2009 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]
Contents
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]
| Club | Location | Stadium | Capacity | Current manager |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blāzma | Rēzekne | Sporta Aģentūras Stadions | 3,000 |  Žanis Ārmanis |
| Daugava | Riga | Salaspils Stadium | 648 | Vladimirs Beļajevs |
| Dinaburg | Daugavpils | Celtnieks Stadium | 4,070 |  Tamaz Pertia |
| FK Jūrmala-VV | Jūrmala | Slokas Stadium | 5,000 | Vladimirs Babičevs |
| Metalurgs | Liepāja | Daugava Stadium | 5,083 |  Rüdiger Abramczik |
| Olimps/RFS | Riga | Daugava Stadium | 5,008 |  Anton Joore |
| Skonto | Riga | Skonto Stadium | 9,500 |  Paul Ashworth |
| Tranzīts | Ventspils | Ventspils 2. pamatskolas stadions | 500 |  Igor Kichigin |
| FK Ventspils | Ventspils | Olimpiskais Stadium | 3,085 |  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 | 60 | −18 | 40 | |
| 5 | Olimps/RFS | 32 | 11 | 5 | 16 | 53 | 60 | −7 | 38 | |
| 6 | Blāzma Rēzekne | 32 | 7 | 5 | 20 | 30 | 71 | −41 | 26 | |
| 7 | Tranzīts Ventspils | 32 | 2 | 10 | 20 | 22 | 65 | −43 | 16 | |
| 8 | Daugava Rīga (R) | 32 | 3 | 5 | 24 | 26 | 116 | −90 | 14 | Relegation play-offs |
| 9 | Dinaburg FC (R) | 32 | 15 | 4 | 13 | 31 | 39 | −8 | 491 | 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 | DIN | JVV | LIE | RFS | SKO | TRA | VEN |
| Blāzma Rēzekne | 4–3 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 0–7 | 1–0 | 0–3 | |
| Daugava Rīga | 1–1 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 1–5 | 1–7 | 2–0 | 1–5 | |
| Dinaburg FC | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | |
| FK Jūrmala-VV | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 4–2 | 0–3 | |
| SK Liepājas Metalurgs | 4–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 5–1 | 4–0 | 5–0 | 2–1 | |
| Olimps/RFS | 1–1 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 1–2 | 1–8 | 1–1 | 1–5 | |
| Skonto FC | 4–0 | 6–0 | 3–2 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–3 | |
| Tranzīts Ventspils | 0–0 | 3–3 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–3 | |
| FK Ventspils | 5–1 | 4–2 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
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 | DIN | JVV | LIE | RFS | SKO | TRA | VEN |
| Blāzma Rēzekne | 4–0 | 3–02 | 0–3 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | |
| Daugava Rīga | 0–3 | 3–02 | 0–3 | 2–8 | 0–5 | 0–7 | 2–1 | 0–5 | |
| Dinaburg FC | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 0–32 | 0–32 | 2–1 | 0–32 | |
| FK Jūrmala-VV | 0–2 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 1–4 | 1–0 | 0–5 | 1–2 | 0–4 | |
| SK Liepājas Metalurgs | 6–0 | 3–0 | 3–02 | 4–1 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 4–0 | 1–1 | |
| Olimps/RFS | 3–2 | 7–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–5 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 0–2 | |
| Skonto FC | 4–0 | 7–0 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 1–6 | 3–3 | 4–1 | 0–0 | |
| Tranzīts Ventspils | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–4 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 0–1 | |
| FK Ventspils | 5–0 | 8–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 1–2 | 5–3 | 0–2 | 7–0 |
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
- ↑ Paziņo LMT Virslīgas 2009.gada sezonas kalendāru (Latvian)
- ↑ Futbola kluba «Rīga» desmit gadu (Latvian)
- ↑ "Olimps" apvienojas ar RFS (Latvian)
- ↑ "Vindava" atsakās no spēlēšanas Virslīgā (Latvian)
- ↑ "Dinaburg" un "Daugava" apvienojas (Latvian)
- ↑ "Динабург" исключен из чемпионата Латвии и Балтийской Лиги (Russian)
- ↑ LFF measures in FC Dinaburg case
- ↑ "Динабург" исключен из чемпионата Латвии и Балтийской Лиги (Russian)
- ↑ LFF measures in FC Dinaburg case
- ↑ Visi klubi skaita naudiņu! (Latvian)
External links
- Latvian Football Federation (Latvian)
- Latvian Football Federation news (English)
