BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
15/10/2008
Ten things you didn't know about Belarus
* Belarus played their first match against Lithuania on July 20, 1992 and secured their first win against Luxembourg on October 12, 1994.
* Gymnast Olga Korbut, fashion designer Ralph Lauren, actor Kirk Douglas and artist Marc Chagall are all of Belarusian descent.
* Belarus are currently ranked 59th by FIFA having achieved their highest position of 57th in June 2008.
* Sergei Gurenko is Belarus' most capped player with 80 appearances. He retired from international football in 2006.
* Belarus' biggest victory was a 5-0 win over Lithuania in June 1998, while their heaviest defeat was by the same scoreline against Austria in 2003.
* BATE Borisov became the first team from Belarus to make it through to the group stages of the UEFA Champions League when they beat Levski Sofia in August. They held Italian giants Juventus to a 2-2 draw in their most recent match.
* President Alexander Lukashenko has led the country since 1994. He is pro-Russia and since 1996 Belarus has been negotiating with Russia to unify into a single state called the Union of Russia and Belarus. In a referendum in 1995, Russian was adopted as an official language along with Belarusian.
* Belarus is the only country in Europe that retains the death penalty.
* Belarus has a population of less than 10 million and is the 86th most populous nation on earth.
* Approximately 40% of Belarus is covered in forests, which is reflected by the green stripe on the country's flag.
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