2010 Latvian Higher League

Annual soccer tournament Latvian Higher League 2010 Skonto Riga15th title Tranzīts VentspilsJaunība Riga Champions League Skonto Riga Europa League VentspilsLiepājas MetalurgsDaugava Daugavpils Baltic League Skonto RigaVentspilsLiepājas MetalurgsDaugava DaugavpilsFK Jūrmala-VVJelgava 135 416 Nathan JúniorDeniss Rakels(18 goals each) Metalurgs 8–0 Jaunība Jaunība 0–9 RFS/Olimps Jaunība 0–9 RFS/Olimps 2009 2011 2010 Latvian Higher League (lv LMT Virslīga 2010) was the 19th season of top-tier football in Latvia. It began on 9 April 2010 with the first round of games. Liepājas Metalurgs were the defending champions, having won their second league title last season. With the re-expansion of the league to 10 clubs, the format of the competition was altered for the third year in a row. The ten clubs played 18 rounds of matches, once at home and once away, against each of the other nine clubs in the league. After this, another nine rounds of matches were played for a total of 27 matches. The clubs finishing in the first five positions after 18 rounds received the benefit of hosting five of their last nine matches. https://web.archive.org/web/20160303193434/http://www.lff.lv/lv/virsliga/fixtures/2010/ 2016-03-03 lv Teams Due to a match fixing scandal last season, Dinaburg FC were excluded from the Latvian Higher League and were relegated to the Latvian First League."Динабург" исключен из чемпионата Латвии и Балтийской Лиги ruLFF measures in FC Dinaburg caseMarch 2025 medicmedic Promoted to the Higher League from the First Division automatically were last season's First Division champions, Jelgava. Daugava Rīga finished in 8th place in last year's Higher League competition and competed in a promotion/relegation playoff against the runners-up of the First Division, Jaunība Rīga. Jaunība Rīga won this two-legged playoff 1–1 (1–0 on away goals scored) and won promotion to the Higher League for this season and Daugava Rīga was relegated to the First Division. Despite finishing last year's First Division competition in 9th place, Daugava Daugavpils were offered a place in this year's Higher League competition, which the club accepted. Team summaries Latvia right 350 Location of teams in the 2010 Latvian Higher League Latvia 57.416667 21.533333 VentspilsTranzit Latvia 56.966667 24.133333 Olimps/RFSSkontoJaunība Latvia 56.516667 21 Metalurgs Latvia 56.966667 23.75 Jūrmala left Latvia 56.5 27.316667 Blāzma left Latvia 56.65 23.716667 Jelgava left Latvia 55.883333 26.533333 Daugava left Club Location Stadium Capacity Current managerDaugava Daugavpils FC DaugavaDaugavpilsDaugava Stadium (Daugavpils)3,500Georgia Tamaz PertiaJaunība Rīga FK JaunībaRigaDaugava Stadium (Riga)5,000Latvia Sergejs DavidovsJelgava FK JelgavaJelgavaZemgales Olimpiskais Sporta Centrs1,560Latvia Dainis KazakevičsJurmala FK Jūrmala-VVJūrmalaSlokas Stadium5,000Latvia Vladimirs BabičevsVentspils FK VentspilsVentspilsOlimpiskais Stadium3,200Italy Nunzio ZavettieriRiga JFK Olimps/RFSRigaLatvijas Universitates Stadions5,000Latvia Mihails MiholapsMetalurgs MetalurgsLiepājaDaugava Stadium (Liepāja)5,500Germany Rüdiger AbramczikBlazma SK BlāzmaRēzekneSporta Aģentūras Stadions3,000Latvia Eriks GrigjansSkonto Skonto FCRigaSkonto Stadium10,000Latvia Aleksandrs StarkovsTranzit FC TranzitVentspilsVentspils 2. pamatskolas stadions500Russia Igor Kichigin League table main WDL QR SKO Skonto VEN Ventspils LIE Liepājas Metalurgs DGD Daugava Daugavpils JVV Jūrmala-VV JEL Jelgava BLĀ Blāzma Rēzekne RFS Olimps/RFS TRA Tranzīts Ventspils JAU Jaunība Rīga 22 3 2 86 16 C 20 3 4 68 18 19 4 4 70 20 16 8 3 35 16 8 4 15 30 45 6 7 14 36 45 7 3 17 27 57 5 6 16 31 63 5 4 18 17 56 R 4 4 19 16 80 R green1 Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round CL2 blue1 Qualification for Europa League second qualifying round EL1 EL2 blue1 Qualification for Europa League second qualifying round EL2b blue2 Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round Ventspils won the 2010–11 Latvian Football Cup competition and qualified for the second qualifying round of UEFA Europa League, so 4th-place Daugava Daugavpils qualified for the first qualifying round. EL1 red2 Qualification for relegation play-offs RP red1 Relegation to Latvian First League R 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points; 3rd head-to-head goal difference; 4th overall wins; 5th goal difference; 6th goals scored complete Latvian Football Federation lv Results Regular home/away matches thumb|250px|Aleksejs Soleičuks tries to block a shot by Vitalijus Kavaliauskas on a goal guarded by Jevgēņijs Sazanovs in the match between SK Liepājas Metalurgs and FC Tranzit main FBR grey BLĀ DGD JAU JEL JVV LIE RFS SKO TRA VEN Blāzma Rēzekne 3–1 1–2 0–0 0–4 1–4 2–0 1–3 2–0 0–5 FC Daugava Daugavpils 2–0 1–0 1–1 1–0 1–1 2–0 1–1 2–0 1–0 Jaunība Rīga 0–1 1–1 1–1 0–2 2–3 0–9 0–3 1–0 0–5 Jelgava 4–0 3–3 4–1 1–2 1–2 4–0 0–5 2–1 1–2 FK Jūrmala-VV 0–0 0–1 0–1 2–1 1–2 2–2 0–4 2–1 1–4 SK Liepājas Metalurgs 4–0 0–1 4–0 3–1 1–2 4–0 1–2 2–0 0–0 Olimps/RFS 2–1 1–1 2–2 2–1 0–2 0–3 1–3 0–1 0–3 Skonto FC 6–0 1–0 7–0 4–1 4–2 0–0 6–1 5–0 1–0 Tranzīts Ventspils 3–1 0–1 2–0 1–1 1–1 0–4 2–2 0–2 0–2 Ventspils 1–0 1–1 5–0 2–1 1–0 2–4 7–0 2–1 2–0 Jelgava were assigned as home team for both first and second round of matches against Olimps/RFS for unknown reasons; this match was the latter of these two and has been put in this table cell for organisational reasons. complete Latvian Football Federation lv Extra home matches main FBR grey BLĀ DGD JAU JEL JVV LIE RFS SKO TRA VEN Blāzma Rēzekne null null null 2–1 2–3 1–1 1–4 null null FC Daugava Daugavpils 3–1 3–1 null 2–0 null null null 1–0 0–1 Jaunība Rīga 0–4 null 0–1 null null 2–2 null 0–1 null Jelgava 2–0 0–1 null null null null null 0–0 2–4 FK Jūrmala-VV null null 0–1 1–1 1–4 0–3 0–2 null null SK Liepājas Metalurgs null 0–0 8–0 3–0 null 2–1 1–2 null null Olimps/RFS null 0–2 null 2–1 null null null 0–2 0–3 Skonto FC null 0–1 6–0 2–1 null null 4–0 null 2–2 Tranzīts Ventspils 0–3 null null null 2–3 0–6 null 0–6 null Ventspils 2–0 null 4–1 null 3–1 0–1 null null 5–0 complete Latvian Football Federation lv Relegation play-offs At season's end, the 9th place club in the Latvian Higher League, Tranzīts Ventspils, was supposed to face the runners-up of the Latvian First League, FC Jūrmala, in a two-legged playoff, with the winner being awarded a spot on next year's Higher League competition. However, before this playoff began, the LFF received information from Tranzits that it would not participate in the playoff and, further, was forfeiting its place in the Latvian Higher League. Because of this, FC Jurmala achieved promotion to the Higher League automatically. Top goalscorers Source: LMT Virslīga 2010 https://web.archive.org/web/20100312125125/http://www.lff.lv/lv/virsliga/tabula2010/ 2010-03-12 lv 18 goals Latvia Deniss Rakels (Liepājas Metalurgs) Brazil Nathan Júnior (Skonto) 15 goals Latvia Jurijs Žigajevs (Ventspils) 12 goals Latvia Kristaps Grebis (Liepājas Metalurgs) 11 goals Latvia Oļegs Malašenoks (Jelgava) 9 goals Latvia Eduards Višņakovs (Ventspils) Lithuania Vitalijus Kavaliauskas (Liepājas Metalurgs) 8 goals Latvia Artūrs Karašausks (Skonto) Latvia Andrejs Perepļotkins (Skonto) Turkmenistan Ruslan Mingazov (Skonto) Latvia Daniils Turkovs (Skonto) Belarus Pavel Ryzhevski (Blāzma) * Players in italics left the clubs they are listed in during the season. Awards Monthly awards Player of the MonthMonthPlayerClubAprilArtūrs Karašausks – LMT Virslīgas labākais spēlētājs aprīlī http://www.lff.lv/lv/news/2010/maijs/04/ LFF 2 May 2010 3 May 2010 7 May 2010 https://web.archive.org/web/20100507003208/http://www.lff.lv/lv/news/2010/maijs/04 dead LAT Artūrs KarašausksSkontoMay"LMT Virslīgas" labākais spēlētājs maijā – Malašenoks http://sportacentrs.com/futbols/lmt_virsliga/07062010-lmt_virsligas_labakais_speletajs_maija_ma sportacentrs.com 7 June 2010 7 June 2010 LAT Oļegs MalašenoksJelgavaJuneNatans Žuniors – LMT Virslīgas labākais spēlētājs jūnijā http://www.lff.lv/lv/news/2010/julijs/32/ LFF 22 August 2010 BRA Nathan JúniorSkontoJulyKaspars Dubra atzīts par labāko spēlētāju jūlijā http://www.lff.lv/lv/news/2010/augusts/20/ LFF 22 August 2010 LAT Kaspars DubraSkontoAugustLAT Jurijs ŽigajevsVentspilsSeptemberLAT Aleksandrs CauņaSkontoOctober/NovemberLAT Jurijs ŽigajevsVentspils Golden boot Deniss Rakels (Liepājas Metalurgs) with 18 goals. Nathan Júnior from Skonto also scored 18 goals during the season, but while Rakels had scored all his goals from game-play, Junior netted 3 goals from the penalty spot. Team of the tournament (Selected by www.sportacentrs.com) Goalkeepers: Marks Bogdanovs (Jelgava), Kaspars Ikstens (Skonto Riga) Defenders: Jevgēņijs Simonovs (Daugava Daugavpils), Kaspars Dubra (Skonto Riga), Tomas Tamošauskas (Liepājas Metalurgs), Vitālijs Maksimenko (Skonto Riga), Māris Smirnovs (Tranzit Ventspils), Yuriy Shelenkov (Daugava Daugavpils) Midfielders: Ruslan Mingazov (Skonto Riga), Jurijs Žigajevs (Ventspils), Arturs Zjuzins (Ventspils), Valērijs Afanasjevs (Daugava Daugavpils), Michael Tukura (Ventspils), Takafumi Akahoshi (Liepājas Metalurgs) Forwards: Nathan Júnior (Skonto Riga), Deniss Rakels (Liepājas Metalurgs), Daniils Turkovs (Skonto Riga), Oļegs Malašenoks (Jelgava) Best player awards Goalkeeper: Kaspars Ikstens (Skonto Riga) Defender: Vitālijs Smirnovs (Skonto Riga) Midfielder: Jurijs Žigajevs (Ventspils) Forward: Nathan Júnior (Skonto Riga) Manager of the season: Aleksandrs Starkovs (Skonto Riga) The best youth player (under the age of 21): Artūrs Zjuzins (Ventspils) Player of the season: Jurijs Žigajevs (Ventspils) Organization Fair-play award: Skonto Riga The best matches' organization: Skonto Riga The best referee: Andrejs Sipailo and Harijs Gudermanis (assistant) See also 2010–11 Latvian Football Cup References External links Latvian Football Federation lv Latvian Football Federation newsAugust 2026 InternetArchiveBot en Category:Latvian Higher League seasons 1 Latvia