Latvia’s national team head coach Paolo Nicolato has announced his squad for the final international fixtures of the year – a friendly match away against North Macedonia, followed by the concluding World Cup qualifying match in Serbia.
Compared to the October training camp, there is only one change in the lineup. Bruno Melnis, the FK Liepāja forward, returns to the national team after recovering from injury. Meanwhile, Dario Šits and freshly crowned Virslīga champion Renārs Varslavāns will miss this call-up due to health issues.
Overall, Nicolato’s latest selection comes without major surprises. Notably, Ingars Pūlis – the top Latvian goalscorer in this year’s Virslīga from FK Tukums 2000 – has been called up for the second time in a row.
The Latvian squad will assemble on November 9, before departing for North Macedonia on November 11. They will play the friendly in Skopje on November 13, and later wrap up their World Cup qualifying campaign with an away match in Serbia three days later, on November 16.
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 |
Source: https://lff.lv/zinas/18621/izvelets-latvijas-izlases-sastavs-novembra-nometne/
