1992	1994	29	7	8	14	29	48	024.14
Benjaminas Zelkevičius	1995	1997	29	12	6	11	45	41	041.38
Kęstutis Latoža	1998	1999	18	5	4	9	15	24	027.78
(caretaker)	1999	1999	1	0	0	1	0	3	000.00
	2000	2000	8	2	0	6	8	18	025.00
(caretaker)	2000	2000	1	0	0	1	1	6	000.00
Benjaminas Zelkevičius	2001	2003	19	4	3	12	20	41	021.05
Algimantas Liubinskas	2003	2008	50	18	6	26	54	65	036.00
José Couceiro	2008	2009	15	6	3	6	17	15	040.00
Raimondas Žutautas	2010	2011	16	4	3	9	11	22	025.00
Csaba László	2012	2013	16	2	4	10	12	28	012.50
Igoris Pankratjevas	2013	2015	21	5	5	11	14	31	023.81
Edgaras Jankauskas	2016	2018	26	3	5	18	14	50	011.54
Valdas Urbonas	2019	2021	24	5	4	15	17	49	020.83
Valdas Ivanauskas	2021		7	1	1	5	5	17	014.29

Players[]

Current squad[]

The following players were called up for the World Cup 2022 qualifier against Northern Ireland and a friendly game against Kuwait respectively on 12 and 15 November 2021.
All caps and goals as of 15 November 2021 after the match against Kuwait.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
16	1GK	Ernestas Šetkus (Captain)	(1985-05-25) 25 May 1985 (age 36)	36	0	Hapoel Tel Aviv
12	1GK	Edvinas Gertmonas	(1996-06-01) 1 June 1996 (age 25)	2	0	Žalgiris
1	1GK	Titas Krapikas	(1999-01-03) 3 January 1999 (age 23)	1	0	Ternana
	1GK	Ignas Plūkas	(1999-12-08) 8 December 1999 (age 22)	0	0	Hegelmann Litauen

8	2DF	Egidijus Vaitkūnas	(1988-08-08) 8 August 1988 (age 33)	60	0	Kauno Žalgiris
	2DF	Edvinas Girdvainis	(1993-01-19) 19 January 1993 (age 29)	35	0	Kauno Žalgiris
3	2DF	Vytas Gašpuitis	(1994-03-04) 4 March 1994 (age 27)	11	0	Dunfermline Athletic
6	2DF	Benas Šatkus	(2001-04-01) 1 April 2001 (age 20)	8	0	Nürnberg II
13	2DF	Dominykas Barauskas	(1997-04-18) 18 April 1997 (age 24)	5	0	Riteriai

11	3MF	Arvydas Novikovas	(1990-12-18) 18 December 1990 (age 31)	77	12	BB Erzurumspor
9	3MF	Donatas Kazlauskas	(1994-03-31) 31 March 1994 (age 27)	31	2	Academica Clinceni
17	3MF	Justas Lasickas	(1997-10-06) 6 October 1997 (age 24)	30	2	Voždovac
18	3MF	Ovidijus Verbickas	(1993-07-04) 4 July 1993 (age 28)	30	1	Žalgiris
20	3MF	Domantas Šimkus	(1996-02-10) 10 February 1996 (age 25)	24	0	Sabail
4	3MF	Martynas Dapkus	(1993-02-16) 16 February 1993 (age 28)	16	0	Kauno Žalgiris
19	3MF	Linas Mėgelaitis	(1998-09-09) 9 September 1998 (age 23)	10	0	Viterbese
10	3MF	Ernestas Veliulis	(1992-08-22) 22 August 1992 (age 29)	5	0	Panevėžys
	3MF	Giedrius Matulevičius	(1997-03-05) 5 March 1997 (age 24)	3	0	Sūduva
	3MF	Vilius Armanavičius	(1995-05-08) 8 May 1995 (age 26)	3	0	Hegelmann Litauen

	4FW	Fedor Černych	(1991-05-21) 21 May 1991 (age 30)	71	11	Jagiellonia Białystok
	4FW	Karolis Laukžemis	(1992-03-11) 11 March 1992 (age 29)	27	2	Kaisar
10	4FW	Edgaras Dubickas	(1998-07-08) 8 July 1998 (age 23)	4	0	Piacenza
	4FW	Armandas Kučys	(2003-02-27) 27 February 2003 (age 18)	1	0	Kalmar FF

Recent call-ups[]

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

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Tomas Švedkauskas	(1994-06-22) 22 June 1994 (age 27)	14	0	Dainava	v. Spain, 8 June 2021
GK	Deividas Mikelionis	(1995-05-08) 8 May 1995 (age 26)	0	0	Kauno Žalgiris	v. Spain, 8 June 2021
GK	Lukas Paukštė	(1998-09-25) 25 September 1998 (age 23)	0	0	Riteriai	v. Estonia, 1 June 2021 ^PRE
GK	Ignas Driomovas	(1997-04-27) 27 April 1997 (age 24)	0	0	Banga Gargždai	v. Italy, 31 March 2021
GK	Marius Adamonis	(1997-05-13) 13 May 1997 (age 24)	0	0	Lazio	v. Italy, 31 March 2021

DF	Saulius Mikoliūnas ^INJ	(1984-05-02) 2 May 1984 (age 37)	96	5	Žalgiris	v. Switzerland,12 October 2021
DF	Linas Klimavičius	(1989-04-10) 10 April 1989 (age 32)	30	0	Dainava	v. Switzerland,12 October 2021
DF	Rolandas Baravykas	(1995-08-23) 23 August 1995 (age 26)	24	2	UTA Arad	v. Switzerland,12 October 2021
MF	Vykintas Slivka ^INJ	(1995-04-29) 29 April 1995 (age 26)	48	2	Apollon Smyrnis	v. Italy, 7 September 2021
DF	Vaidas Slavickas	(1986-02-26) 26 February 1986 (age 35)	22	0	Sūduva	v. Italy, 7 September 2021
DF	Artemijus Tutyškinas	(2003-08-08) 8 August 2003 (age 18)	1	0	Crotone	v. Italy,8 September 2021
DF	Markas Beneta	(1993-07-08) 8 July 1993 (age 28)	13	0	Sūduva	v. Spain, 8 June 2021
DF	Sigitas Olberkis	(1997-04-19) 19 April 1997 (age 24)	0	0	Legion Tallinn	v. Spain, 8 June 2021
DF	Rimvydas Sadauskas	(1996-07-21) 21 July 1996 (age 25)	0	0	Kauno Žalgiris	v. Italy, 31 March 2021
DF	Markus Palionis ^RET	(1987-05-12) 12 May 1987 (age 34)	14	0	Jahn Regensburg	v. Kosovo, 24 March 2021 ^PRE

MF	Modestas Vorobjovas	(1995-12-30) 30 December 1995 (age 26)	23	1	UTA Arad	v. Italy,8 September 2021
MF	Edgaras Utkus ^INJ	(2000-06-22) 22 June 2000 (age 21)	5	0	Cercle Brugge	v. Italy, 7 September 2021
MF	Eligijus Jankauskas	(1998-06-22) 22 June 1998 (age 23)	2	0	Panevėžys	v. Italy,8 September 2021
MF	Karolis Uzėla	(2000-03-11) 11 March 2000 (age 21)	2	0	Žalgiris	v. Italy,8 September 2021
MF	Deimantas Petravičius	(1995-09-02) 2 September 1995 (age 26)	23	1	Águilas	v. Spain, 8 June 2021
MF	Paulius Golubickas	(1999-08-19) 19 August 1999 (age 22)	12	1	HNK Gorica	v. Spain, 8 June 2021
MF	Tautvydas Eliošius	(1991-11-03) 3 November 1991 (age 30)	9	0	Panevėžys	v. Spain, 8 June 2021
MF	Karolis Šilkaitis	(1996-06-02) 2 June 1996 (age 25)	0	0	Kauno Žalgiris	v. Spain, 8 June 2021
MF	Gratas Sirgėdas ^INJ	(1994-12-17) 17 December 1994 (age 27)	13	5	Kauno Žalgiris	v. Estonia, 1 June 2021 ^PRE
MF	Daniel Romanovskij	(1996-06-19) 19 June 1996 (age 25)	6	0	Banga Gargždai	v. Italy, 31 March 2021

FW	Nerijus Valskis	(1987-08-04) 4 August 1987 (age 34)	25	1	Chennaiyin	v. Italy, 31 March 2021

Notes

^PRE = Preliminary squad.
^WD = The player withdrew from the current squad due to non-injury issue.
^INJ = It is not part of the current squad due to injury.
^RET = Retired from the national team.

Player records[]

As of 15 November 2021^[8]

Players in bold are still active, at least at club level.

Most capped players[]

#	Name	Caps	Goals	Career
1	Saulius Mikoliūnas	96	5	2004–present
2	Andrius Skerla	84	1	1996–2011
3	Deividas Šemberas	82	0	1996–2013
4	Arvydas Novikovas	77	12	2010–present
5	Fedor Černych	71	11	2012–present
5	Tomas Danilevičius	71	19	1998–2012
7	Žydrūnas Karčemarskas	66	0	2003–2013
8	Aurelijus Skarbalius	65	5	1991–2005
8	Marius Stankevičius	65	5	2001–2013
10	Deividas Česnauskis	64	4	2001–2016

Top goalscorers[]

#	Name	Goals	Caps	Ratio	Career
1	Tomas Danilevičius	19	71	0.27	1998–2012
2	Antanas Lingis	12	33	0.36	1928–1938
2	Arvydas Novikovas	12	77	0.16	2010–present
4	Fedor Černych	11	71	0.15	2012–present
5	Edgaras Jankauskas	10	56	0.18	1991–2008
6	Virginijus Baltušnikas	9	42	0.21	1990–1998
7	Jaroslavas Citavičius	8	24	0.33	1926–1933
	Valdas Ivanauskas	8	28	0.29	1992–2000
	Darius Maciulevičius	8	38	0.21	1991–2005
	Robertas Poškus	8	48	0.17	1999–2011

Competitive record[]

FIFA World Cup[]

FIFA World Cup record									Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930	Did not enter								Declined participation
1934	Did not qualify								1	0	0	1	0	2
1938	Did not qualify								2	0	0	2	3	9
1950	Part of the Soviet Union								Part of the Soviet Union
1954
1958
1962
1966
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986
1990
1994	Did not qualify								12	2	3	7	8	21
1998									10	5	2	3	11	8
2002									8	0	2	6	3	20
2006									10	2	4	4	8	9
2010									10	4	0	6	10	11
2014									10	3	2	5	9	11
2018									10	1	3	6	7	20
2022									8	1	0	7	4	19
2026	To be determined								To be determined
Total		0/11							81	18	16	47	63	130

UEFA European Championship[]

UEFA European Championship record									Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1960	Part of the Soviet Union								Part of the Soviet Union
1964
1968
1972
1976
1980
1984
1988
1992
1996	Did not qualify								10	5	1	4	13	12
2000									10	3	2	5	8	16
2004									8	3	1	4	7	11
2008									12	5	1	6	11	13
2012									8	1	2	5	4	13
2016									10	3	1	6	7	18
2020									8	0	1	7	5	25
2024	To be determined								To be determined
Total		0/7							66	20	9	37	55	108

UEFA Nations League[]

UEFA Nations League record
Season**	Division	Group	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	P/R	RK
2018–19	C	4	6	0	0	6	3	16		39th
2020–21	C	4	6	2	2	2	5	7		41st
2022–23	C	Future event
Total			12	2	2	8	8	23	39th

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

**Group stage played home and away. Flag shown represents host nation for the finals stage.

Baltic Cup[]

Honours[]

Baltic Cup

Winners (10): 1930, 1935, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2005, 2010

Head-to-head record[]

As of 31 March 2021.

Opponent	P	W	D	L
Albania	6	3	1	2
Andorra	2	2	0	0
Argentina	1	0	1	0
Armenia	4	2	0	2
Austria	3	1	0	2
Azerbaijan	3	1	1	1
Belarus	10	1	4	5
Belgium	2	0	2	0
Bosnia and Herzegovina	6	1	1	4
Brazil	1	0	0	1
Bulgaria	1	0	0	1
Chile	1	0	0	1
Croatia	2	0	1	1
Cyprus	3	1	0	2
Czech Republic	7	1	0	6
Denmark	2	0	1	1
Egypt	1	0	0	1
England	4	0	0	4
Estonia	49	21	8	20
Faroe Islands	9	7	1	1
Finland	4	2	0	2
France	4	0	0	4
Georgia	8	3	1	4
Germany	2	0	1	1
Greece	3	1	0	2
Hungary	5	0	1	4
Iceland	4	1	1	2
Indonesia	1	1	0	0
Iran	1	0	0	1
Israel	5	0	1	4
Italy	7	0	2	5
Jordan	1	0	0	1
Kazakhstan	3	1	1	1
Kuwait	1	0	0	1
Kosovo	1	0	0	1
Latvia	51	13	11	27
Liechtenstein	6	4	1	1
Luxembourg	4	1	1	2
North Macedonia	3	2	0	1
Mali	1	0	0	1
Malta	5	2	2	1
Moldova	8	2	4	2
Montenegro	2	0	0	2
New Zealand	1	1	0	0
Northern Ireland	2	0	1	1
Norway	2	0	0	2
Poland	11	2	4	5
Portugal	4	0	0	4
Republic of Ireland	4	0	1	3
Romania	13	1	0	12
Russia	4	0	1	3
San Marino	4	4	0	0
Saudi Arabia	1	0	1	0
Scotland	10	1	3	6
Serbia	10	1	0	9
Slovakia	4	0	2	2
Slovenia	6	2	2	2
Spain	6	0	1	5
Sri Lanka	2	1	1	0
Sweden	5	0	0	5
Switzerland	4	0	0	4
Turkmenistan	1	1	0	0
Ukraine	10	2	1	7
United Arab Emirates	1	0	1	0

References[]

^ "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 23 December 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
^ Elo rankings change compared to one year ago. "World Football Elo Ratings". eloratings.net. 31 January 2022. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
^ "MATCHES → international football results of Lithuania". eufootball.info. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
^ "International football MATCH: 13.10.1940 Lithuania v Latvia*". eufootball.info. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
^ "International football MATCH: 27.05.1990 Georgia v Lithuania". eufootball.info. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
^ FIFA World Cup uefa.com
^ "Lithuania canceled football friendlies in Belarus". News read online. 24 May 2021. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
^ Mamrud, Roberto. "Lithuania - Record International Players". RSSSF.

External links[]

Official website (in Lithuanian)
Lithuania at FIFA
Lithuania at UEFA
All Lithuanian Team Games 1923–1930
Reports for all matches of Lithuania national team
Lithuanian football videos Lithuanian Football TV

[FIFA_World_Rankings-1] "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 23 December 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2021.

[World_Football_Elo_Ratings-2] Elo rankings change compared to one year ago. "World Football Elo Ratings". eloratings.net. 31 January 2022. Retrieved 31 January 2022.

[3] "MATCHES → international football results of Lithuania". eufootball.info. Retrieved 27 May 2019.

[4] "International football MATCH: 13.10.1940 Lithuania v Latvia*". eufootball.info. Retrieved 27 May 2019.

[5] "International football MATCH: 27.05.1990 Georgia v Lithuania". eufootball.info. Retrieved 26 May 2019.

[6] FIFA World Cup uefa.com

[7] "Lithuania canceled football friendlies in Belarus". News read online. 24 May 2021. Retrieved 28 June 2021.

[8] Mamrud, Roberto. "Lithuania - Record International Players". RSSSF.

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v t Lithuania national football team
General	Lithuanian Football Federation History Managers
Venues	LFF Stadium
Records	Competitive record Head-to-head Player records Results
Players	Squad International players
Tournaments	UEFA Nations League Baltic Cup
Other LFF teams	U21 U19 U17 Women U17 Futsal Beach soccer