Idman.biz
Latvia's U-19 national football team has been penalized for refusing to play against Belarus in the qualifying round of the 2027 European Championship.
Idman.Biz reports that UEFA has recorded the result of the match as a 3-0 win for the Belarus national team. The organization's official website states that the Latvia-Belarus match is marked as a "forfeit", meaning a technical victory for Belarus.
Vadim Lyashenko, President of the Latvian Football Federation, had previously announced that the team would not play against Belarus. He stated that the decision was made for political reasons and that UEFA had been informed about this. The match was supposed to be held in San Marino on May 15.
UEFA did not accept this argument and awarded Latvia a technical defeat. The Belarus team thus earned three points in the qualifying group without playing their first match.
Previously, UEFA also handed Estonia and Lithuania's national teams a 0-3 technical defeat for refusing to play against Belarus in the qualifying round of the Women's U-17 European Championship.
It should be noted that the Belarus U-19 national team is also scheduled to face San Marino and Slovakia in the qualifying round.
