THE FIRST GAME
After the break up of the Soviet Union Belarus became an Independent country in 1991 with their first FIFA recognised International game being played on Wednesday 28th October 1992 against Ukraine at the Dynamo Stadium in Minsk. A crowd of 15,000 people saw a 1-1 draw. To jog your memory if you're reading this in England - We were drawing with Norway at Wembley in a World Cup Qualifier on Wednesday 14th October in front of 51,441 people - David Platt the scorer of the goal. Norwich City were top of the Premier League closely followed by Blackburn Rovers - How times change?
SERGEI GOTSMANOV
whom at the time played for Dynamo Minsk, was the goal scoring hero and history maker for Belarus. He came on as a substitute at half time and made an instant impact netting on 47 minutes
Brighton & HA fans of a certain age will know the name as he was somewhat of a cult figure during his brief spell at The Goldstone Ground. He had played for the USSR in Euro 1988 and played in the final where they were defeated by a Ruud Gullit and Marco Van Basten inspired Netherlands side. He also scored for the USSR in their 0-2 1984 victory against England at Wembley which saw 'Robson out' chants sang at the end of the game. In total he had 31 caps for the USSR.
His performances with Dynamo Minsk between 1979 to 1990 earnt him the Belarusian Player of The Year in 1983, 1985, 1987 and 1989.
He joined The Seagulls, who were then members of Division Two (now Championship) on a non-contract basis in February 1990. He scored four goals in sixteens games and was reportedly playing for no wages in order to get a move to an English side for the 1990/91 season.
He joined Southampton in August 1990 but his chances were limited due to Alan Shearer, Matt Le Tissier and Rod Wallace also being in The Saints squad.
Gotsmanov spent a season in Germany with Hallescher before moving back to Dynamo Minsk in 1992. He finished his career in America with Minnesota Thunder - He now resides in the USA. His sons Sasha and Andrei both played professionally for Minnesota Thunder and Minnesota United. He was just one of the famous team who faced the Ukraine.
ALEKSANDR METLITSKIY
was also in the starting XI for the first game played. He was playing for Rapid Vienna at the time. He was born in Minsk and played for Dynamo prior to his move abroad. Had a total of 9 caps for Belarus during his career. As a 45 year old he was appointed Sporting Director of Scottish club Heart of Midlothian in 2009.
SEGEI ALEINIKO
Born in Minsk and another to have played internationally for the USSR and CIS prior to Belarus. One of the most well known players to have played for Belarus. He was with Juventus in the 1989/90 season where he won the UEFA Cup and Coppa Italia. He signed for Lecce in 1990 whom he played for at the time of the first Belarus game. He went on to play in Japan for Gamba Osaka and in Sweden for IK Oddevold. In 2003 as part of the UEFA Jubilee celebrations he was selected at the "Golden Player" by the Belarusian Football Federation as their most outstanding player of the previous 50 years. He was only capped by Belarus 4 times.
VALENTIN BIALKEVICH
Was a substitute in this game and came on for Yuri Antonovich at half time. He played for Dynamo Minsk but is more famous for his time in the Ukraine with Dyanmo Kiev whom he joined in 1996. In 1994 he was banned from football for one year after failing a drugs test following a UEFA Cup game for Dynamo Minsk. He helped Dynamo Kiev to reach the semi-finals of the 1998/99 UEFA Champions League where they narrowly lost to Bayern Munich 3-4 over two legs. He sadly passed away in 2014 aged just 41 after suffering from an aneurysm.
EURO 1996 was the first major tournament Belarus attempted to qualify for - they were drawn in Group Five along with the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Malta, Norway and Luxembourg.
JUNE 1995 - ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS RESULTS SO FAR
28,000 fans were in Minsk to see the home game against a Netherlands side coached by Guus Hiddink full of star names including Edwin Van Der Sar, Ronald De Boer, Danny Blind, Patrick Kluivert, Edgare Davids and Clarence Seedorf.
Nobody gave SERGEI BOROVSKY'S side a chance but a goal in the 27th minute gave from SERGEI GERASIMENTS (who was also in the first starting XI) gave the Belarusian side one of their most famous victories. It was scored after he pushed the ball past an advancing Van Der Sar on the edge of the penalty box and then slotted the ball home from an acute angle on the right hand side.
Goalkeeper VALERIY SHANTALOSOV made a number of good saves in the second half to help the team onto a historic victory. He spent the bulk of his career in Russia but did play for Belshina Bobruisk whet they famously won the Premier League title in 2001.
WORLD CUP 1998 QUALIFYING AND GAMES V SCOTLAND
In trying to get to France 1998 Belarus were paired in a qualifying group with Scotland and lost both games to them. The only win they got was against Estonia at home.
The games against Scotland were both defeats - 0-1 at home thanks to a Gary McCallister penalty kick and 4-1 at Aberdeen's Pittodrie stadium. A crowd of 20,160 saw Kevin Gallacher and Crystal Palace legend David Hopkin both scoring two goals. It was the only goals that Hopkin, who had just moved to Leeds United, scored in his seven caps for his country.
ULADZIMIR MAKOWSKI scored two of Belarus's five goals scored in the group. He is now more famous for being part of match fixing & corruption when assistant manager of Isloch in 2016. He and a number of players at the time were found guilty in by the Belarusian Football Federation after an investigation of a game against Dynamo Brest played on Friday 26th August 2016 which ended 1-1. Makowski was banned for life for his part in the incident.
EURO 2000 - FAMOUS GAMES AGAINST ITALY AND WALES
Belarus again finished bottom of the group - this time without winning a game. They only scored four goals in ten games but there were some positives to take from this campaign including two draws against eventual group winners Italy.
They drew 1-1 away in a game played at the Del Conero Stadium in Ancona in front of 20,735. Belarus were real underdogs in this game particularly as they were missing key players SERGEI CHTANIOUK (injured) and ALEXANDR KHATSEVICH and VIACHESLAY GUREACHTCHENK who were both suspended.
VALYANTSIN BYALKEVICH scored what is one of the most famous goals scored by a Belarusian when he volleyed the ball home from a cross from the left hand side past Gianlugi Buffon in the Italian goal on 25 minutes. The star studied Italian side managed at the time by Dino Zoff were back in it on 35 minutes when Fillipo Inzagi scored from the penalty spot.
The home game played in driving rain in Minsk ended goal less in front of 32,000 fans - the point was enough to make sure Italy finished top of the group and qualify for Euro 2000.
The games against Wales were both lost. At Ninian Park it was 3-2 with John Robinson, Chris Coleman and Kit Symons scoring - the winner was timed on 84 minutes. In Minsk it was again a close game finishing 1-2 with Dean Saunders and Ryan Giggs scoring for Wales - this time the winner was on 86 minutes.
WORLD CUP 2002 QUALIFYING - PROBABLY THE BEST PEFORMANCE IN QUALIFYING
In trying to qualify for the 2002 tournament it was the best performance by a Belarus side so far. They were again grouped with Wales along with Armenia, Norway, Ukraine and Poland.
Managed by Russian EDUARD MALOFEYEV they started well beating Wales 2-1 in Minsk - Gary Speed scoring for Wales. They then lost 3-1 in Poland (the eventual group winners) and won 2-1 at home to Armenia followed by a 0-0 draw in the Ukraine in front of an incredible 75,000 crowd at the Olimpiyskiy stadium in Kiev. The 0-2 defeat at home to the Ukraine with only two games to play was a real set back - Andiry Shevchenko scored both goals. They did beat Poland 4-1 in Minsk in a famous match where RAMAN VASULYUK scored all four goals for Belarus.
A very low crowd of 10,201 saw them lose 1-0 to Wales in The Millennium Stadium in the final group game with John Hartson scoring the goal. This game saw the debut from the substitute's bench (on for VASILI BARANOV) of a twenty year old attacking midfielder who had honed his skills on the streets and pitches in Minsk before signing for BATE Borisov.
He, at the time, was playing in Germany for VFB Stuttgart. ALEXANDER HLEB went on to play for both Arsenal and Barcelona in the Champions League and with 80 International Caps for his country one of, if not, the most famous player ever produced. His younger bother VYACHESLAV was also with VFB Stuttgart at the time and at the age of 37 is still playing today in the First League for Arsenal Dzerzhinsk although for the 2020 season he has only featured twice for them. He also won caps for Belarus playing 45 times and scoring 12 goals.
Belarus missed out on second place in the group by just two points to Ukraine. It's was the closest (to that date) they have ever come to either a play-off or qualifying for the World Cup or Euros. The Ukraine were paired with Germany and lost by an aggregate score of 5-2 in their play-off.
ANOTHER TWO GAMES WITH ITALY AND SCOTLAND IN WORLD CUP 2006 QUALIFYING
A famous 0-1 at Hampden Park in October 2005. 51,105 people saw VITALI KUTUZOV's fifth minute goal enough to win the game. The match in Italy was an amazing one which ended in a 4-3 defeat. MAKSIM ROMASHCHENKO's scored two goals in that game. Scotland also came to Minsk and the game ended 0-0 - the points dropped by Walter Smith's squad in the games against Belarus saw them miss out to Norway in second place who went on to the play-offs.
ROMASHCHENKO is the top scorer for Belarus (at present) with 20 goals from 64 caps.
ANOTHER FAMOUS WIN AGAINST HOLLAND IN EURO 2008 QUALIFYING
Holland came to Minsk for the final game of the qualifying group. VITAL BULYGA and ULADZIMIR KARYTSKA scored goals in a 2-1 win
WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING AND GAMES AGAINST ENGLAND
The only two games Belarus have played against England came in trying to qualifying for the World Cup of 2010. In Minsk 29,600 were in attendance with Wayne Rooney (2) and Steven Gerrard scoring a 1-3 victory for England. PAVEL SITKO, then of Vitebsk, scored one of his only two goals scored in the fifteen caps he won for Belarus.
The final group game was at Wembley in front of 76,897 with Peter Crouch (2) and Sean Wright Phillips scoring in a 3-0 win.
TIMOFEI KALACHEV top scored with five goal in the group - He won 76 caps between 2004 to 2016.
EURO 2012 QUALIFYING - A FAMOUS WIN IN FRANCE
The qualification tournament started brilliantly for Belarus as they travelled to the Stade De France to play a French featuring Hugo Loris, Bacary Sagna, Florent Malouda and Louis Saha on the bench. They home side were strong favourites for the victory.
Belarus were resolute in defence and famously won 0-1 thanks to SYARHEY KISLYAK's (who was with Dynamo Minsk at the time but would later play for Ruban Kazan in Russia) 86th minute goal which stunned the majority of the 76,395 fans in attendance.
In the final group game in Romania there was a 2-2 draw with STANISLAW DRAHUN (nicknamed The Dragon) scoring his first goal for the National Team. He, aged 32, now plays for BATE Borisov and is still an important part of the national team.
RENAN BRESSAN
was born in Brazil but was also had Belarusian Citizenship. He scored three goals for his adopted country in twenty eight games played. Now 32 he is still playing football in Brazil for second tier side Parana Clube.
2018/19 UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE AND SUCCESS
The inaugural Nations League tournament where nations are drawn against others around their own ranking which made International football much more exciting for many fans and very much so Belarusian fans. Team performances in the league phase were used to seed them for the qualifying of the group stage of the qualification stages of Euro 2020 and awarded berths in the play-offs which will decide four of the twenty-four team final tournament line up,
San Marino, Moldova and Luxembourg were opponents in Group D2 and it was a highly successful one for Belarus as they topped the group with four wins and two draws in six games played. Ten goals were scored and impressively no goals were let in.
EURO 2020 QUALIFYING
Another tough ask with Germany, Holland (they seem to be paired with them every competition!), Northern Ireland and Estonia.
One game was won away in Estonia who finished bottom of the table. The final score was 1-2 with MAKSIM SKAVYSH scoring the winner on 92 minutes. The other point they picked up was in a 0-0 draw at home to Estonia.
Belarus moved on to the play-offs due to their performance in the Nations League where they were paired with an away tie semi-final in Georgia - Arguably this game was the closest Belarus were to a major tournament.
In a very tight 90 minutes there was little to chose between the two sides a Tornike Okriashvili seventh minute penalty was enough to win the game for the home side in a game played behind closed doors in Tbilisi due to the covid pandemic.
2020/21 UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE
Due to their good performance in the previous competition it was a move upwards to Group C4 where Belarus are paired with Lithuania, Albania and Kazakhstan.
So far in this delayed tournament they have lost at home to Albania (0-2), won 1-2 in Kazakhstan, drawn 2-2 in Lithuania and won 2-0 at home to Kazakhstan. They are due to play Lithuania at home tomorrow and and in Albania in midweek. They have a great chance of finishing top of the league.
FIFA RANKED 90
At present Belarus are ranked by FIFA at 90 just above Lebanon and below Zambia. The highest they have ever been ranked in 26 in February 2011 and the lowest being 142 in March 1994.
Luxembourg, Cyrpus, Armenia, Faroe Islands, Estonia, Azerbaijan, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Latvia, Andorra, Moldova, Malta, Liechtenstein, Gibraltar and San Marino are the UEFA sides currently ranked below.
LUXEMBOURG AND HOLLAND ARE FAMILIAR FACES
The Team they have played the most is Luxembourg whom they have faced twelve times - with six wins, four draws and two defeats. They are closely followed by Netherlands whom they have met ten times with two wins and eight defeats.
In total they have played 275 games with 75 wins, 62 draws and 108 defeats scoring 283 and letting in 343.
ALEXSANDR KULCHY is the most capped player and the only player with over 100 caps. The defensive midfielder won 102 caps and scored 5 goals between 1996 to 2012. ALEXANDER HLEB and SERGEI GURENKO got 80 caps in their career are in second place on the list. Of the players who are currently playing ALYAKSANDR MARTYNOVICH has the most caps on 75.
In the current squad there are players from BATE Borisov, Shakhtyor Soligorsk, Dynamo Brest, Isloch, Torpedo Zhodino and Dynamo Minsk. Astana (from Kazakhstan) along with Russian clubs Lokomotiv Moscow, Rostov and Ural Yekaterinburg.
Could Mikhail Markhel's team improve in their attempt to qualify for the World Cup 2022? - The draw is made in December.
THE FIRST GAME
After the break up of the Soviet Union Belarus became an Independent country in 1991 with their first FIFA recognised International game being played on Wednesday 28th October 1992 against Ukraine at the Dynamo Stadium in Minsk. A crowd of 15,000 people saw a 1-1 draw. To jog your memory if you're reading this in England - We were drawing with Norway at Wembley in a World Cup Qualifier on Wednesday 14th October in front of 51,441 people - David Platt the scorer of the goal. Norwich City were top of the Premier League closely followed by Blackburn Rovers - How times change?
SERGEI GOTSMANOV
whom at the time played for Dynamo Minsk, was the goal scoring hero and history maker for Belarus. He came on as a substitute at half time and made an instant impact netting on 47 minutes
His performances with Dynamo Minsk between 1979 to 1990 earnt him the Belarusian Player of The Year in 1983, 1985, 1987 and 1989.
He joined The Seagulls, who were then members of Division Two (now Championship) on a non-contract basis in February 1990. He scored four goals in sixteens games and was reportedly playing for no wages in order to get a move to an English side for the 1990/91 season.
He joined Southampton in August 1990 but his chances were limited due to Alan Shearer, Matt Le Tissier and Rod Wallace also being in The Saints squad.
Gotsmanov spent a season in Germany with Hallescher before moving back to Dynamo Minsk in 1992. He finished his career in America with Minnesota Thunder - He now resides in the USA. His sons Sasha and Andrei both played
ALEKSANDR METLITSKIY
was also in the starting XI for the first game played. He was playing for Rapid Vienna at the time. He was born in Minsk and played for Dynamo prior to his move abroad. Had a total of 9 caps for Belarus during his career. As a 45 year old he was appointed Sporting Director of Scottish club Heart of Midlothian in 2009.
SEGEI ALEINIKO
Born in Minsk and another to have played internationally for the USSR and CIS prior to Belarus. One of the most well known players to have played for Belarus. He was with Juventus in the 1989/90 season where he won the UEFA Cup and Coppa Italia. He signed for Lecce in 1990 whom he played for at the time of the first Belarus game. He went on to play in Japan for Gamba Osaka and in Sweden for IK Oddevold. In 2003 as part of the UEFA Jubilee celebrations he was selected at the "Golden Player" by the Belarusian Football Federation as their most outstanding player of the previous 50 years. He was only capped by Belarus 4 times.
VALENTIN BIALKEVICH
Was a substitute in this game and came on for Yuri Antonovich at half time. He played for Dynamo Minsk but is more famous for his time in the Ukraine with Dyanmo Kiev whom he joined in 1996. In 1994 he was banned from football for one year after failing a drugs test following a UEFA Cup game for Dynamo Minsk. He helped Dynamo Kiev to reach the semi-finals of the 1998/99 UEFA Champions League where they narrowly lost to Bayern Munich 3-4 over two legs. He sadly passed away in 2014 aged just 41 after suffering from an aneurysm.
EURO 1996 was the first major tournament Belarus attempted to qualify for - they were drawn in Group Five along with the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Malta, Norway and Luxembourg.
JUNE 1995 - ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS RESULTS SO FAR
28,000 fans were in Minsk to see the home game against a Netherlands side coached by Guus Hiddink full of star names including Edwin Van Der Sar, Ronald De Boer, Danny Blind, Patrick Kluivert, Edgare Davids and Clarence Seedorf.
Nobody gave SERGEI BOROVSKY'S side a chance but a goal in the 27th minute gave from SERGEI GERASIMENTS (who was also in the first starting XI) gave the Belarusian side one of their most famous victories. It was scored after he pushed the ball past an advancing Van Der Sar on the edge of the penalty box and then slotted the ball home from an acute angle on the right hand side.
Goalkeeper VALERIY SHANTALOSOV made a number of good saves in the second half to help the team onto a historic victory. He spent the bulk of his career in Russia but did play for Belshina Bobruisk whet they famously won the Premier League title in 2001.
WORLD CUP 1998 QUALIFYING AND GAMES V SCOTLAND
In trying to get to France 1998 Belarus were paired in a qualifying group with Scotland and lost both games to them. The only win they got was against Estonia at home.
The games against Scotland were both defeats - 0-1 at home thanks to a Gary McCallister penalty kick and 4-1 at Aberdeen's Pittodrie stadium. A crowd of 20,160 saw Kevin Gallacher and Crystal Palace legend David Hopkin both scoring two goals. It was the only goals that Hopkin, who had just moved to Leeds United, scored in his seven caps for his country.
ULADZIMIR MAKOWSKI scored two of Belarus's five goals scored in the group. He is now more famous for being part of match fixing & corruption when assistant manager of Isloch in 2016. He and a number of players at the time were found guilty in by the Belarusian Football Federation after an investigation of a game against Dynamo Brest played on Friday 26th August 2016 which ended 1-1. Makowski was banned for life for his part in the incident.
EURO 2000 - FAMOUS GAMES AGAINST ITALY AND WALES
Belarus again finished bottom of the group - this time without winning a game. They only scored four goals in ten games but there were some positives to take from this campaign including two draws against eventual group winners Italy.
They drew 1-1 away in a game played at the Del Conero Stadium in Ancona in front of 20,735. Belarus were real underdogs in this game particularly as they were missing key players SERGEI CHTANIOUK (injured) and ALEXANDR KHATSEVICH and VIACHESLAY GUREACHTCHENK who were both suspended.
VALYANTSIN BYALKEVICH scored what is one of the most famous goals scored by a Belarusian when he volleyed the ball home from a cross from the left hand side past Gianlugi Buffon in the Italian goal on 25 minutes. The star studied Italian side managed at the time by Dino Zoff were back in it on 35 minutes when Fillipo Inzagi scored from the penalty spot.
The home game played in driving rain in Minsk ended goal less in front of 32,000 fans - the point was enough to make sure Italy finished top of the group and qualify for Euro 2000.
The games against Wales were both lost. At Ninian Park it was 3-2 with John Robinson, Chris Coleman and Kit Symons scoring - the winner was timed on 84 minutes. In Minsk it was again a close game finishing 1-2 with Dean Saunders and Ryan Giggs scoring for Wales - this time the winner was on 86 minutes.
WORLD CUP 2002 QUALIFYING - PROBABLY THE BEST PEFORMANCE IN QUALIFYING
In trying to qualify for the 2002 tournament it was the best performance by a Belarus side so far. They were again grouped with Wales along with Armenia, Norway, Ukraine and Poland.
Managed by Russian EDUARD MALOFEYEV they started well beating Wales 2-1 in Minsk - Gary Speed scoring for Wales. They then lost 3-1 in Poland (the eventual group winners) and won 2-1 at home to Armenia followed by a 0-0 draw in the Ukraine in front of an incredible 75,000 crowd at the Olimpiyskiy stadium in Kiev. The 0-2 defeat at home to the Ukraine with only two games to play was a real set back - Andiry Shevchenko scored both goals. They did beat Poland 4-1 in Minsk in a famous match where RAMAN VASULYUK scored all four goals for Belarus.
A very low crowd of 10,201 saw them lose 1-0 to Wales in The Millennium Stadium in the final group game with John Hartson scoring the goal. This game saw the debut from the substitute's bench (on for VASILI BARANOV) of a twenty year old attacking midfielder who had honed his skills on the streets and pitches in Minsk before signing for BATE Borisov.
He, at the time, was playing in Germany for VFB Stuttgart. ALEXANDER HLEB went on to play for both Arsenal and Barcelona in the Champions League and with 80 International Caps for his country one of, if not, the most famous player ever produced. His younger bother VYACHESLAV was also with VFB Stuttgart at the time and at the age of 37 is still playing today in the First League for Arsenal Dzerzhinsk although for the 2020 season he has only featured twice for them. He also won caps for Belarus playing 45 times and scoring 12 goals.
Belarus missed out on second place in the group by just two points to Ukraine. It's was the closest (to that date) they have ever come to either a play-off or qualifying for the World Cup or Euros. The Ukraine were paired with Germany and lost by an aggregate score of 5-2 in their play-off.
ANOTHER TWO GAMES WITH ITALY AND SCOTLAND IN WORLD CUP 2006 QUALIFYING
A famous 0-1 at Hampden Park in October 2005. 51,105 people saw VITALI KUTUZOV's fifth minute goal enough to win the game. The match in Italy was an amazing one which ended in a 4-3 defeat. MAKSIM ROMASHCHENKO's scored two goals in that game. Scotland also came to Minsk and the game ended 0-0 - the points dropped by Walter Smith's squad in the games against Belarus saw them miss out to Norway in second place who went on to the play-offs.
ROMASHCHENKO is the top scorer for Belarus (at present) with 20 goals from 64 caps.
ANOTHER FAMOUS WIN AGAINST HOLLAND IN EURO 2008 QUALIFYING
Holland came to Minsk for the final game of the qualifying group. VITAL BULYGA and ULADZIMIR KARYTSKA scored goals in a 2-1 win
WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING AND GAMES AGAINST ENGLAND
The only two games Belarus have played against England came in trying to qualifying for the World Cup of 2010. In Minsk 29,600 were in attendance with Wayne Rooney (2) and Steven Gerrard scoring a 1-3 victory for England. PAVEL SITKO, then of Vitebsk, scored one of his only two goals scored in the fifteen caps he won for Belarus.
The final group game was at Wembley in front of 76,897 with Peter Crouch (2) and Sean Wright Phillips scoring in a 3-0 win.
TIMOFEI KALACHEV top scored with five goal in the group - He won 76 caps between 2004 to 2016.
EURO 2012 QUALIFYING - A FAMOUS WIN IN FRANCE
The qualification tournament started brilliantly for Belarus as they travelled to the Stade De France to play a French featuring Hugo Loris, Bacary Sagna, Florent Malouda and Louis Saha on the bench. They home side were strong favourites for the victory.
Belarus were resolute in defence and famously won 0-1 thanks to SYARHEY KISLYAK's (who was with Dynamo Minsk at the time but would later play for Ruban Kazan in Russia) 86th minute goal which stunned the majority of the 76,395 fans in attendance.
In the final group game in Romania there was a 2-2 draw with STANISLAW DRAHUN (nicknamed The Dragon) scoring his first goal for the National Team. He, aged 32, now plays for BATE Borisov and is still an important part of the national team.
RENAN BRESSAN
was born in Brazil but was also had Belarusian Citizenship. He scored three goals for his adopted country in twenty eight games played. Now 32 he is still playing football in Brazil for second tier side Parana Clube.
2018/19 UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE AND SUCCESS
The inaugural Nations League tournament where nations are drawn against others around their own ranking which made International football much more exciting for many fans and very much so Belarusian fans. Team performances in the league phase were used to seed them for the qualifying of the group stage of the qualification stages of Euro 2020 and awarded berths in the play-offs which will decide four of the twenty-four team final tournament line up,
San Marino, Moldova and Luxembourg were opponents in Group D2 and it was a highly successful one for Belarus as they topped the group with four wins and two draws in six games played. Ten goals were scored and impressively no goals were let in.
EURO 2020 QUALIFYING
Another tough ask with Germany, Holland (they seem to be paired with them every competition!), Northern Ireland and Estonia.
One game was won away in Estonia who finished bottom of the table. The final score was 1-2 with MAKSIM SKAVYSH scoring the winner on 92 minutes. The other point they picked up was in a 0-0 draw at home to Estonia.
Belarus moved on to the play-offs due to their performance in the Nations League where they were paired with an away tie semi-final in Georgia - Arguably this game was the closest Belarus were to a major tournament.
In a very tight 90 minutes there was little to chose between the two sides a Tornike Okriashvili seventh minute penalty was enough to win the game for the home side in a game played behind closed doors in Tbilisi due to the covid pandemic.
2020/21 UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE
Due to their good performance in the previous competition it was a move upwards to Group C4 where Belarus are paired with Lithuania, Albania and Kazakhstan.
So far in this delayed tournament they have lost at home to Albania (0-2), won 1-2 in Kazakhstan, drawn 2-2 in Lithuania and won 2-0 at home to Kazakhstan. They are due to play Lithuania at home tomorrow and and in Albania in midweek. They have a great chance of finishing top of the league.
FIFA RANKED 90
At present Belarus are ranked by FIFA at 90 just above Lebanon and below Zambia. The highest they have ever been ranked in 26 in February 2011 and the lowest being 142 in March 1994.
Luxembourg, Cyrpus, Armenia, Faroe Islands, Estonia, Azerbaijan, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Latvia, Andorra, Moldova, Malta, Liechtenstein, Gibraltar and San Marino are the UEFA sides currently ranked below.
LUXEMBOURG AND HOLLAND ARE FAMILIAR FACES
The Team they have played the most is Luxembourg whom they have faced twelve times - with six wins, four draws and two defeats. They are closely followed by Netherlands whom they have met ten times with two wins and eight defeats.
In total they have played 275 games with 75 wins, 62 draws and 108 defeats scoring 283 and letting in 343.
ALEXSANDR KULCHY is the most capped player and the only player with over 100 caps. The defensive midfielder won 102 caps and scored 5 goals between 1996 to 2012. ALEXANDER HLEB and SERGEI GURENKO got 80 caps in their career are in second place on the list. Of the players who are currently playing ALYAKSANDR MARTYNOVICH has the most caps on 75.
In the current squad there are players from BATE Borisov, Shakhtyor Soligorsk, Dynamo Brest, Isloch, Torpedo Zhodino and Dynamo Minsk. Astana (from Kazakhstan) along with Russian clubs Lokomotiv Moscow, Rostov and Ural Yekaterinburg.
Could Mikhail Markhel's team improve in their attempt to qualify for the World Cup 2022? - The draw is made in December.
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