In the Baltic Cup tournament this year, the three Baltic countries will be joined by Iceland, which will visit Lithuania on November 16 in the second semi-final pair. This match will take place in Vilnius or Kaunas. The final of the tournament and the match for the third and fourth place will take place on November 19. The venues of these matches are still to be specified.
This year, the traditional tournament will be held in November in connection with the World Cup final tournament in Qatar from November 21 to December 18.
The Latvian national team had won the Baltic Cup four times in a row, but last year this streak was interrupted when Estonia became the overall winner.
The Baltic Cup is the oldest still active national football tournament in the world. The Baltic Cup was played for the first time in 1928. In the past, the tournament was held every year, but since the turn of the century, teams compete every couple of years for the honor of the best national team in the region.
In parallel with the Baltic Cup tournament for national teams, the Baltic Cup for U-21 national teams will also be held in November. In the first match on November 16, Estonia will host Lithuania, on November 18 Latvia will meet Estonia at home, and on November 20 Latvian football players will visit Lithuania. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Baltic Cup competition for U-21 national teams has not taken place since 2018, when the tournament the superior was Lithuania.
“We are pleased with the agreement reached to organize the Baltic Cup this year at a time that will be special for several reasons. First of all, the national and U-21 national team tournaments will take place during the November holiday period, which will therefore give these matches additional importance. Also, taking into account the World Cup finals taking place at the same time, football will be the center of attention of the whole world at that time. Therefore, we hope for additional interest from football fans, which this historically unique tournament definitely deserves,” Vadim Lashenko, the president of the organization, was quoted on the website of the football federation.
“Another factor that makes the upcoming games even more interesting is the participation of the Icelandic national team in the competition. It is one of the leading national teams in our region, which will definitely raise the sporting level of the tournament. And of course, the Baltic Cup has always been a fundamental tournament for our national team. Let managed to get the trophy back into our hands,” said Lashenko at the end.
Resources used:
https://lff.lv/zinas/14222/baltijas…
