2008 Latvian Higher League

The 2008 Virslīga season was the 17th Virslīga season. It began on 5 April 2008 with the first round of games and ended on 9 November 2008 with the final matches of the championship and relegation rounds. Ventspils were the defending champions.

Location of teams in the Latvian Higher League 2008
Latvian Higher League
Season2008
← 2007
2009 →

Season details
FK Ventspils - champions for third time in the row

For the 2008 season the league has expanded to ten clubs, and the fixture format has changed. Due to expansion there was no relegation at the end of the 2007 season, and the top two clubs from the 1. līga 2007 season, champions FK Vindava (from Ventspils), and second placed SK Blāzma (from Rēzekne) were both promoted. From the 2008 season on, the league will be held in two rounds.

In the first round each club played all the other nine clubs twice, home and away starting with Matchday 1 on 5 April and finishing with Matchday 18 on 10 August.

In the second round there were two "mini leagues", with the top six clubs after the First Round, playing each other twice and clubs in 7th to 10th place after the First Round playing each other four times. Second round matches started on 24 August and finished on 9 November.[1][2]

At the end of the season, the club finishing bottom of the Virslīga were automatically relegated to the 1. līga, and the champions of the 1. līga were automatically promoted, taking the place of the relegated club. The club that finished next to the bottom in the Virslīga play a two-legged playoff for the final place in the Virslīga for the next season with the club that finished second in 1. līga.[1]

First round

Standings
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Ventspils 18 12 4 2 33 6 +27 40 Qualification for championship round
2 Skonto 18 11 3 4 28 19 +9 36
3 Dinaburg 18 9 5 4 22 13 +9 32
4 Rīga 18 9 3 6 28 27 +1 30[lower-alpha 1]
5 Liepājas Metalurgs 18 7 9 2 27 17 +10 30[lower-alpha 1]
6 Daugava Daugavpils 18 6 6 6 27 22 +5 24
7 Vindava Ventspils 18 4 5 9 14 27 −13 17 Qualification for relegation round
8 Jūrmala 18 3 7 8 15 27 −12 16
9 Blāzma Rēzekne 18 2 4 12 8 26 −18 10
10 Olimps/RFS 18 1 6 11 12 30 −18 9
Source: Latvian Football Federation (in Latvian)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored.
Notes:
  1. RĪG 2–2 LIE; LIE 2–2 RĪG

Results
Home \ Away BLĀ DGD DIN JŪR LIE RFS RĪG SKO VEN VIN
Blāzma Rēzekne 1–1 0–2 1–0 0–1 1–1 1–0 0–2 0–3 1–1
FC Daugava Daugavpils 2–0 0–1 0–0 4–1 3–1 6–1 1–3 1–4 1–1
Dinaburg FC 2–1 0–3 2–2 0–0 1–0 2–0 3–0 0–1 1–1
FK Jūrmala 1–0 0–0 0–0 1–1 1–1 1–3 1–1 0–1 2–1
SK Liepājas Metalurgs 1–0 2–0 1–0 7–2 1–1 2–2 1–2 0–0 2–0
Olimps/RFS 1–1 0–0 0–2 2–1 1–3 1–3 0–1 1–3 0–1
FK Rīga 2–1 1–0 1–1 3–1 2–2 3–1 1–2 1–0 1–2
Skonto FC 1–0 3–1 0–3 2–1 2–2 3–1 1–2 1–0 3–0
Ventspils 3–0 2–2 3–0 2–0 0–0 0–0 2–0 1–0 1–0
Vindava Ventspils 2–0 1–2 0–2 0–1 0–0 2–0 1–2 1–1 0–7
Source: Matchday 1–9 results Matchday 10–18 results (in Latvian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second round

Standings
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Ventspils (C) 28 19 6 3 53 14 +39 63 Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round
2 Liepājas Metalurgs 28 14 11 3 48 25 +23 53 Qualification for Europa League second qualifying round[lower-alpha 1]
3 Skonto 28 15 7 6 43 31 +12 52
4 Dinaburg 28 10 8 10 32 31 +1 38 Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round[lower-alpha 1]
5 Daugava Daugavpils 28 10 7 11 40 35 +5 37
6 Rīga 28 10 3 15 36 55 −19 33
Source: Latvian Football Federation (in Latvian)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion.
Notes:
  1. Daugava Daugavpils won the Latvian Football Cup 2008 competition, thereby qualifying for UEFA Europa League 2009–10 second qualification round. However, Daugava Daugavpils merged with Dinaburg, so the Europa League spots were redistributed based on league position.

Results
Home \ Away DGD DIN LIE RĪG SKO VEN
FC Daugava Daugavpils 2–0 1–2 2–0 2–1 0–2
Dinaburg FC 3–3 0–0 3–1 0–1 0–3[lower-alpha 1]
SK Liepājas Metalurgs 3–1 3–1 3–0 0–0 1–2
FK Rīga 0–2 3–2 1–4 1–2 0–2
Skonto FC 1–0 1–1 2–3 3–1 2–2
Ventspils 1–0 1–0 0–2 5–1 2–2
Source: Latvian Football Federation (in Latvian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:
  1. The match originally finished 0–0, but was eventually awarded with as won by a score of 3–0 to Ventspils because Dinaburg FC fielded player who was not in match protocol.[3]

Standings
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Jūrmala 30 10 10 10 35 34 +1 40
2 Vindava Ventspils 30 9 9 12 27 41 −14 36
3 Blāzma Rēzekne (O) 30 5 8 17 20 43 −23 23 Qualification for relegation play-offs
4 Olimps/RFS (R) 30 2 11 17 22 47 −25 17 Relegation to Latvian First League
Source: Latvian Football Federation (in Latvian)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored.
(O) Play-off winner; (R) Relegated.

Results

Relegation play-offs

Blāzma Rēzekne, the 9th placed team in the Virslīga, and 1. līga runners-up, Tranzīts Ventspils, competed in a two-legged play-off for a spot in the Virslīga 2009. Blāzma Rēzekne won 6–1 on aggregate and thereby kept their spot in the next season of the Virslīga.

Tranzīts Ventspils1 – 5Blāzma Rēzekne
Baturinskis  42' Report
(in Latvian)		 Gramovičs  55', 64', 74' (pen.)
Kurakins  70'
Silovs  86'
2. pamatskolas stadions, Ventspils
Attendance: 250
Referee: Vadims Direktorenko (Riga)
Blāzma Rēzekne1 – 0Tranzīts Ventspils
Silovs  78' Report
(in Latvian)
Attendance: 338
Referee: Andrejs Sipailo

Topscorers
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Vits Rimkus (LAT)FK Ventspils14
2 Kristaps Grebis (LAT)FK Liepājas Metalurgs13
 Oļegs Malašenoks (LAT)FK Jūrmala
4 Andrejs Butriks (LAT)FK Ventspils11
5 Mikalay Ryndzyuk (BLR)Dinaburg FC9
 Vladimir Dvalishvili (GEO)Skonto FC

References
  1. Hartmanis, Martins (2007-12-01). "LMT Virsliga new season calendar published". Latvian Football Federation. Retrieved 2008-02-20.
  2. "LMT Virslīgas čempionāta kalendārs 2008" (in Latvian). Latvian Football Federation. 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-20.
  3. "«Dinaburg» piešķirts tehniskais zaudējums". Archived from the original on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2009-03-12.
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