We recall the stages of the path that the Belarusian national football team passed in the previous draws of the League of Nations

Again, again, again..

In the evening of September 26, the Belarusian team will start in the next UEFA Nations League tournament. Play in group C1 with teams from Albania, Finland and San Marino, and, as always, in anticipation of matches of the national team, everyone lives with hope. Whether the team of the sample of 2026 will succeed in fulfilling its task and qualify from League C to League B (for this you need to take one of the first two places in the group), only November will show. In the meantime, we offer to recall the stages of the big (or still small?) path that the team has passed in previous draws of the League of Nations.

2018. Belarus to San Marino. With the ball, Sergey Politevych. Attempt #1 In order to understand how quickly time passes, it is enough to recall that the League of Nations was born from the idea of former UEFA President Michel Platini, who advocated replacing faceless friendly matches with official and competitive games. The tournament was approved in 2014, and where is Platini now!

The first draw of the League of Nations started in autumn 2018, and the first winner was the national team of Portugal. The Belarusian team, as now, which did not have a high rating, fell into group 2 of the weakest League D, but that performance can be called almost the best in the history of our team. The team led by Igor Kriushenko began with a major home victory over San Marino - 5: 0, played a draw with the Moldovans away - 0: 0, beat Luxembourg at home - 2: 0, again failed to win against Moldova - 0: 0, but in the decisive match beat Luxembourgers - 2: 0. The victory in San Marino (2: 0) not only secured the first place in the group for the Belarusians, but also allowed the team to become a contender for Euro 2020.

The team, in which Alexander Gleb played, and the roles of the other leaders were played by Stanislav Dragun, Alexander Martynovich, Mikhail Sivakov, Igor Stasevich, in the spring of 2020, in full seriousness could count on success in competition with three other winners of the League D: Georgia, North Macedonia and Kosovo. However, first failure in the qualifying tournament Euro (fourth place in the group after the teams of Germany, the Netherlands and Northern Ireland) swept out of the chair of the head coach Igor Kryushenko, and then the pandemic. Play-off matches were postponed from spring 2020 to autumn, and in the first game in Tbilisi, the Belarusians under the leadership of Mikhail Markhel and without Gleb, who completed his career, lost to the Georgians - 0: 1. Attempt No 2 Despite the victory in the group in the first tournament, due to the reform of UEFA the second draw of the League of Nations in 2020, the Belarusians began in the League D and in the first match at the Minsk stadium “Dynamo” hopelessly lost to the Albanians – 0: 2. Then there were two victories over Kazakhstan (2: 1 and 2: 0), a draw and a win for the Lithuanians (2: 2 and 2: 0), but at the decisive moment there was a new defeat from the Albanians - 2: 3. The result is second place in the group. In comparison with the second League of Nations, the Belarusians in 2022 turned out exactly the opposite. By the decision of UEFA, the team was included in the League C, but it acted so that only a new decision of the European football authorities saved our team from dropping into League D - in the company of football dwarfs.

Four years ago, the head coach of the national team was Georgy Kondratiev, and it was under his leadership that Belarusians, already deprived by that time of the opportunity to host rivals in their field, took the last place in the C3 quartet (Kazakhstan - 1:1, 1:2, Slovakia - 0:1, 1:1, Azerbaijan - 0:0, 0:2). Attempt No. 4 In the last entry to the League of Nations, the actions of the Belarusian team were led by the second foreign coach in its history - the Spaniard Carlos Alos. With him, the team began with a zero draw with the Bulgarians, then won away from Luxembourg (1: 0), limited to zeros in Hungary with the Northern Irish, played a draw with Luxembourg (1: 1), but at the decisive moment (when again in this text this phrase is written?!) lost in Belfast - 0: 2. A draw with the Bulgarians - 1: 1 - left the Belarusians in third place in the group.

Alos, I remember, tried to see progress in the actions of the wards, but the new qualifying cycle drew a line under his leadership of the national team. Attempt No. 5 Last year, the team was headed by Viktor Goncharenko, a specialist who made a name for himself by working in BATE and CSKA, who is rightly called the best football coach of Belarus. In 2026, the team under his leadership won three of the four friendly matches, another drew - Cyprus (1: 0), Armenia (2: 1), Syria (4: 1), Burkina Faso (2: 2). The overall positive background, however, is very shaky. Not only are the main rivals (Albania and Finland) higher in the FIFA rankings, but the current League of Nations offers the Belarusian (and all other European teams) an unprecedented test. This autumn, FIFA and UEFA agreed to an extended international pause to 16 days, during which the teams will play four matches at once. For our team, this implies a surprisingly difficult route Minsk – Vilnius – Tirana – Helsinki – Budapest – Minsk. Of course, planes, buses, hotels are all foreign. But, thank God, no one murmurs. However, no one promises to win a blood group from the nose either. But they promise to fight.

Let them show you.

September 26 – Albania – Belarus;

September 29 – Finland – Belarus;

October 3 - Belarus - San Marino;

October 6 – Belarus – Finland;

November 12 – San Marino – Belarus;

November 15 – Belarus – Albania. gord@sb.by