Lithuania’s women’s national football team has encountered a significant setback in their Euros Qualifiers campaign, suffering two 3-0 defeats and a €5,000 ($5.4k) fine from UEFA for their refusal to play against Belarus.
The punishment was handed down by European football’s governing body, UEFA, who deemed Lithuania to have “forfeited” the scheduled euros qualifiers matches. UEFA stated that Lithuania was “responsible for the match not taking place.”
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The euros qualifiers fixtures in question were part of League C, Group C1, for next summer’s European Championship finals. Lithuania was set to host Belarus on May 31, with a return match in Belarus planned for June 4.
This decision effectively dashes Lithuania’s hopes of progressing in the euros qualifiers. Prior to these forfeits, Lithuania held second place in the group of four with four points from four games. Belarus now ascends to the top of the group, boasting 12 points from their initial four matches in these euros qualifiers.
Back in March, following the euros qualifiers draw, Edgaras Stankevicius, the Lithuanian FA president, conveyed to Lithuanian website 15min.lt a firm stance that the national team would not compete against Belarus. He emphasized a “principled” position rooted in Belarus’s diplomatic alignment with Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a move that has drawn widespread international condemnation.
“They can impose walkovers, penalties, but we will not play,” Stankevicius declared. “While in Switzerland, I had a brief conversation with UEFA. Our position is principled. From what I was able to find out, the official regulations do not specify what to do with a team that refuses to play matches.”
Lithuanian Women's National Football Team: Disqualified from Euros Qualifiers After Belarus Game Refusal
Russia has been barred from UEFA and FIFA competitions following the invasion of Ukraine. However, Belarus has not faced a similar ban from either organization.
In September 2023, UEFA announced intentions to reintegrate Russia’s under-17 teams into European competitions. Subsequently, in October, FIFA indicated they would permit Russian sides to participate in the men’s and women’s under-17 World Cup tournaments. FIFA stated it “reiterated its condemnation of Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine.” Any Russian representative team is mandated to compete under the designation “Football Union of Russia,” rather than “Russia,” and is prohibited from displaying flags, anthems, or political symbols.
In response to these decisions, the Football Federation of Ukraine affirmed that it “will not take part in any competitions with the participation of Russian teams, and appeal to other UEFA member associations to boycott possible matches with the participation of teams from the Russian Federation, subject to their admission.”
Lithuanian FA president Stankevicius further stated that the nation would also refuse participation in matches against any Russian representative team.
In October 2022, UEFA had communicated that it was “constantly monitoring the situation” in Belarus and could still implement “further decisions” against the nation, particularly after Belarusian troops were deployed alongside Russian forces near Ukraine.
In 2023, the Lithuanian parliament enacted sanctions against Russian and Belarusian citizens due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. These sanctions took effect last month.
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Lithuania shares a 680-kilometer border with Belarus and has increasingly aligned with the global West, joining NATO in 2004.
In March, the Olympic committees of Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia jointly addressed a letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), advocating for the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes from the 2024 Paris Olympics due to the continuing invasion of Ukraine.
