The Belarus national football team (; ) represents Belarus in international football and is controlled by the Football Federation of Belarus, the governing body for football in Belarus. Belarus' home ground is Dinamo Stadium in Minsk. Since independence in 1991, Belarus has not yet qualified for a FIFA World Cup or UEFA European Championship. History After the split of the Soviet Union, Belarus played their first match against Lithuania on 20 July 1992. Before that, a number of Belarusian players played for the Soviet Union national team. The first FIFA-recognized international was a friendly against Ukraine on 28 October 1992, and their first win came in a match against Luxembourg on 12 October 1994. Belarus have never qualified for either the FIFA World Cup, or the UEFA European Championship. The team were defeated by Wales in the last 2002 group stage match, missing the chance to overtake Ukraine, who drew their last game, finishing the group second. Their Euro 2004 qualifying campaign was very unsuccessful as Belarus lost seven of their eight games. Belarus achieved some success in minor tournaments. In 2002, the team defeated Russia and Ukraine to win the LG Cup. In 2004 and 2008, they won the 12th and 14th editions of the Malta International Tournament respectively. During UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying, Belarus finished fourth in their group. With Belarus managing to top their group in the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League D, it qualified for the country's first ever play-offs, and the team was scheduled to play against Georgia. However, they lost 1–0, the team missed out on a place at Euro 2020. Due to Belarusian involvement in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, UEFA, the European governing body for football, banned Belarusian national and club teams from hosting international matches and competitions. Team image Nickname In August 2016, the Football Federation announced that the team's nickname would be the "White Wings". The name was influenced by the book The Land Beneath White Wings (1977) by Belarusian writer Uladzimir Karatkevich. The BFF's marketing and communications director said: "We are looking at various ways of establishing links with our literary heritage and cultural traditions", commenting that "If the Belarusian people opt to associate the team with Karatkevich, almost every phrase in the book can be used as a hashtag!" Home venue The team played the majority of its home matches at the Dinamo Stadium in Minsk. In late