Lithuania national football team
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| Nickname | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Association | Lithuanian Football Federation | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Head coach |  Algimantas Liubinskas (2003-) |
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| Most caps | Aurelijus Skarbalius (65) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top scorer | Antanas Lingis (12) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FIFA code | LTU | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FIFA ranking | 70 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highest FIFA ranking | 42 (August 1997) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lowest FIFA ranking | 118 (September 2004) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Elo ranking | 92 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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First international Lithuania 0 - 5 Estonia  (Kaunas, Lithuania; 24 June 1923) |
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| Largest win Lithuania 7 - 0 Estonia (Riga, Latvia; 20 May 1995) |
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Worst defeat Egypt 10 - 0 Lithuania (Paris, France; 1 June 1924) |
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The national football team of Lithuania is controlled by the Lithuanian Football Federation. It played its first match in 1923. In 1940 Lithuania was annexed by the Soviet Union; the country proclaimed its renewed independence in 1990 and played their first match as a new nation against Georgia on the May 27th of that year.
Lithuania's largest victory came in 1995, against Estonia in the Baltic Cup. Lithuania is one of the weaker European football nations, mostly because it is one of a very few European nations where football is not the principal sport. Being among the tallest people in the world, Lithuanians' national identity is tied very closely to basketball.
Lithuania pulled off a large upset when they tied the current world champions Italy 1-1 in Naples for a Euro 2008 qualifing game on September 2, 2006, in the first competitive game that Italy played since their 1-1 (5-3) victory over France in the World Cup final game (The Italian side played only one post-world cup match previous to this,a friendly against Croatia, which they lost).
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[edit] Recent History
In the 1990s, Lithuania established a respectable presence in World Cup and European Championship qualifiers: third place in their group in both Euro 96 and 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 2-1 defeat to Scotland in the final game ended their hopes. Although finishing 5th in their 2006 World Cup qualifying group, Lithuania were nevertheless competitive.
[edit] World Cup record
- 1930 - Did not enter
- 1934 - Did not qualify
- 1938 - Did not qualify
- 1950 to 1990 - Did not enter, was part of USSR
- 1994 to 2006 - Did not qualify
[edit] European Championship record
[edit] National team
| Lithuania | ||
|---|---|---|
| Number | Player | Club in 2006/07 |
| Goalkeepers | ||
| 1 | Žydrūnas Karčemarskas | Dinamo Moscow |
| 12 | Mindaugas Malinauskas | Kaunas |
| Defenders | ||
| Nerijus Barasa | Hearts | |
| 3 | Rolandas Džiaukštas | Saturn Ramenskoe |
| 15 | Irmantas Zelmikas | Tavriya Simferopol |
| 5 | Andrius Skerla | Tom Tomsk |
| 2 | Marius Stankevičius | Brescia |
| Darius Žutautas | Atlantas | |
| 6 | Tomas Žvirgždauskas | Halmstad |
| 4 | Gediminas Paulauskas | Ekranas |
| Midfielders | ||
| Deividas Šemberas | CSKA | |
| 18 | Deividas Česnauskis | Hearts |
| 10 | Mindaugas Kalonas | Liepājas Metalurgs |
| 17 | Tomas Tamošauskas | Liepājas Metalurgs |
| 14 | Aidas Preikšaitis | Vėtra |
| 7 | Mantas Savėnas | Ekranas |
| Vitalijus Kavaliauskas | Ekranas | |
| 13 | Saulius Mikoliūnas | Hearts |
| 16 | Marius Žaliūkas | Hearts |
| Forwards | ||
| 10 | Tomas Danilevičius | Livorno |
| 9 | Edgaras Jankauskas | Hearts |
| 11 | Robertas Poškus | Dinamo Moscow |
| Tomas Radzinevičius | Slovan Liberec | |
| Povilas Lukšys | Ekranas | |
| 8 | Tadas Labukas | Žalgiris Vilnius |
| Andrius Velička | Hearts | |
[edit] Famous players
- Valdas Ivanauskas
- Arminas Narbekovas
- Gintaras Staučė
- Aurelijus Skarbalius
- Edgaras Jankauskas - winner of UEFA Cup 2003 and Champions League 2004 with FC Porto
- Deividas Šemberas - winner of UEFA Cup 2005 with CSKA
- Eugenijus Riabovas
[edit] External links
- Lithuanian Football Association Official Site
- Lithuanian team on football-shirts.co.uk
| Football in Lithuania |  |
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| Football Federation • National team • Lithuanian A Lyga • Cup • Supercup • Clubs • Footballers • Managers • Stadiums |
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