- Latvian Higher League
The Latvian Higher League ( _lv. Virslīga) is the top tier of football in
Latvia and is organised by theLatvian Football Federation . The new season kicks off in April of every year, and runs until early November. There are no games in winter because of the harsh climate. Since 2006 the Latvian Higher League is sponsored byLatvijas Mobilais Telefons and officially called LMT Virslīga. Some of the matches of the Virslīga are transmitted by the Latvian TV channelLTV7 .League format
Up to and including the 2007 season, there were eight clubs in the Virslīga. During the course of the season each club played all the other clubs four times, twice at their home stadium and twice at that of their opponents, completing a total of 28 games.
However, for the 2008 season the league has expanded to ten clubs, and the fixture format has changed. To expand to ten clubs 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 fromVentspils , and second placed SK Blāzma fromRēzekne were both promoted. From the 2008 season, the league will be in two rounds. In the first round each club will play all the other nine clubs twice, home and away starting with "Matchday 1" on5 April and finishing with "Matchday 18" on10 August . In the second round there will be two "mini leagues", with the top six clubs playing each other twice and the clubs in 7th to 10th place playing each other twice.cite news |last=Hartmanis |first=Martins |title=LMT Virsliga new season calendar published |publisher=Latvian Football Federation |date=2007-12-01 |url=http://www.lff.lv/en/news/2008/02/03/ |accessdate=2008-02-20 ]At the end of the season, the club finishing bottom of the Virslīga is automatically relegated to the 1. līga, and the champions of the 1. līga are automatically promoted, taking the place of the relegated club. The club that finishes next to bottom in the Virslīga play a two-legged playoff for the final place in the Virslīga for the next season with the club that finishes second in the 1. līga.
Virslīga clubs (2008)
*
FK Blāzma Rēzekne
*FK Daugava Daugavpils
*Dinaburg FC
*FK Jūrmala
*FK Liepājas Metalurgs
*JFK Olimps Rīga
*FK Rīga
*Skonto FC
*FK Ventspils
*FK Vindava Ventspils Past Virslīga winners
Riga football league winners
* 1910
Union Riga
* 1911British FC Riga
* 1912Union Riga
* 1913British FC Riga
* 1914British FC Riga
* 1915British FC Riga Champions of Latvia before Virslīga
* 1922
Ķeizarmežs
* 1923Ķeizarmežs
* 1924Rīgas FK
* 1925Rīgas FK
* 1926Rīgas FK Latvian SSR champions
* 1945
FK Dinamo Rīga
* 1946 Daugava Liepāja
* 1947 Daugava Liepāja
* 1948Žmiļova komanda
* 1949 Sarkanais Metalurgs Liepāja
* 1950 AVN Rīga
* 1951 Sarkanais Metalurgs Liepāja
* 1952 AVN Rīga
* 1953 Sarkanais Metalurgs Liepāja
* 1954 Sarkanais Metalurgs Liepāja
* 1955Darba Rezerves
* 1956 Sarkanais Metalurgs Liepāja
* 1957 Sarkanais Metalurgs Liepāja
* 1958 Sarkanais Metalurgs Liepāja
* 1959RER Rīga
* 1960 ASK Rīga
* 1961 ASK Rīga
* 1962 ASK Rīga
* 1963 ASK Rīga
* 1964 ASK Rīga
* 1965 ASK Rīga
* 1966ESR Rīga
* 1967ESR Rīga
* 1968Starts Brocēni
* 1969FK Venta Ventspils
* 1970 VEF Rīga
* 1971 VEF Rīga
* 1972FK Jūrnieks
* 1973 VEF Rīga
* 1974 VEF Rīga
* 1975 VEF Rīga
* 1976Enerģija Rīga
* 1977Enerģija Rīga
* 1978Ķīmiķis Daugavpils
* 1979Elektrons Rīga
* 1980Ķīmiķis Daugavpils
* 1981Elektrons Rīga
* 1982Elektrons Rīga
* 1983 VEF Rīga
* 1984Torpedo Rīga
* 1985FK Alfa
* 1986Torpedo Rīga
* 1987Torpedo Rīga
* 1988RAF Jelgava
* 1989RAF Jelgava
* 1990Gauja Valmiera
* 1991 Forums-SkontoReferences
External links
* [http://www.lff.lv Latvian Football Federation]
* [http://www.lff.lv/en/news Latvian Football Federation news in English]
* [http://virsliga.delfi.lv Virslīga news] Lv icon
* [http://www.virsliga.com Unofficial Website of Virsliga]
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