2012 Latvian Higher League

Latvian Higher League
Season	2012
Champions	FC Daugava
Relegated	FB Gulbene
Champions League	FC Daugava
Europa League	Skonto Riga FK Ventspils SK Liepājas Metalurgs
Matches played	180
Goals scored	494 (2.74 per match)
Top goalscorer	Mamuka Ghonghadze (18)
Biggest home win	Jūrmala 6-1 Daugava Daugavpils Skonto Rīga 5-0 Metta/LU Ventspils 5-0 Daugava Rīga
Biggest away win	Metta/LU 1-6 Ventspils Gulbene 2005 0-5 Ventspils Metta/LU 0-5 Daugava Daugavpils
Highest scoring	Jelgava 3-4 Daugava Rīga Metta/LU 1-6 Ventspils Jūrmala 6-1 Daugava Daugavpils Daugava Rīga 2-5 Spartaks Spartaks 3-4 Metta/LU
← 2011 2013 →

The 2012 Latvian Higher League was the 21st season of top-tier football in Latvia. It began on 24 March 2012 and ended on 10 November 2012.^[1] FK Ventspils are the defending champions.

The league comprised ten teams, one more than in the previous season.

Teams

The league returned to a ten-team circuit after having been forced to play the 2011 season with only nine teams, following the withdrawal of SK Blāzma a few weeks before the season commenced. As a consequence of the Blāzma withdrawal, no team was directly relegated.

2011 Latvian First League champions FS METTA/Latvijas Universitāte from Riga were directly promoted. The team, which was founded by the METTA football school and the University of Latvia in 2007, entered the Higher League for the first time in their history.

JFK Olimps/RFS finished the 2011 season in ninth place and were therefore required to compete in a two-legged promotion/relegation play-off against First Division runners-up Spartaks Jūrmala. Spartaks won the play-off 4–1 on aggregate and were therefore promoted to the Higher League. Similar to METTA/LU, they made their debut at the highest level of the Latvian football pyramid. Accordingly, Olimps/RFS were relegated to the First League after five seasons at the top flight.

Stadiums and locations

Ventspils

Gulbene

Daugava Riga
FS METTA
Skonto

Location of teams in the 2012 Latvian Higher League

Following the promotion of FK Spartaks, the city of Jūrmala should have featured three clubs during the 2012 season, one more than the capital, Riga, but FK Jūrmala-VV moved to Riga, changing their name to Daugava Riga.

Club	Location	Stadium	Capacity
FC Daugava	Daugavpils	Daugava Stadium	4,100
FK Daugava Rīga	Riga	Daugava Stadium	5,000
FB Gulbene	Gulbene	Gulbenes Sporta Centrs	1,500
FK Jelgava	Jelgava	Zemgales Olimpiskais Sporta Centrs	2,200
FC Jūrmala	Jūrmala	Slokas Stadium	5,000
SK Liepājas Metalurgs	Liepāja	Daugava Stadium	5,083
FS Metta/LU	Riga	Rīgas 49. vidusskola Stadium	250
Skonto FC	Riga	Skonto Stadium	10,000
FK Spartaks Jūrmala	Jūrmala	Slokas Stadium	5,000
FK Ventspils	Ventspils	Olimpiskais Stadium	3,200

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
FC Daugava	Ivan Tabanov	Jurijs Sokolovs	Erreà	—
FK Daugava Rīga	Jurijs Popkovs	Vadims Gospodars	Adidas	—
FB Gulbene	Mihails Koņevs	Alberts Nikoļskis	Erreà	Piebalga
FK Jelgava	Dainis Kazakevičs	Valērijs Redjko	Macron	LDz Cargo
FC Jūrmala	Vladimirs Pačko	Maksims Daņilovs	Givova	—
SK Liepājas Metalurgs	Jānis Intenbergs	Tomas Tamošauskas	Adidas	—
FS Metta/LU	Andris Riherts	Romāns Rožkovskis	Nike	SMS Credit.lv
Skonto FC	Marians Pahars	Germans Māliņš	Kappa	—
FK Spartaks Jūrmala	Arminas Narbekovas	Nauris Bulvītis	Masita	—
FK Ventspils	Jurģis Pučinskis	Vitālijs Smirnovs	Adidas	VK Tranzīts

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Daugava Daugavpils	Leonid Nazarenko	Sacked	2011-12-22	pre-season	Ravil Sabitov	2011-12-22
Spartaks Jūrmala	Artūrs Šketovs	Sacked	2012-02-02	pre-season	Oļegs Blagonadeždins	2012-02-02
Daugava Daugavpils	Ravil Sabitov	Sacked	2012-04-29^[2]	5th	Ivan Tabanov	2012-05-05
Liepājas Metalurgs	Vladimirs Osipovs	Sacked	2012-05-01^[3]	6th	Jānis Intenbergs	2012-05-24
FK Ventspils	Sergey Podpaly	Sacked	2012-05-18^[4]	4th	Jurģis Pučinskis	2012-05-18
Spartaks Jūrmala	Oļegs Blagonadeždins	Sacked	2012-07-20	4th	Arminas Narbekovas	2012-07-23

Broadcasting

Just as last season most of the matches are transmitted live via sportacentrs.com online and sportacentrs TV channel.^[5] In June 2012 broadcasting rights were also bought by the English company Bet365.^[6] Since 2012 league's homepage futbolavirsliga.lv has been active and since September 2012 this website has been accompanied by InStat Football system, showing information and analysis of each match individually.^[7] Since October 2012 Virslīga has also had its own analytical broadcast after each round of matches with football experts discussing about the games and future events connected to Latvian football. Its transmitted via sportacentrs TV.^[8]

League table


Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	FC Daugava Daugavpils !FC Daugava Daugavpils (C)	36	23	9	4	64	25	+39	78	2013–14 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round
2	Skonto FC !Skonto FC	36	21	11	4	58	22	+36	74	2013–14 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round
3	Ventspils !Ventspils	36	23	5	8	63	22	+41	74	2013–14 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round ¹
4	SK Liepājas Metalurgs !SK Liepājas Metalurgs	36	21	7	8	60	33	+27	70	2013–14 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round
5	Spartaks Jūrmala !Spartaks Jūrmala	36	13	10	13	61	56	+5	49
6	FC Jūrmala !FC Jūrmala	36	10	9	17	47	49	−2	39
7	Jelgava !Jelgava	36	7	10	19	32	56	−24	31
8	METTA/LU !METTA/LU	36	7	8	21	39	82	−43	29
9	FK Daugava Rīga !FK Daugava Rīga (O)	36	5	12	19	42	79	−37	27	Qualification for relegation play-offs
10	FB Gulbene !FB Gulbene (R)	36	5	9	22	28	70	−42	24	Relegation to 2013 Latvian First League

Source: LFF:Virslīga 2012
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points; 3rd head-to-head goal difference; 4th overall wins; 5th goal difference; 6th goals scored
¹Winners of the 2012–13 Latvian Football Cup.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Relegation play-offs

The 9th-placed sides will face the runners-up of the 2012 Latvian First League in a two-legged play-off, with the winner being awarded a spot in the 2013 Higher League competition. The dates and exact sequence of these matches are still to be determined.

FK Daugava Rīga v BFC Daugava

14 November 2012
18:00

FK Daugava Rīga	1–0	BFC Daugava
Broders 54'	Report

Daugava Stadium, Riga
Referee: Aleksandrs Golubevs

BFC Daugava v FK Daugava Rīga

18 November 2012
14:00

BFC Daugava	1–3	FK Daugava Rīga
Ostrovskis 68'	Report	6' Gospodarjs 21' Kapustas 70' Kārkliņš

Daugava Stadium, Daugavpils
Referee: Andris Treimanis

Results

First half of season

Home ╲ Away	FC Daugava Daugavpils !DGD	FB Gulbene !GUL	Jelgava !JEL	FC Jūrmala !FCJ	FK Daugava Rīga !DGR	SK Liepājas Metalurgs !LIE	METTA/LU !MLU	Skonto FC !SKO	Spartaks Jūrmala !SPJ	Ventspils !VEN
FC Daugava Daugavpils !FC Daugava Daugavpils		3–0	2–0	2–0	3–1	0–0	2–0	1–1	1–0	3–0
FB Gulbene !FB Gulbene	0–2		1–2	2–0	0–0	1–1	5–1	0–1	0–3	0–5
Jelgava !Jelgava	1–2	0–1		0–2	3–4	0–2	1–4	1–2	1–3	0–2
FC Jūrmala !FC Jūrmala	6–1	2–2	0–0		1–1	0–2	0–0	3–3	0–1	1–2
FK Daugava Rīga !FK Daugava Rīga	0–4	2–2	1–0	1–1		1–3	1–0	1–1	1–2	1–4
SK Liepājas Metalurgs !SK Liepājas Metalurgs	2–0	0–1	1–1	2–0	1–0		3–2	0–1	1–2	0–0
METTA/LU !METTA/LU	1–1	0–0	1–1	0–2	0–3	4–1		1–2	2–1	1–6
Skonto FC !Skonto FC	3–0	4–1	2–3	1–0	1–0	0–1	5–0		1–0	1–0
Spartaks Jūrmala !Spartaks Jūrmala	2–2	3–1	2–0	0–0	2–2	2–2	3–1	2–2		2–0
Ventspils !Ventspils	1–2	3–0	0–1	1–1	2–0	0–3	1–0	0–0	3–2

Updated to games played on 31 August 2012.
Source: Latvian Higher League
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season

Home ╲ Away	FC Daugava Daugavpils !DGD	FB Gulbene !GUL	Jelgava !JEL	FC Jūrmala !FCJ	Daugava Rīga !DGR	SK Liepājas Metalurgs !LIE	METTA/LU !MLU	Skonto FC !SKO	Spartaks Jūrmala !SPJ	Ventspils !VEN
FC Daugava Daugavpils !FC Daugava Daugavpils		1–0	0–0	2–0	3–0	0–0	1–0	0–0	3–2	0–0
FB Gulbene !FB Gulbene	1–3		0–1	0–1	2–1	1–3	0–3	0–4	0–1	1–2
Jelgava !Jelgava	0–2	0–0		1–3	2–2	1–2	1–1	1–1	3–2	0–1
FC Jūrmala !FC Jūrmala	2–4	4–0	3–1		2–3	0–2	3–0	0–0	0–3	0–1
Daugava Rīga !Daugava Rīga	0–3	1–1	1–2	1–2		3–3	1–1	1–3	2–5	0–4
SK Liepājas Metalurgs !SK Liepājas Metalurgs	1–3	3–1	2–0	3–2	4–0		4–1	1–0	2–1	1–0
METTA/LU !METTA/LU	0–5	1–1	1–3	0–3	4–3	1–0		1–2	3–3	0–2
Skonto FC !Skonto FC	0–0	3–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	3–1	5–0		0–0	1–0
Spartaks Jūrmala !Spartaks Jūrmala	0–3	2–2	1–1	4–2	2–2	0–3	3–4	0–1		0–3
Ventspils !Ventspils	1–0	4–0	0–0	2–1	5–0	1–0	4–0	1–0	2–0

Updated to games played on 10 November 2012.
Source: Latvian Higher League
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of 7 November 2012.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Mamuka Ghonghadze	FC Daugava	18
2	Yōsuke Saito	FB Gulbene/FK Ventspils	15
3	David Cortés	FK Spartaks Jūrmala	12
3	Daniils Turkovs	FK Ventspils	12
5	Antons Jemeļins	FK Spartaks Jūrmala	11
	Tadas Labukas	Skonto FC
	Valērijs Šabala	Skonto FC
7	Stanley Ibe	FC Daugava	10
	Valērijs Afanasjevs	SK Liepājas Metalurgs
	Vladimirs Kamešs	SK Liepājas Metalurgs
	Mārtiņš Milašēvičs	FS Metta/LU
	Patrick Twumasi	FK Spartaks Jūrmala
	Vitālijs Ziļs	FK Daugava Rīga

Player of the Month

Player of the Month
Month	Player	Club
March/April^[9]	Yōsuke Saito	Gulbene
May^[10]	Mamuka Ghonghadze	Daugava Daugavpils
June^[11]	Valērijs Šabala	Skonto Riga
July^[12]	Sergei Yashin	Daugava Daugavpils
August^[13]	Rytis Leliūga	Liepājas Metalurgs
September^[14]	Ģirts Karlsons	Liepājas Metalurgs
October/November^[15]	Vladimirs Kamešs	Liepājas Metalurgs

Manager of the Month

Manager of the Month
Month	Manager	Club
March/April^[9]	Marians Pahars	Skonto Riga
May^[10]	Oļegs Blagonadeždins	Spartaks Jūrmala
June^[11]	Marians Pahars	Skonto Riga
July^[12]	Ivan Tabanov	Daugava Daugavpils
August^[13]	Jurģis Pučinsks	Ventspils
September^[14]	Andris Riherts	Metta/LU
October/November^[16]	Ivan Tabanov	Daugava Daugavpils

Team of the Tournament

LFF version

Team of the Tournament
Position	Player	Club
Goalkeeper	Germans Māliņš	Skonto Riga
Defender	Dmitri Polovinchuk	Daugava Daugavpils
Defender	Vitālijs Maksimenko	Skonto Riga
Defender	Igors Savčenkovs	Skonto Riga
Defender	Nauris Bulvītis	Spartaks Jūrmala
Midfielder	Daniel Ola	Daugava Daugavpils
Midfielder	Aleksandrs Fertovs	Skonto Riga
Midfielder	Ruslan Mingazov	Skonto Riga
Forward	Vladimirs Kamešs	Liepājas Metalurgs
Forward	Yosuke Saito	Ventspils
Forward	Mamuka Ghonghadze	Daugava Daugavpils
Manager	Ivan Tabanov	Daugava Daugavpils

sportacentrs.com version

Team of the Tournament
Position	Player	Club
Goalkeeper	Maksims Uvarenko	Ventspils
Defender	Dmitri Polovinchuk	Daugava Daugavpils
Defender	Vitālijs Maksimenko	Skonto Riga
Defender	Vitālijs Smirnovs	Ventspils
Defender	Jurijs Sokolovs	Daugava Daugavpils
Midfielder	Daniel Ola	Daugava Daugavpils
Midfielder	Igors Tarasovs	Ventspils
Midfielder	Mihails Ziziļevs	Daugava Daugavpils
Forward	Vladimirs Kamešs	Liepājas Metalurgs
Forward	Ahmed Abdultaofik	Ventspils
Forward	Stanley Ibe	Daugava Daugavpils
Manager	Ivan Tabanov	Daugava Daugavpils

Awards

LFF awards 2012
Category	Winner	Club
Best goalkeeper	Germans Māliņš	Skonto Riga
Best defender	Vitālijs Maksimenko	Skonto Riga
Best midfielder	Vladimirs Kamešs	Liepājas Metalurgs
Best forward	Mamuka Ghonghadze	Daugava Daugavpils
Top scorer	Mamuka Ghonghadze	Daugava Daugavpils
Best U-21 player	Valērijs Šabala	Skonto Riga
Best player	Vladimirs Kamešs	Liepājas Metalurgs
Best manager	Ivan Tabanov	Daugava Daugavpils
Fair play award	Club	Daugava Daugavpils
Best match organisation	Club	Metta/LU

References

↑ "2012.gada LATVIJAS FUTBOLA VIRSLĪGAS, SPĒĻU KALENDĀRS". Latvian Football Federation. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
↑ "Daugavpils Daugava atlaiž galveno treneri Sabitovu". Diena.lv. 2012-05-01.
↑ "Osipovs atlaists no "Liepājas metalurgs" futbola komandas galvenā trenera amata". Kasjauns.lv. 2012-05-02.
↑ "FK "Ventspils" atlaiž galveno treneri Podpaliju". TVNET. 2012-05-17.
↑ "Sportacentrs TV – Sportacentrs.com". sportacentrs.com. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
↑ "Pirmo reizi vēsturē pārdotas Latvijas virslīgas futbola čempionāta interneta translāciju tiesības | Kasjauns.lv". kasjauns.lv. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
↑ http://futbolavirsliga.lv/index.php/jaunumi/780-virsliga-plano-ieviest-kvalitativu-statistikas-un-analizes-sistemu
↑ http://futbolavirsliga.lv/index.php/jaunumi/1061-virsligai-savs-apskata-raidijums
1 2 Edmunds Novickis (2012-05-07). "Virslīgas marta/aprīļa labākais spēlētājs Saito, treneris - Pahars". Sportacentrs.com.
1 2 Jānis Celmiņš (2012-06-05). "Virslīgas labākais spēlētājs maijā – Gongadze; treneris – Blagonadeždins". Sportacentrs.com.
1 2 Andris Liepa (2012-07-10). "Labākie jūnijā - Šabala un Pahars". Sportacentrs.com.
1 2 Jānis Celmiņš (2012-08-07). "Jūlijā labākie Daugavpils "Daugavas" pārstāvji Jašins un Tabanovs". Sportacentrs.com.
1 2 Andrejs Siliņš (2012-09-10). "Virslīgas labākais augustā - Leliūga". Sportacentrs.com. Archived from the original on 2012-10-21.
1 2 Andris Liepa (2012-10-04). "Labākie septembrī - Karlsons un Riherts". Sportacentrs.com.
↑ Andris Liepa (2012-11-07). "Oktobra/novembra labākais spēlētājs Kamešs, treneris – Tabanovs". Sportacentrs.com.
↑ Andris Liepa (2012-11-07). "Oktobra/novembra labākais spēlētājs Kamešs, treneris – Tabanovs". Sportacentrs.com.

External links

Latvian Football Federation (Latvian)

2016 Latvian Higher League

Daugavpils Jelgava Liepāja METTA/LU RFS Riga Spartaks Ventspils

Seasons of Top Latvian Football Leagues

Championship	1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926

Higher League	1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1942 1943 1944

Latvian SSR	1941 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991

Higher League	1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Football in Latvia

Latvian Football Federation (LFF)

National Teams

League System

men	Virslīga 1. līga 2. līga

women	Latvian Women's League

Domestic cups

List of clubs
List of venues

2011–12 in European football (UEFA)

« 2010–11 2012–13 »

Domestic leagues	Albania Andorra Armenia '11 '12–'13 Austria Azerbaijan Belarus '11 '12 Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia '11 '12 Faroe Islands '11 '12 Finland '11 '12 France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '11 '12 Israel Italy Kazakhstan '11 '12 Latvia '11 '12 Lithuania '11 '12 Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Montenegro Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '11 '12 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland '11 '12 Romania Russia San Marino Scotland Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden '11 '12 Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales

Domestic cups	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia Faroe Islands '11 '12 Finland '11 '12 France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '11 '12 Israel Italy Kazakhstan '11 '12 Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Montenegro Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '11 '12 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland '11 '12 Romania Russia San Marino Scotland Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden '11 Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales

League cups	England Finland '11 '12 France Hungary Iceland '11 '12 Israel Northern Ireland Portugal Republic of Ireland '11 '12 Scotland Turkey Wales

UEFA competitions	Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round group stage knockout phase Final Europa League qualifying phase and play-off round group stage knockout phase Final Super Cup

2012–13 in European football (UEFA)

« 2011–12 2013–14 »

Domestic leagues	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus '12 '13 Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia '12 '13 Faroe Islands '12 '13 Finland '12 '13 France Georgia Germany Gibraltar Greece Hungary Iceland '12 '13 Israel Italy Kazakhstan '12 '13 Latvia '12 '13 Lithuania '12 '13 Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Montenegro Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '12 '13 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland '12 '13 Romania Russia San Marino Scotland Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden '12 '13 Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales

Domestic cups	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia Faroe Islands '12 '13 Finland '12 '13 France Georgia Germany Gibraltar Greece Hungary Iceland '12 '13 Israel Italy Kazakhstan '12 '13 Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Montenegro Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '12 '13 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland '12 '13 Romania Russia San Marino Scotland Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales

League cups	England Finland '12 '13 France Hungary Iceland '12 '13 Israel Latvia Northern Ireland Portugal Republic of Ireland '12 '13 Scotland Wales

UEFA competitions	Champions League Qualifying phase and play-off round Group stage Knockout phase Final Europa League Qualifying phase and play-off round Group stage Knockout phase Final Super Cup

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