Armenia opened their UEFA Nations League campaign with a 2-0 victory against Latvia in League C on 25 September 2026. The match took place at the Armenian stadium with the hosts taking all three points from the opening fixture of the season. By then, both sides had played zero games and carried zero points into this encounter.
Georgiy Harutyunyan broke the deadlock in the 31st minute, giving Armenia the lead they needed early on. The striker found space to finish and it was a clean breakthrough against a Latvia side still finding its rhythm. To be fair, the Latvian defence looked unorganised in those opening phases.
Artur Gharibyan doubled the advantage in the 75th minute, settling any lingering nerves the hosts might have carried. That second goal came after a period of sustained pressure from Armenia, who were clearly the more dangerous side. The Armenian coach had made several changes before this moment, and the fresh legs showed.
Substitutions came thick and fast from both camps, with eight changes recorded across the full ninety minutes. Armenia brought on Artur Serobyan and Georgiy Harutyunyan in the 82nd minute, while Latvia made two changes at the same time. The yellow card for Artur Serobyan in the 62nd minute was the only booking of the match.
Armenia dominated possession at 56 per cent and created three big chances compared to Latvia's none. The hosts registered 10 shots inside the penalty area, with four finding the target, while Latvia managed just one shot on target all afternoon. And here's the thing — Armenia had 1.12 expected goals but only scored two, which means they were efficient rather than wasteful.
The result puts Armenia top of League C Group 1 with one win from one match, while Latvia sit second after their opening defeat. Both teams will now look ahead to their next fixtures with the table still wide open. The gap between them is currently two points, though that will change quickly once both sides have played more games.
