2019 Latvian Higher League

Latvian Higher League
Season	2019
Champions	Riga
Champions League	Riga
Europa League	RFS; Ventspils; Valmiera Glass ViA
Matches played	144
Goals scored	384 (2.67 per match)
Top goalscorer	Darko Lemajic (15)
	← 2018 2020 →

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]

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

Teams

Riga

Riga teams:
METTA/LU
RFS
Riga

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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^[a]
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:

^ 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.

First half of the season
Home \ Away	DAU	JEL	LIE	MLU	RFS	RIG	SPJ	VAL	VEN
Daugavpils		0–2	1–0	1–0	0–1	0–1	4–1	1–0	0–3
Jelgava	1–0		1–2	1–2	0–0	0–1	0–3	0–1	2–1
Liepāja	2–3	1–0		2–1	0–0	1–2	0–1	1–0	4–0
METTA/LU	0–1	2–1	1–2		1–2	1–2	3–0	1–4	2–1
RFS	3–2	2–1	2–0	2–2		3–1	0–0	0–1	4–1
Riga	4–0	1–1	1–0	2–1	2–0		6–1	0–1	2–0
Spartaks Jūrmala	3–0	1–2	1–0	1–0	2–3	0–4		2–0	4–3
Valmiera	2–0	0–0	1–0	0–2	0–2	1–0	1–2		1–1
Ventspils	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–0	2–1	2–2

Source: soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of the season
Home \ Away	DAU	JEL	LIE	MLU	RFS	RIG	SPJ	VAL	VEN
Daugavpils		2–2	1–0	0–0	0–1	0–3	2–3	2–2	1–1
Jelgava	2–2		0–0	1–0	1–1	0–0	5–2	0–0	1–2
Liepāja	1–2	3–1		2–1	3–3	2–2	2–2	2–3	1–2
METTA/LU	1–0	0–3	2–3		1–1	0–4	1–1	0–0	3–3
RFS	2–0	2–0	1–2	6–1		1–2	6–0	1–0	2–1
Riga	2–0	0–1	1–0	5–0	1–1		4–1	0–0	0–0
Spartaks Jūrmala	2–0	1–2	4–2	2–2	1–0	2–4		3–0	0–1
Valmiera	1–1	3–1	2–1	3–3	1–3	0–1	3–0		2–0
Ventspils	3–0	1–1	0–1	2–1	3–0	2–1	2–2	2–2

Source: soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

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	0–0	SK Super Nova
17:30

16 November 2019 2nd leg	SK Super Nova	1–3 (1–3 agg.)	METTA/LU
13:00

Statistics

Top scorers

As of match played 30 October 2019^[7]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Darko Lemajić	Riga	15
2	Tosin Aiyegun	Ventspils	11
3	Nemanja Belaković	Spartaks Jūrmala	10
3	Tamirlan Dzhamalutdinov	METTA/LU	10
5	Tomáš Šimkovič	RFS	8
5	Vugar Asgarov	BFC Daugavpils	8
7	Tolu Arokodare	Valmiera	7
7	Jānis Ikaunieks	Liepāja	7
9	Roman Debelko	Riga	6
	Tomáš Malec	RFS
	Kgotso Masangane	METTA/LU
	Amâncio Fortes	Liepāja
	Daniils Ulimbaševs	Ventspils

References

^ "Virsliga". soccerway. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
^ "Virsliga". soccerway. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
^ "1.Liga". soccerway. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
^ "1. Liga 2019: Venues". Soccerway. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
^ "Virslīga 2019". Soccerway. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
^ "Play-offs 1/2". soccerway. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
^ "Latvian First Division - Top scorers". UEFA. UEFA. Retrieved 13 November 2018.