The 2008

Virslīga 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 ...

season was the 17th Virslīga season. It began on 5 April 2008 with the first round of games and ended on 9 November 2008 with the final matches of the championship and relegation rounds.

Ventspils Ventspils (; german: Windau, ; see other names) is a state city in northwestern Latvia in the historical Courland region of Latvia, and is the sixth largest city in the country. At the beginning of 2020, Ventspils had a population of 33,906. It ...

were the defending champions.

Season details

For the 2008 season the league has expanded to ten clubs, and the fixture format has changed. Due to expansion there was no relegation at the end of the 2007 season, and the top two clubs from the 1. līga 2007 season, champions

FK Vindava FK Vindava is a former Latvian football club located in Ventspils. It was founded in 2007 on the basis of FK Honda, which got 4th place in 2006 in Latvian 2. līga, Kurzemes zona. In 2007 it won the 1. līga championships and was promoted ...

(from

), and second placed

SK Blāzma SK Blāzma is a Latvian football club located in Rēzekne. The club is a continuation of the city's main football club, Dižvanagi. The club competed in Virslīga in the 2008 season following promotion from the 1. Liga in 2007. History The f ...

(from

Rēzekne Rēzekne (, ; German: ''Rositten'') is a state city in the Rēzekne River valley in Latgale region of eastern Latvia. It is called ''The Heart of Latgale'' (Latvian ''Latgales sirds'', Latgalian ''Latgolys sirds''). Built on seven hills, Rēzekn ...

) were both promoted. From the 2008 season on, the league will be held in two rounds. In the first round each club played all the other nine clubs twice, home and away starting with ''Matchday 1'' on 5 April and finishing with ''Matchday 18'' on 10 August. In the second round there were two "mini leagues", with the top six clubs after the First Round, playing each other twice and clubs in 7th to 10th place after the First Round playing each other four times. Second round matches started on 24 August and finished on 9 November. At the end of the season, the club finishing bottom of the Virslīga were automatically relegated to the 1. līga, and the champions of the 1. līga were automatically promoted, taking the place of the relegated club. The club that finished next to the bottom in the Virslīga play a two-legged playoff for the final place in the Virslīga for the next season with the club that finished second in 1. līga.

First round

Standings

Results

Second round

Championship round

Standings

Results

Relegation round

Standings

Results

Relegation play-offs

Blāzma Rēzekne, the 9th placed team in the

, and 1. līga runners-up, Tranzīts Ventspils, competed in a two-legged play-off for a spot in the Virslīga 2009. Blāzma Rēzekne won 6–1 on aggregate and thereby kept their spot in the next season of the

. ----

Topscorers

References

External links

Latvian Football Federation

Latvian Football Federation news in English
{{2008-09 in European Football (UEFA) Latvian Higher League seasons 1

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 ...