Over the past two days, several Baltic youth national teams – both boys’ and girls’ sides – discovered their opponents for the upcoming UEFA European Championship qualifying cycle. But the biggest storyline to emerge from the draw is that every Baltic country ended up with Belarus in at least one of their groups. Latvia and Estonia have already made their positions crystal clear: they will not play these matches. Lithuania, while not issuing an official statement, is bound by legislation that effectively prohibits fixtures against teams from the two aggressor states following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In practice, that means Lithuania also won’t take the field against Belarus.
Latvia’s U-19 men’s national team, which reached the Elite Round for the fourth consecutive year, learned its new qualification opponents during Wednesday’s draw in Nyon, Switzerland. The Latvians were placed into a group with Slovakia, San Marino, and Belarus.
The possibility of being drawn against Belarus has hovered over every Baltic youth draw since 2022. This time, it materialized – and the Latvian Football Federation (LFF), along with its president Vadims Ļašenko, instantly announced that Latvia will not play the match. The team expects to receive a technical loss but considers the stance non-negotiable.
Today, Estonia’s U-17 women’s national team found itself in a group with Lithuania – and Belarus. The Estonian Football Association wasted no time reaffirming its long-held position: Estonia will not play Belarus in any competition.
This isn’t unprecedented. In September of last year, Estonia’s beach soccer national team refused to play Belarus in a quarterfinal match, resulting in a technical defeat that sent Belarus directly to the semifinals.
Lithuania’s U-17 women’s team shares the same qualifying group, but the Lithuanian Football Federation has not yet released an official statement. Even so, their national legislation mirrors Latvia’s: Lithuanian sports teams are prohibited from competing against representatives of the aggressor states since the onset of the war in Ukraine. In other words, a match against Belarus is legally impossible, and Belarus may well begin the qualification campaign with two automatic victories.
This isn’t the first time that Belarus’ presence has created complications for Baltic hosts. Latvia and Lithuania were originally slated to co-host UEFA Futsal Euro 2026. But after Belarus qualified, UEFA was forced to find a workaround, as Belarusian teams cannot compete on Latvian or Lithuanian soil.
Options ranged from stripping hosting rights entirely to relocating portions of the tournament. Eventually, UEFA settled on adding a third host nation: Slovenia. Ljubljana will stage not only part of the group phase but also the semifinals and the final – a compromise that keeps Latvia and Lithuania involved while ensuring Belarus plays its matches elsewhere.
Source: https://jalgpall.ee/koondis/10/uudised/selgusid-eesti-neidude-u17-koondise-vastased-em-valikturniiri-teiseks-n25458
https://lff.lv/zinas/18693/u-19-izlase-izloze-noskaidro-2026-gada-pretiniekus/
