2019 Latvian Higher League

The 2019 Latvian Higher League , known as the Optibet Virslīga for sponsorship reasons, was the 28th season of top-tier football in Latvia. The season began on 9 March 2019 and ended on 9 November 2019.[1]

Latvian Higher League
Season2019
ChampionsRiga
Champions LeagueRiga
Europa LeagueRFS
Ventspils
Valmiera Glass ViA
Matches played144
Goals scored384 (2.67 per match)
Top goalscorerDarko Lemajic (15)
← 2018
2020 →

Riga were the defending champions from the previous season.[2]

Teams
Locations of the 2019 Latvian Higher League teams

All eight clubs from the previous season remained in the league with Daugavpils joining the league as champions of 1.Liga 2018.[3]

Club Location Stadium Capacity
BFC Daugavpils Daugavpils Celtnieks Stadium 4,070
FK Jelgava Jelgava Olympic Sports Center of Zemgale 1,560
FK Liepāja Liepāja Daugava Stadium 5,008
FK Metta/LU Riga Hanzas vidusskolas laukums 2,000
Riga FC Riga Skonto Stadium 8,207
FK RFS Riga Stadions Arkādija 1,000
FK Spartaks Jūrmala Jūrmala Slokas Stadium 2,800
FK Valmiera Glass ViA Valmiera J. Daliņa stadions 2,000
FK Ventspils Ventspils Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions 3,044

[4]

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Riga (C) 32 20 6 6 59 21 +38 66 Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2 RFS 32 17 8 7 55 32 +23 59 Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round[lower-alpha 1]
3 Ventspils 32 12 11 9 47 43 +4 47
4 Valmiera Glass ViA 32 12 10 10 37 34 +3 46
5 Spartaks Jūrmala 32 13 5 14 49 64 −15 44
6 Liepāja 32 11 6 15 41 43 −2 39
7 Jelgava 32 9 11 12 34 37 −3 38
8 Daugavpils 32 8 7 17 27 50 −23 31
9 METTA/LU (O) 32 6 8 18 35 60 −25 26 Qualification for the relegation play-offs
Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Goal difference; 5) Goals scored; 6) Fair-play ranking; 7) Play-off.[5]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners
Notes:
  1. Since the winners of the 2019 Latvian Football Cup, RFS, qualified for European competition based on their league position, the spot awarded to the Cup winner passed to the next best-placed team, the fourth-placed team.

Results

Each club played the other eight clubs home-and-away twice, for a total of 32 matches each.

Relegation play-offs

The ninth-placed team from the 2019 Higher League played the runners-up of the 2019 Latvian First League in a two-legged play-off on 13–16 November 2019.[6] The winner, METTA/LU, will remain in the Latvian Higher League.

13 November 2019 1st leg METTA/LU 0–0SK Super Nova
17:30
16 November 2019 2nd legSK Super Nova1–3
(1–3 agg.)		 METTA/LU
13:00

Statistics

Top scorers
As of match played 30 October 2019[7]
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Serbia Darko Lemajić Riga 15
2 Nigeria Tosin Aiyegun Ventspils 11
3 Serbia Nemanja Belaković Spartaks Jūrmala 10
Russia Tamirlan Dzhamalutdinov METTA/LU
5 Austria Tomáš Šimkovič RFS 8
Azerbaijan Vugar Asgarov BFC Daugavpils
7 Nigeria Tolu Arokodare Valmiera 7
Latvia Jānis Ikaunieks Liepāja
9 Ukraine Roman Debelko Riga 6
Slovakia Tomáš Malec RFS
South Africa Kgotso Masangane METTA/LU
Angola Amâncio Fortes Liepāja
Latvia Daniils Ulimbaševs Ventspils

References
  1. "Virsliga". soccerway. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  2. "Virsliga". soccerway. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  3. "1.Liga". soccerway. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  4. "1. Liga 2019: Venues". Soccerway. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  5. "Virslīga 2019". Soccerway. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  6. "Play-offs 1/2". soccerway. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  7. "Latvian First Division - Top scorers". uefa.com. UEFA. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
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