The 2011

Latvian Higher League Latvian Higher League or Virslīga, also known as TonyBet Virslīga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Latvia and the highest level of the Latvian football league system. Organised by the Latvian Footbal ...

() was the 20th season of top-tier football in

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. It began on 15 April 2011 and ended on 5 November 2011. The competition was won by

FK Ventspils FK Ventspils was a Latvian professional football club based at Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions in Ventspils. It was one of the most prominent football clubs in the country. The club played in the Latvian Virslīga since 1997. It folded in July ...

, 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 p ...

. 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 Are ...

. 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 () is the second tier of football in Latvia and is organised by the Latvian Football Federation. Since 2021, its full name is Nākotnes Līga (''Future League''). History The league was founded together with other Latv ...

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 FC Jūrmala was a Latvian association football, football club from Jūrmala, founded in 2008. They last played in the Latvian First League. The home ground was Sloka Stadium in Jūrmala with capacity of 5,000 people. Until 2015, FC Jūrmala was o ...

. However, before this playoff took place, Tranzit informed the

Latvian Football Federation The Latvian Football Federation ( ; LFF ) is the governing body of football in Latvia with its headquarters located in the Rimi Sports Centre in Riga. Its activities include the organizing of the Latvian football championship ( Optibet Virslī ...

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 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 (

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

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

Gulbene Gulbene (; ) is a town in the Vidzeme region of Latvia. It is an administrative center of Gulbene Municipality. History Historical documents first mention the 1224 land division act between the Livonian Order, Order of the Sword Brothers and ...

) Best coach: Tamaz Pertia ( Daugava Daugavpils/ Olimps/RFS) Surprise of the season: Oļegs Laizāns (

Ventspils Ventspils () 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 is situated on the Venta River and ...

) Player of the season: Jurģis Kalns ( Liepājas Metalurgs) ''Players selected by LFF:'' Best goalkeeper:

Germans Māliņš Germans Māliņš (born 12 October 1987) is a Latvian professional footballer, currently playing for JDFS Alberts. Club career Skonto Riga Born in Riga, as a youth player Māliņš played for his local club FK Auda, before moving to JFC Sk ...

(

Skonto Riga Skonto FC was a Latvian professional football club, active from 1991 until 2016. The club played at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Skonto won the Virsliga in the first 14 seasons of the league's resumption (15 in total), and often provided the cor ...

) Best defender: Pāvels Mihadjuks ( Liepājas Metalurgs) Best midfielder: Oļegs Laizāns (

) Best forward: Nathan Júnior (

) Best coach: Sergei Podpaly (

) Top scorer: Nathan Júnior (

) ''(22 goals)'' Best young player (U-21): Valērijs Šabala (

) Player of the season: Oļegs Laizāns (

)

Team awards

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

Jelgava Jelgava () is a state city in central Latvia. It is located about southwest of Riga. It is the largest town in the Semigallia region of Latvia. Jelgava was the capital of the united Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1578–1795) and was the ad ...

Fair-play award:

References

External links

Latvian Football Federation

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