2011 Latvian Higher League

The 2011 Latvian Higher League (Latvian: Virslīga 2011) was the 20th season of top-tier football in Latvia. It began on 15 April 2011 and ended on 5 November 2011.[2]

Latvian Higher League
Season2011
ChampionsFK Ventspils
RelegatedJFK Olimps/RFS
Champions LeagueVentspils
Europa LeagueMetalurgs
Daugava
Skonto
Baltic LeagueVentspils
Metalurgs
Daugava
Skonto
FC Jūrmala
Matches played144
Goals scored453 (3.15 per match)
Biggest home winMetalurgs 7–1 Olimps/RFS
Skonto 6–0 Olimps/RFS
Biggest away winOlimps/RFS 0–8 Ventspils
Highest scoringfour matches, eight goals each
Longest winning run8 matches[1]
Metalurgs
Longest unbeaten run12 matches[1]
FK Ventspils
Longest winless run21 matches[1]
JFK Olimps/RFS
Longest losing run21 matches[1]
JFK Olimps/RFS
← 2010
2012 →

The competition was won by FK Ventspils, who thus qualified for the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League. Runners-up Liepājas Metalurgs and third-placed sides Daugava Daugavpils earned spots for the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League. On the bottom end of the table, JFK Olimps/RFS were relegated after losing their play-off series against Spartaks Jūrmala.

All nine clubs played every other club four times during the course of the season: twice at home and twice away. In addition, there will be no direct relegation to the Latvian First League this year.[3]

Teams

Jaunība Rīga finished the previous year's competition in tenth place and were relegated to the Latvian First League. This ended a one-year stay in the top flight. Promoted to the Higher League from the First Division automatically were the previous season's First Division champions, Gulbene 2005, who are taking part in the top flight for the first time in their history in 2011.

FC Tranzit finished 9th in the 2010 Higher League competition and were supposed to compete in a promotion/relegation playoff against the runners-up of the First Division, FC Jūrmala. However, before this playoff took place, Tranzit informed the Latvian Football Federation that they were forfeiting their place in the Higher League altogether, ending a two-year stay in the top flight. Therefore, FC Jūrmala were promoted to the Higher League automatically. Like Gulbene, they are competing in the top flight for the first time in their history in 2011.

Finally, SK Blāzma decided to withdraw from the league during the off-season. This ended a three-year stay in the top flight. At a meeting on 28 January 2011, the LFF decided that they would not be replaced in this year's competition.[3]

Team summaries
Location of teams in the 2011 Latvian Higher League
Club Location Stadium Capacity Current manager
FC Daugava Daugavpils Daugava Stadium 4,500 Leonid Nazarenko
Gulbene 2005 Gulbene Gulbenes SC 1,500 Mihails Koņevs
FK Jelgava Jelgava Zemgales Olimpiskais Sporta Centrs 2,200 Dainis Kazakevičs
FC Jūrmala Jūrmala Slokas Stadium 5,000 Igors Stepanovs
FK Jūrmala-VV Jūrmala Slokas Stadium 5,000 Jurijs Popkovs
Metalurgs Liepāja Daugava Stadium 5,500 Vladimirs Osipovs
JFK Olimps/RFS Riga Daugava Stadium 6,000 Tamaz Pertia
Skonto FC Riga Skonto Stadium 10,000 Marians Pahars
FK Ventspils Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadium 3,200 Sergei Podpaly

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Ventspils (C) 32 22 5 5 75 19 +56 71 Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round
2 Liepājas Metalurgs 32 22 4 6 74 26 +48 70 Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round
3 Daugava Daugavpils 32 19 6 7 58 30 +28 63
4 Skonto 32 17 9 6 62 21 +41 60 Qualification for Europa League second qualifying round[lower-alpha 1]
5 Jūrmala 32 12 8 12 45 42 +3 44
6 Jelgava 32 13 4 15 47 54 −7 43
7 FB Gulbene 32 7 7 18 39 67 −28 28
8 Jūrmala-VV 32 5 6 21 34 75 −41 21
9 Olimps/RFS (R) 32 1 3 28 19 117 −98 6 Qualification for relegation play-offs
Source: Latvian Football Federation (in Latvian)
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points; 3rd head-to-head goal difference; 4th overall wins; 5th goal difference; 6th goals scored
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated.
Notes:
  1. The winners of the 2011–12 Latvian Football Cup competition (Skonto Riga) qualified for the second qualifying round of UEFA Europa League.

Results

First half of season
Home \ Away DGD GUL JEL FCJ JVV LIE RFS SKO VEN
FC Daugava Daugavpils 3–1 1–1 1–1 1–0 2–1 2–0 1–1 0–3[lower-alpha 1]
FB Gulbene 0–2[lower-alpha 2] 3–0 1–1 1–1 0–0 2–1 1–0 0–2
Jelgava 1–3 3–1 0–2 1–0 1–3 5–1 1–2 2–0
FC Jūrmala 0–2 4–1 1–1 0–2 1–3 4–0 1–2 0–1
FK Jūrmala-VV 1–3 5–3 2–3 3–1 0–5 2–1 0–4 0–3
SK Liepājas Metalurgs 2–0 1–2 0–1 1–0 4–1 4–1 0–1 0–0
Olimps/RFS 0–6 1–3 1–3 2–2 0–0 1–4 0–4 0–8
Skonto FC 1–1 2–1 4–0 0–1 2–0 0–2 4–0 1–3
Ventspils 2–1 4–0 4–0 4–0 4–0 0–1 4–0 0–1
Source: Latvian Football Federation (in Latvian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:
  1. This match originally ended 1-1. However, it was awarded to Ventspils as an 0–3 win because Daugava fielded an ineligible player.[4]
  2. Match took place in Daugavpils. Placed as a Gulbene home match for organizational purposes.

Second half of season
Home \ Away DGD GUL JEL FCJ JVV LIE RFS SKO VEN
FC Daugava Daugavpils 2–1[lower-alpha 1] 2–1 3–0 2–1 0–1 2–0 0–0 1–1
FB Gulbene 2–4 2–3 0–2 4–1 0–1 3–0 1–1 0–3
Jelgava 1–2 3–0 0–2 4–1 3–2 2–1 1–4 1–2
FC Jūrmala 2–1 2–0 2–0 2–0 1–4 6–1 1–1 2–3
FK Jūrmala-VV 0–3[lower-alpha 2] 2–2 1–1 0–0 1–2 4–0 2–2 1–2
SK Liepājas Metalurgs 1–3 6–2 2–0 1–1 6–1 7–1 0–0 2–1
Olimps/RFS 1–3 1–1 1–3 1–2 2–1 0–3 0–7 1–6
Skonto FC 1–0 5–0 2–1 1–1 3–0 0–1 6–0 0–1
Ventspils 2–1 1–1 0–0 2–0 4–1 1–2 4–0 0–0
Source: Latvian Football Federation (in Latvian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:
  1. Match took place in Gulbene. Placed as a Daugava home match for organizational purposes.
  2. This match was cancelled and awarded to Daugava 0–3 due to Jurmala-VV being unable to field a team for the match.[5]

Relegation play-offs

At the season's end, the 9th place club in the Latvian Higher League will face the runners-up of the Latvian First League in a two-legged playoff, with the winner being awarded a spot in the 2012 Higher League competition.

Olimps/RFS1–2Spartaks
Blūms  72'  14' Rua
 21' Panasjuks
Spartaks2–0Olimps/RFS
Budilovs  32'
Skalenko  49' (pen.)

Top goalscorers

Source: LMT Virslīga 2011 (in Latvian)

Rank Player Club Goals
1 Nathan Júnior Skonto Riga 22
2 Mamuka Ghonghadze Daugava Daugavpils 21
3 Jurģis Kalns Liepājas Metalurgs 16
Vladislavs Kozlovs Jelgava
4 Vadim Yanchuk Ventspils 12
5 Vladimirs Kamešs Liepājas Metalurgs 11

Awards

Team of the Tournament

sportacentrs.com version:[6]

Goalkeepers Defenders Midfielders Forwards
Pāvels Šteinbors (Liepājas Metalurgs) Giorgi Chikradze (Daugava Daugavpils) Valērijs Afanasjevs (Daugava Daugavpils) Nathan Júnior (Skonto Riga)
Aleksandrs Vlasovs (Ventspils) Marius Činikas (Liepājas Metalurgs) Oļegs Laizāns (Ventspils) Mamuka Ghonghadze (Daugava Daugavpils)
Evgeny Postnikov (Ventspils) Aleksandrs Fertovs (Skonto Riga) Vladislavs Kozlovs (Jelgava) Coach: Tamaz Pertia (Daugava Daugavpils/Olimps)
Daniel Ola (Jūrmala) Genādijs Soloņicins (Liepājas Metalurgs) Jurģis Kalns (Liepājas Metalurgs)
Georgi Ulyanov (Daugava Daugavpils) Konstantin Belov (Jūrmala)
Ritvars Rugins (Ventspils) Mihails Ziziļevs (Daugava Daugavpils)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Latvian Football Federation version:[7]

Goalkeepers Defenders Midfielders Forwards
Germans Māliņš (Skonto Riga) Pāvels Surņins (Liepājas Metalurgs) Valērijs Afanasjevs (Daugava Daugavpils) Nathan Júnior (Skonto Riga)
Aleksandrs Vlasovs (Ventspils) Antons Kurakins (Ventspils) Ritvars Rugins (Ventspils) Vadim Yanchuk (Ventspils)
Evgeny Postnikov (Ventspils) Aleksandrs Fertovs (Skonto Riga) Mamuka Ghonghadze (Daugava Daugavpils) Coach: Sergei Podpaly (Ventspils)
Daniel Ola (Jūrmala) Andrejs Prohorenkovs (Liepājas Metalurgs) Vladislavs Kozlovs (Jelgava)
Pāvels Mihadjuks (Liepājas Metalurgs) Oļegs Laizāns (Ventspils)
Igors Savčenkovs (Ventspils) Tomas Tamošauskas (Liepājas Metalurgs)
Vladislavs Gabovs (Ventspils) Eduard Sukhanov (Ventspils)
Marius Činikas (Liepājas Metalurgs) Jurģis Kalns (Liepājas Metalurgs)

Individual nominations

Players selected by sportacentrs.com:[6]

Best foreign player: Daniel Ola (Jūrmala)

Best young player (U-21): Arevshat Khachatryan (Gulbene)

Best coach: Tamaz Pertia (Daugava Daugavpils/ Olimps/RFS)

Surprise of the season: Oļegs Laizāns (Ventspils)

Player of the season: Jurģis Kalns (Liepājas Metalurgs)

Players selected by LFF:[8]

Best goalkeeper: Germans Māliņš (Skonto Riga)

Best defender: Pāvels Mihadjuks (Liepājas Metalurgs)

Best midfielder: Oļegs Laizāns (Ventspils)

Best forward: Nathan Júnior (Skonto Riga)

Best coach: Sergei Podpaly (Ventspils)

Top scorer: Nathan Júnior (Skonto Riga) (22 goals)

Best young player (U-21): Valērijs Šabala (Skonto Riga)

Player of the season: Oļegs Laizāns (Ventspils)

Team awards

Players selected by LFF:[8]

Best match organization:Jelgava

Fair-play award:Gulbene

References
  1. "Virsliga - 2011". WhoScored.com. WhoScored.com. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  2. "Summary - Virsliga 2011 - Latvia". Soccerway. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
  3. "Virslīgas čempionāta klubu un LFF sanāksmes lēmumi" (in Latvian). Latvian Football Federation. Retrieved 17 February 2011.
  4. "Par LFF Arbitrāžas komisijas lēmumu". LFF. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  5. "Virslīga 2011: FK Jūrmala V.V. - FC Daugava (spēle atcelta)". LFF. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  6. http://sportacentrs.com/futbols/lmt_virsliga/17112011-sportacentrs_com_virsligas_simboliska_izl%5B%5D
  7. http://www.lff.lv/lv/news/2011/nov/23/
  8. http://sportacentrs.com/futbols/lmt_virsliga/09122011-cauna_tiek_atzits_par_latvijas_labako_fut
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