The 2016 Latvian Higher League was the 25th 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 ...

FK Liepāja FK Liepāja/Mogo is a Latvian football club, founded in 2014. The club is based at the Daugava Stadium in Liepāja. FK Liepāja plays in the Latvian Higher League. In their first season they finished 4th in the 2014 Latvian Higher League. Hi ...

were the defending champions. The season began on 11 March 2016 and ended on 5 November 2016; the relegation play-offs took place on 9 and 13 November 2016.

Teams

FB Gulbene FB Gulbene ''(formerly "FB Gulbene-2005")'' is a Latvian football club based in Gulbene. The club plays its home matches at the Gulbenes Sporta Centrs stadium with capacity of 1,500 people. They were promoted to the Latvian Higher League for the ...

were excluded from the previous season due to suspicion of match-fixing.

2015 Latvian First League The 2015 Latvian First League (referred to as the komanda.lv Pirmā līga for sponsorship reasons) started on 29 March 2015 and ended on 7 November 2015. Changes from last season Team changes The following teams have changed league since the 20 ...

winners FC Caramba/Dinamo were promoted to the league and before the season changed their name to

Riga FC Riga Football Club, commonly referred to as Riga FC, is a Latvian football club, founded in 2014. The club is based at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Since 2016 the club has been playing in the Virslīga. History The club was officially registered ...

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 Latv ...

did not obtain a license to play in the 2016 Higher League. Skonto appealed the decision, but the appeal was denied. Since

runners-up Valmiera Glass FK/BSS turned down the opportunity to be promoted to the Higher League, third-placed Rīgas Futbola skola (RFS) was promoted instead.

Stadiums and locations

Kits manufacturer and sponsors

League table

Relegation play-offs

The 7th-placed side, FS METTA/LU, faced

AFA Olaine AFA Olaine is a Latvian football club. They compete in the second-highest division of Latvian football ( 1. līga) and the Latvian Football Cup. First-team squad ''As of 30 April 2017.'' References External links * ...

, runners-up of the

2016 Latvian First League The 2016 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 Lat ...

in a two-legged play-off, with the winner being awarded a spot in the 2017 Higher League competition.

First Leg

Second Leg

''METTA/LU won 2–1 on aggregate and retained their place in the 2017 Higher League.''

Results

Season statistics

Top scorers

Updated to match(es) played on 29 October 2016.
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References

External links

Official website
{{2016–17 in European football (UEFA) Latvian Higher League seasons 1