2012 Latvian Higher League

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.

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 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

Metalurgs

Jūrmala
Spartaks

Jelgava

Daugava

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 were 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 the games and future events connected to Latvian football. It's transmitted via Sportacentrs TV.^[8]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Daugava Daugavpils (C)	36	23	9	4	64	25	+39	78	Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round
2	Skonto	36	21	11	4	58	22	+36	74	Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round
3	Ventspils	36	23	5	8	63	22	+41	74	Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round[a]
4	Liepājas Metalurgs	36	21	7	8	60	33	+27	70	Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round
5	Spartaks Jūrmala	36	13	10	13	61	56	+5	49
6	Jūrmala	36	10	9	17	47	49	−2	39
7	Jelgava	36	7	10	19	32	56	−24	31
8	METTA/LU	36	7	8	21	39	82	−43	29
9	Daugava Rīga (O)	36	5	12	19	42	79	−37	27	Qualification for relegation play-offs
10	FB Gulbene (R)	36	5	9	22	28	70	−42	24	Relegation to 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
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Winners of the 2012–13 Latvian Football Cup.

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	1–0	BFC Daugava
Broders 54'	Report

14 November 2012

18:00

Daugava Stadium, Riga

Referee: Aleksandrs Golubevs

---

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

18 November 2012

14:00

Daugava Stadium, Daugavpils

Referee: Andris Treimanis

Results

First half of season Home \ Away DGD GUL JEL FCJ DGR LIE MLU SKO SPJ VEN FC Daugava Daugavpils 3–0 2–0 2–0 3–1 0–0 2–0 1–1 1–0 3–0 FB Gulbene 0–2 1–2 2–0 0–0 1–1 5–1 0–1 0–3 0–5 Jelgava 1–2 0–1 0–2 3–4 0–2 1–4 1–2 1–3 0–2 FC Jūrmala 6–1 2–2 0–0 1–1 0–2 0–0 3–3 0–1 1–2 FK Daugava Rīga 0–4 2–2 1–0 1–1 1–3 1–0 1–1 1–2 1–4 SK Liepājas Metalurgs 2–0 0–1 1–1 2–0 1–0 3–2 0–1 1–2 0–0 METTA/LU 1–1 0–0 1–1 0–2 0–3 4–1 1–2 2–1 1–6 Skonto FC 3–0 4–1 2–3 1–0 1–0 0–1 5–0 1–0 1–0 Spartaks Jūrmala 2–2 3–1 2–0 0–0 2–2 2–2 3–1 2–2 2–0 Ventspils 1–2 3–0 0–1 1–1 2–0 0–3 1–0 0–0 3–2 Source: Latvian Higher League Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season Home \ Away DGD GUL JEL FCJ DGR LIE MLU SKO SPJ VEN FC Daugava Daugavpils 1–0 0–0 2–0 3–0 0–0 1–0 0–0 3–2 0–0 FB Gulbene 1–3 0–1 0–1 2–1 1–3 0–3 0–4 0–1 1–2 Jelgava 0–2 0–0 1–3 2–2 1–2 1–1 1–1 3–2 0–1 FC Jūrmala 2–4 4–0 3–1 2–3 0–2 3–0 0–0 0–3 0–1 Daugava Rīga 0–3 1–1 1–2 1–2 3–3 1–1 1–3 2–5 0–4 SK Liepājas Metalurgs 1–3 3–1 2–0 3–2 4–0 4–1 1–0 2–1 1–0 METTA/LU 0–5 1–1 1–3 0–3 4–3 1–0 1–2 3–3 0–2 Skonto FC 0–0 3–1 2–0 1–0 1–1 3–1 5–0 0–0 1–0 Spartaks Jūrmala 0–3 2–2 1–1 4–2 2–2 0–3 3–4 0–1 0–3 Ventspils 1–0 4–0 0–0 2–1 5–0 1–0 4–0 1–0 2–0 Source: Latvian Higher League Legend: 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
	Daniils Turkovs	FK Ventspils
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

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

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

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

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