2021 Latvian Higher League

The 2021 Latvian Higher League , known as the Optibet Virslīga for sponsorship reasons, is the 30th season of top-tier football in Latvia. The season began on 13 March 2021 and ended 6 November 2021.[1] RFS are the league champions and earned a place in the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League while the second, third and fourth-placed clubs earned a place in the 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League.[2]

Latvian Higher League
Season2021
Dates13 March – 6 November
ChampionsRFS
Champions LeagueRFS
Conference LeagueValmiera, Liepāja, Riga
Matches played109
Goals scored335 (3.07 per match)
Top goalscorerStefan Milošević
(13 goals)
Biggest home winRiga 6–1 Spartaks Jūrmala
(3 April 2021)
RFS 5–0 Noah Jūrmala
(21 June 2021)
Biggest away winNoah Jūrmala 0–7 Riga
(20 May 2021)
Highest scoringRiga 6–1 Spartaks Jūrmala
(3 April 2021)
Ventspils 5–2 Metta/LU
(1 May 2021)
Noah Jūrmala 0–7 Riga
(20 May 2021)
Spartaks Jūrmala 5–2 Noah Jūrmala
(17 June 2021)
Longest winning run10 matches
RFS
Longest unbeaten run14 matches
RFS
Longest winless run8 matches
Metta/LU
Noah Jūrmala
Longest losing run7 matches
Noah Jūrmala
← 2020
2022 →
All statistics correct as of 6 November 2021.

Riga were the defending champions after winning the league for a third consecutive season.[3]

Teams

The league consists of 8 clubs from the previous season, joined by Noah Jūrmala as champions of the 2020 Latvian First League. Tukums (relegated after one year in the top flight) were relegated after finishing last in the previous season and declined to apply for a license.[4] Meanwhile, Jelgava did not receive a licence and will not take part in this year's tournament.[5]

On 19 June 2021, Ventspils withdrew from the remainder of the season.[6]

On 23 July 2021, Noah Jūrmala withdrew from the league,[7] remaining matches were 3–0 forfeits.

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 RFS (C) 28 20 6 2 65 22 +43 66 Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2 Valmiera (Q) 28 19 5 4 54 19 +35 62 Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round
3 Liepāja (Q) 28 16 3 9 47 26 +21 51
4 Riga (Q) 28 14 8 6 54 26 +28 50
5 Spartaks Jūrmala 28 11 2 15 40 41 −1 35
6 Daugavpils 28 9 5 14 37 53 −16 32
7 Metta 28 5 5 18 33 55 −22 20
8 Noah Jūrmala 28 1 0 27 8 96 −88 3 Withdrew from league
9 Ventspils 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
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.
(C) Champion; (Q) Qualified to the phase indicated

Fixtures and results

Rounds 1–18
Rounds 1–18
Home \ Away DAU LIE MLU NOA RIG RFS SPJ VAL VEN
Daugavpils 0–1 3–2 1–2 1–1 0–3 2–1 1–2
Liepāja 0–0 4–1 3–0 0–2 1–2 1–2 1–2
Metta/LU 0–1 0–3 7–0 1–1 3–3 2–0 1–1
Noah Jūrmala 1–4 0–5 0–3 0–7 0–3 0–5 0–3
Riga 4–0 4–1 3–0 1–0 0–3 6–1 1–0
RFS 2–1 4–0 3–0 4–2 3–1 1–0 2–3
Spartaks Jūrmala 2–0 1–2 1–0 5–2 2–3 0–1 1–0
Valmiera 2–2 1–0 2–0 2–0 2–1 0–1 2–0
Ventspils
Source: soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Rounds 19–36
Rounds 19–36
Home \ Away DAU LIE MLU NOA RIG RFS SPJ VAL VEN
Daugavpils 1–1 3–1 3–0 3–0 0–2 3–0 1–5
Liepāja 3–1 2–0 3–0 1–0 1–1 3–0 2–1
Metta/LU 2–2 0–3 3–0 0–1 2–5 0–3 0–4
Noah Jūrmala 0–3 0–3 0–3 0–3 0–3 0–3 0–3
Riga 7–1 0–1 1–1 2–1 1–1 2–1 0–0
RFS 2–0 2–1 4–1 5–0 0–0 1–1 1–2
Spartaks Jūrmala 3–0 0–1 1–0 3–0 1–1 1–2 1–4
Valmiera 4–0 1–0 1–0 3–0 1–1 1–1 2–1
Ventspils
Source: soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Statistics

Top goalscorers
As of 24 August 2021[8]
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Stefan Milošević Riga 13
2 Ibrahima Sow Valmiera 10
3 Yunusa Muritala Metta/LU
Riga		 9
Leonel Wamba Spartaks Jūrmala
5 Raimonds Krollis Valmiera 8
6 Mikael Soisalo Riga 7
7 Richard Friday Spartaks Jūrmala 6
Lūkass Vapne Metta/LU
9 Marks Kurtišs Ventspils 5
Darko Lemajić RFS
Dodô Liepāja
Djibril Guèye Valmiera
Žiga Lipušček RFS
Raivis Ķiršs Daugavpils
Tomislav Šarić RFS

References
  1. "Virsliga". soccerway. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  2. "UEL2 Access List 2021–24" (PDF). UEFA. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  3. "Virsliga". soccerway.com. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  4. "Virslīgas licences iegūšanas procesu sāk 11 futbola klubi, «Noah Jūrmala» jārisina parādu lietas".
  5. "Pēdējā brīdī izjucis darījums liedz FK «Jelgava» turpināt dalību futbola virslīgā".
  6. "FK "Ventspils" atsauc dalību no Virslīgas čempionāta". optibetvirsliga.com. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  7. "Noah Jurmala aptur dalību Virslīgas čempionātā". optibetvirsliga.com. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  8. Flashscore
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.