2009 Latvian Higher League

Latvian Higher League
Season 2009
Champions Liepājas Metalurgs
Relegated Dinaburg FC
Daugava Riga
Champions League Liepājas Metalurgs
Europa League Jelgava (via domestic cup)
FK Ventspils
Skonto Rīga
Baltic League FK Ventspils (reigning champions)
Liepājas Metalurgs
Skonto Rīga
FK Jūrmala-VV
RFS/Olimps
Blāzma Rēzekne
Matches played 138
Goals scored 453 (3.28 per match)
Biggest home win Ventspils 8–0 Daugava Rīga
Biggest away win Daugava Rīga 1–8 Skonto
Blāzma 0–7 Skonto
Olimps/RFS 0–7 Skonto
Highest scoring Daugava Rīga 2–8 Liepājas Metalurgs
(10 goals)
2008
2010

Latvian Higher League 2009 (Latvian: Virslīga) was the 18th season of top-tier football in Latvia. It began on 14 March 2009 with the first round of games and ended on 8 November 2009 with the 36th round of matches. Ventspils were the defending champions.

Due to numerous pre-season team changes, such as club mergers and withdrawals, the format of the league was changed. Since there are only 9 clubs that participate in 2009 Virslīga, every team plays 4 times against every other team, what will make every team playing 32 games. Contrary to the previous season, there isn't Championship and Relegation pool.[1]

Teams

Olimps Rīga were relegated after finishing the relegation round in last place. They were replaced by First League champions FK Daugava Riga.

Blāzma won the promotion/relegation play-off against Tranzīts Ventspils with 6–1 on aggregate. However, after several mergers and withdrawals Tranzīts were also awarded a place in Virslīga, as the runners-up of First League.

FK Rīga withdrew due to unpaid debts.[2] They eventually merged with Olimps Rīga and created a new club called Olimps/RFS. The new club plays in Virslīga, what saved Olimps Rīga from relegation.[3]

On 12 January 2009 Vindava withdrew from Virslīga due to financial reasons.[4]

FK Jūrmala merged with JFC Kauguri/Multibanka, which is also a merger of JFC Kauguri Jūrmala and FK Multibanka Rīga, to a new club named FK Jūrmala-VV. The new club carried over the players and other personnel from FK Jūrmala.

Daugava Daugavpils and Dinaburg also merged and remained under the Dinaburg FC name. It is not yet certain which club's staff will operate the new club. Dinaburg also took Daugava's UEFA Europa League 2009–10 spot.[5]

Location of teams in the Latvian Higher League 2009
Club Location Stadium Capacity Current manager
Blāzma Rēzekne Sporta Aģentūras Stadions 3,000 Latvia Žanis Ārmanis
Daugava Riga Salaspils Stadium 648 Latvia Vladimirs Beļajevs
Dinaburg Daugavpils Celtnieks Stadium 4,070 Georgia (country) Tamaz Pertia
FK Jūrmala-VV Jūrmala Slokas Stadium 5,000 Latvia Vladimirs Babičevs
Metalurgs Liepāja Daugava Stadium 5,083 Germany Rüdiger Abramczik
Olimps/RFS Riga Daugava Stadium 5,008 Netherlands Anton Joore
Skonto Riga Skonto Stadium 9,500 England Paul Ashworth
Tranzīts Ventspils Ventspils 2. pamatskolas stadions 500 Uzbekistan Igor Kichigin
FK Ventspils Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadium 3,085 Italy Nunzio Zavettieri

League table

Pos
Team
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Pts
Qualification or relegation
1 SK Liepājas Metalurgs (C) 32 25 4 3 96 23+73 79 2010–11 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round
2 FK Ventspils 32 23 5 4 89 21+68 74 2010–11 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round
3 Skonto FC 32 23 4 5 98 30+68 73 2010–11 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round
4 FK Jūrmala-VV 32 12 4 16 42 6018 40
5 Olimps/RFS 32 11 5 16 53 607 38
6 Blāzma Rēzekne 32 7 5 20 30 7141 26
7 Tranzīts Ventspils 32 2 10 20 22 6543 16
8 Daugava Rīga (R) 32 3 5 24 26 11690 14 Relegation play-offs
9 Dinaburg FC (R) 32 15 4 13 31 398 0491 Relegation to Latvian First League

Source: Latvian Football Federation (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
1Dinaburg were excluded from the league due to match-fixing related to betting which involved Dinaburg's president Oļegs Gavrilovs and head coach Tamaz Pertia.[6][7]
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

First half of season

Home ╲ Away BLĀ DGR DINJVVLIERFSSKOTRAVEN
Blāzma Rēzekne 43 12 12 03 01 07 10 03
Daugava Rīga 11 03 11 14 15 17 20 15
Dinaburg FC 10 10 12 03 21 11 20 10
FK Jūrmala-VV 30 11 10 11 01 03 42 03
SK Liepājas Metalurgs 40 10 31 22 51 40 50 21
Olimps/RFS 11 40 11 23 12 18 11 15
Skonto FC 40 60 32 30 21 20 10 13
Tranzīts Ventspils 00 33 11 12 01 00 11 03
FK Ventspils 51 42 00 30 11 10 21 11

Source: Latvian Football Federation (Latvian)
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season

Home ╲ Away BLĀ DGR DINJVVLIERFSSKOTRAVEN
Blāzma Rēzekne 40 302 03 13 31 01 10 02
Daugava Rīga 03 302 03 28 05 07 21 05
Dinaburg FC 10 10 20 12 032 032 21 032
FK Jūrmala-VV 02 31 01 14 10 05 12 04
SK Liepājas Metalurgs 60 30 302 41 30 01 40 11
Olimps/RFS 32 70 01 20 15 02 21 02
Skonto FC 40 70 01 32 16 33 41 00
Tranzīts Ventspils 11 11 02 14 10 02 13 01
FK Ventspils 50 80 10 41 12 53 02 70

Source: Latvian Football Federation (Latvian)
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
2Dinaburg were excluded from the league due to match-fixing related to betting which involved Dinaburg's president Oļegs Gavrilovs and head coach Tamaz Pertia. Dinaburg's remaining matches will be awarded to their opponents with 3–0.[8][9]
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation play-offs

Since there are only 9 clubs participating in 2009 Virslīga, no teams will be directly relegated. 9th placed Virslīga team and runners-up of First League will compete in relegation play-offs for one spot in Virslīga 2010. The other spot will be taken by First League champions.[10] Since one of the teams were excluded from the league, the relegation play-off will be replaced with the direct promotion of the First League team placing second.

Team of the season 2009

Goalkeepers: Viktors Spole (FK Liepājas Metalurgs ), Aleksandrs Vlasovs (Skonto FC )

Defenders: Oskars Kļava (FK Liepājas Metalurgs ), Grigori Chirkin (FK Ventspils ), Deniss Ivanovs (FK Liepājas Metalurgs ), David Gamezardashvili (Skonto FC ), Tomas Tamošauskas (FK Liepājas Metalurgs ), Vitālijs Smirnovs (Skonto FC ), Deniss Kačanovs (FK Ventspils ), Dzintars Zirnis (FK Liepājas Metalurgs )

Midfielders: Jurijs Žigajevs (FK Ventspils ), Andrejs Prohorenkovs (FK Liepājas Metalurgs ), Vitālijs Astafjevs (FK Ventspils ), Jevgēņijs Kosmačovs (FK Ventspils ), Maksims Rafaļskis (FK Liepājas Metalurgs ), Igors Kozlovs (Skonto FC ), Pāvels Surņins (FK Liepājas Metalurgs ), Igor Tigirlas (FK Ventspils )

Forwards: Vits Rimkus (FK Ventspils ), Vladimir Dvalishvili (Skonto FC ), Kristaps Grebis (FK Liepājas Metalurgs ), Ģirts Karlsons (FK Liepājas Metalurgs )

See also

References

External links

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