The 2013

Latvian Higher League Latvian Higher League or Virslīga is a professional football league and the top tier of association football in Latvia. Organised by the Latvian Football Federation, the Higher League is contested by 10 clubs. The full name of the league is Op ...

was the 22nd season of top-tier

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

FC Daugava FC Daugava was a Latvian football club, based at the Daugava Stadium, in the city of Daugavpils. They lastly played in the Latvian Second League in 2015. They were one of two clubs with the name ''Daugava'' and should not be confused with ...

were the defending champions. The season started on 29 March 2013. The league comprised ten teams. The champions of this season were

FK Ventspils FK Ventspils is a Latvian football club, based at Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions in Ventspils city and is one of the most popular football clubs in the country. The club played in the Latvian Virsliga since 1997. It was abolished in 2020, but h ...

, followed by

Skonto FC Skonto FC was a Latvian football club, active from 1991 until 2016. The club played at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Skonto won the Virsliga in the first 14 seasons of the league's resumption (15 in total), and often provided the core of the Latvia ...

Teams

The league had a ten-team circuit like the 2012 season. 2012

Latvian First League The Latvian First League ( lv, Latvijas Pirmā līga, 1. līga) is the second tier of football in Latvia and is organised by the Latvian Football Federation. History The league was founded together with other Latvian football competitions in 19 ...

champions Ilūkstes NSS from

Ilūkste Ilūkste (; lt, Alūksta, Ilūkšta; german: Illuxt) is a town in Augšdaugava Municipality in the Selonia region of Latvia. The population in 2020 was 2,216. History Territory of modern Ilūkste was inhabited by ancient baltic tribe- Selonian ...

were directly promoted. FK Daugava Rīga finished the 2012 season in ninth place and were therefore required to compete in a two-legged promotion/relegation play-off against First Division runners-up BFC Daugava. FK Daugava Riga won the play-off 4–1 on aggregate and therefore stayed in the Higher League.

Stadiums and locations

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Managerial changes

Broadcasting

As in the previous season most of the matches are being transmitted live via ''sportacentrs.com'' online and TV channel. In June 2012 broadcasting rights were also bought by the English company

Bet365 Bet365 Group Ltd (commonly known and stylized as bet365 and spoken as "bet three-six-five") is a leading British online gambling company based in the United Kingdom. It was founded by Denise Coates, who remains the majority shareholder and joint ...

. Since 2012, the league's homepage ''futbolavirsliga.lv'' has been active and since September 2012 this website has been accompanied by the InStat Football system, showing information and analysis of each match individually. Since October 2012, the Virslīga has also had its own analytical broadcast after each round of matches with football experts discussing the games and future events connected to Latvian football. It is transmitted via TV.

League table

Relegation play-offs

The 9th-placed sides will face the runners-up of the 2013

in a two-legged play-off, with the winner being awarded a spot in the 2014 Higher League competition. ---- ''FS METTA/LU won 5–2 on aggregate.''

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

Broadcasting

League table

Relegation play-offs

Results

Season statistics

Top scorers

Player of the Month

Manager of the Month

Team of the Tournament

LFF version

Sporta Avīze version

sportacentrs.com version

Awards

References