Lithuanian national team refuses to play in the qualification for the UEFA EURO against Belarus

The Lithuanian women's national team has been drawn against Belarus in the qualification for the 2025 European Championship, which will be held in Switzerland.

The president of the Lithuanian Football Federation, Edgaras Stankavičius, stated that the national team would not play against Belarus in the qualification group. He has already spoken with the team's coach, who was also dissatisfied and unpleasantly surprised by this turn of events.

"I also had a brief conversation with UEFA. On Thursday, I am flying to Switzerland, where we will have a UEFA committee meeting, and we have agreed to discuss this on Friday. Our position is principled.

As far as I managed to find out, the official regulations do not specify what to do with a team if it refuses to play two matches - is it just a technical defeat 0:3 or disqualification for the entire cycle?

We can receive a technical defeat, penalties, zero points, but we will not play," stated Edgaras Stankavičius.

By the way, in February, the Latvian parliament passed a law exempting national teams from matches against Russian and Belarusian teams. Lithuania does not have such a law at the national level.

It's worth mentioning that Georgia and Cyprus are also in the group with the Lithuanian national team.

Also, it is worth noting that the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee will allow qualified athletes with Russian and Belarusian passports to participate in the Olympics, which will take place in Paris in the summer of 2024.