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2021 Latvian Higher League

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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 Jurmala
(21 June 2021)
Biggest away winNoah Jurmala 0–7 Riga
(20 May 2021)
Highest scoringRiga 6–1 Spartaks Jūrmala
(3 April 2021)
Ventspils 5–2 Metta/LU
(1 May 2021)
Noah Jurmala 0–7 Riga
(20 May 2021)
Spartaks Jūrmala 5–2 Noah Jurmala
(17 June 2021)
Longest winning run10 matches
RFS
Longest unbeaten run14 matches
RFS
Longest winless run8 matches
Metta/LU
Noah Jurmala
Longest losing run7 matches
Noah Jurmala
← 2020
2022 →
All statistics correct as of 6 November 2021.

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]

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

Teams

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The league consists of 8 clubs from the previous season, joined by Noah Jurmala 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 and was dissloved later on.[6]

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

League table

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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 28 19 5 4 54 19 +35 62 Qualification for the Europa Conference League second qualifying round
3 Liepāja 28 16 3 9 47 26 +21 51 Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round
4 Riga 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 Jurmala 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) Champions

Fixtures and results

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Rounds 1–18

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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 Jurmala 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

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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 Jurmala 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

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Top goalscorers

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

References

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  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. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  7. ^ "Noah Jurmala aptur dalību Virslīgas čempionātā". optibetvirsliga.com. Archived from the original on 25 July 2021. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  8. ^ Flashscore
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