Latvia’s national football team will open their November international window tonight in Skopje with a friendly match against a familiar opponent – North Macedonia. Kick-off is scheduled for 19:00.
This window will mark the end of Latvia’s FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, as well as their final official match of 2025. It may also be the last set of games under head coach Paolo Nicolato, whose contract expires at the end of November. Whether the Italian will continue or depart after two years in charge remains an open question.
On Sunday, Latvia will play against Serbia for what could be Nicolato’s final match in charge – and the team’s last qualifier of the campaign. After seven games, Latvia sit fourth in Group K with five points, collected through a win and draw against Andorra and a home draw against Albania. But first comes tonight’s friendly against North Macedonia – a side Latvia know well.
Under Nicolato’s leadership, the two teams met twice last year in the UEFA Nations League. Latvia suffered an undeserved 0-3 defeat at home before narrowly losing 0-1 away. Overall, the sides have met five times in the past 11 years, with Latvia still searching for their first win against the Macedonians.
Injuries continue to trouble the squad. Captain Kristers Tobers and forward Roberts Uldriķis remain sidelined, while striker Dario Šits and midfielder Renārs Varslavāns – who had earned significant playing time under Nicolato – have also joined the injury list. On the positive side, Bruno Melnis returns to the squad after missing the October window due to a injury suffered while playing a league match. The FK Liepāja forward made his national team debut in September.
Surprisingly, Nicolato did not call up Raimonds Krollis, who has been in strong form in the Czech league, scoring twice and adding an assist in his last two matches.
Tonight’s game will also see a milestone achieved. Andrejs Cigaņiks, currently playing for FC Luzern, will make his 60th consecutive appearance for Latvia – breaking the long-standing national team record held by the late Andrejs Rubins, who played 59 straight matches. Cigaņiks’s streak, however, will end there, as he is suspended for the Serbia match due to yellow card accumulation.
Latvian national team squad:
Goalkeepers:
- Rihards Matrevics – Dukla Praha (Czech Republic) — 13 caps / 0 goals
- Krišjānis Zviedris – Riga FC — 7 caps / 0 goals
- Frenks Dāvids Orols – FK Grobiņa — 0 caps / 0 goals
Defenders:
- Roberts Savaļnieks – FC RFS — 70 caps / 2 goals
- Andrejs Cigaņiks – FC Luzern (Switzerland) — 67 caps / 4 goals
- Raivis Andris Jurkovskis – Riga FC — 56 caps / 0 goals
- Antonijs Černomordijs – Riga FC — 44 caps / 2 goals
- Vitālijs Jagodinskis – Visakha FC (Cambodia) — 38 caps / 0 goals
- Daniels Balodis – Tatran Prešov (Slovakia) — 23 caps / 1 goal
- Deniss Meļņiks – FK Auda — 8 caps / 0 goals
- Maksims Toņiševs – Riga FC — 6 caps / 0 goals
- Roberts Veips – FC RFS — 2 caps / 0 goals
Midfielders:
- Aleksejs Saveļjevs – FK Liepāja — 33 caps / 1 goal
- Eduards Dašķevičs – FK Auda — 22 caps / 0 goals
- Dmitrijs Zelenkovs – FC RFS — 20 caps / 1 goal
- Lūkass Vapne – Sogndal IL (Norway) — 14 caps / 0 goals
- Kristers Penkevics – FS Jelgava — 1 cap / 0 goals
- Kristaps Grabovskis – B93 (Denmark) — 1 cap / 0 goals
- Danila Patijčuks – FK Liepāja — 0 caps / 0 goals
Forwards:
- Jānis Ikaunieks – FC RFS — 70 caps / 12 goals
- Vladislavs Gutkovskis – Daejeon (South Korea) — 57 caps / 12 goals
- Marko Regža – Riga FC — 14 caps / 0 goals
- Bruno Melnis – FK Liepāja — 3 caps / 0 goals
- Ingars Pūlis – FK Tukums 2000 — 1 cap / 0 goals
World Cup 2026 qualifying Group K
| # | Team | GP | W | D | L | PTS |
| 1 | England | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| 2 | Albania | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 14 |
| 3 | Serbia | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 13 |
| 4 | Latvia | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 5 |
| 5 | Andorra | 8 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 |
