The 2011

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 O ...

( lv, Virslīga 2011) was the 20th season of top-tier football in Latvia. It began on 15 April 2011 and ended on 5 November 2011. The competition was won by

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 has ...

, who thus qualified for the

2012–13 UEFA Champions League The 2012–13 UEFA Champions League was the 58th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 21st season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final was pl ...

. Runners-up Liepājas Metalurgs and third-placed sides Daugava Daugavpils earned spots for the

2012–13 UEFA Europa League The 2012–13 UEFA Europa League was the 42nd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 4th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Amsterdam Aren ...

. On the bottom end of the table, JFK Olimps/RFS were relegated after losing their play-off series against Spartaks Jūrmala. All nine clubs played every other club four times during the course of the season: twice at home and twice away. In addition, there will be no direct relegation to the

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 ...

this year.

Teams

Jaunība Rīga finished the previous year's competition in tenth place and were relegated to the Latvian First League. This ended a one-year stay in the top flight. Promoted to the Higher League from the First Division automatically were the previous season's First Division champions, Gulbene 2005, who are taking part in the top flight for the first time in their history in 2011. FC Tranzit finished 9th in the 2010 Higher League competition and were supposed to compete in a promotion/relegation playoff against the runners-up of the First Division, FC Jūrmala. However, before this playoff took place, Tranzit informed the

Latvian Football Federation The Latvian Football Federation (LFF) ( lv, Latvijas Futbola federācija) is the governing body of football in Latvia with its headquarters located in the capital Rimi Sports Centre in Riga. Its activities include the organizing of the Latvian ...

that they were forfeiting their place in the Higher League altogether, ending a two-year stay in the top flight. Therefore, FC Jūrmala were promoted to the Higher League automatically. Like Gulbene, they are competing in the top flight for the first time in their history in 2011. Finally,

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 ...

decided to withdraw from the league during the off-season. This ended a three-year stay in the top flight. At a meeting on 28 January 2011, the LFF decided that they would not be replaced in this year's competition.

Team summaries

League table

Results

First half of season

Second half of season

Relegation play-offs

At the season's end, the 9th place club in the Latvian Higher League will face the runners-up of the Latvian First League in a two-legged playoff, with the winner being awarded a spot in the 2012 Higher League competition. ----

Top goalscorers

''Source
LMT Virslīga 2011
''

Awards

Team of the Tournament

''sportacentrs.com'' version:'' __________________________________________________________________________________________________ ''

version:''

Individual nominations

''Players selected by sportacentrs.com:'' Best foreign player:

Daniel Ola Daniel Ola (born 23 November 1982) is a Ghanaian-Nigerian football coach and former defender. He is currently a technical collaborator for Italian amateur club Ginosa. Playing career His name "Ola" means "Wealth" in Yoruba. Ola began his career ...

(

Jūrmala Jūrmala (; "seaside") is a state city in Latvia, about west of Riga. Jūrmala is a resort town stretching and sandwiched between the Gulf of Riga and the Lielupe River. It has a stretch of white-sand beach, and a population of 49,325 in 2019 ...

) Best young player (U-21): Arevshat Khachatryan (

Gulbene Gulbene (; german: Schwanenburg) is a town in northeastern Latvia. It is an administrative center of Gulbene Municipality. The area of this region is , with a population of 29,797 inhabitants (69,369 sealen, 10,015 urban, 19,782 rural populat ...

) Best coach: Tamaz Pertia ( Daugava Daugavpils/

Olimps/RFS JFK Olimps was a Latvian football club, playing in the top division of Latvian football. The club was from the city of Riga. According to a study from January 2011, the club was the youngest team in Europe, with an average age of 19.02 years. ...

) Surprise of the season:

Oļegs Laizāns Oļegs Laizāns (born 28 March 1987) is a Latvian football midfielder currently playing for Super Nova and the Latvia national football team. Club career Early career, Skonto and loans As a young player Oļegs Laizāns played for JFC Skonto, ...

(

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 ...

) Player of the season: Jurģis Kalns ( Liepājas Metalurgs) ''Players selected by LFF:'' Best goalkeeper: Germans Māliņš ( Skonto Riga) Best defender:

Pāvels Mihadjuks Pāvels Mihadjuks (born 27 May 1980) is a Latvian retired professional association footballer. Club career Early career As a youth player Mihadjuks played for his local club Liepājas Metalurgs, passing his first training at the age of 7. He s ...

( Liepājas Metalurgs) Best midfielder:

(

) Best forward: Nathan Júnior ( Skonto Riga) Best coach: Sergei Podpaly (

) Top scorer: Nathan Júnior ( Skonto Riga) ''(22 goals)'' Best young player (U-21): Valērijs Šabala ( Skonto Riga) Player of the season:

(

)

Team awards

''Players selected by LFF:'' Best match organization:

Jelgava Jelgava (; german: Mitau, ; see also other names) is a state city in central Latvia about southwest of Riga with 55,972 inhabitants (2019). It is the largest town in the region of Zemgale (Semigalia). Jelgava was the capital of the united Du ...

Fair-play award:

References

External links

Latvian Football Federation

Latvian Football Federation news
{{2011–12 in European football (UEFA) Latvian Higher League seasons 1 Latvia Latvia