2020 Latvian Higher League

The 2020 Latvian Higher League , known as the Optibet Virslīga for sponsorship reasons, was the 29th season of top-tier football in Latvia. The season began on 15 June 2020 and ended on 29 November 2020.^[1] The league winners earned a place in the UEFA Champions League and the second and third-placed clubs earned a place in the new UEFA Europa Conference League.^[2]

Latvian Higher League

Season	2020
Dates	15 June 2020 – 29 November 2020
Champions	Riga
Relegated	Tukums
Champions League	Riga
Conference League	RFS Valmiera Liepāja
Matches played	135
Goals scored	415 (3.07 per match)
Top goalscorer	Dodô (18 goals)
Biggest home win	Spartaks Jūrmala 7–0 Jelgava (26 November 2020)
Biggest away win	Jelgava 0–7 Liepāja (29 November 2020)
Highest scoring	Liepāja 2–5 RFS (30 June 2020) RFS 5–2 Valmiera (29 July 2020) Riga 5–2 Tukums (23 August 2020) Spartaks Jūrmala 7–0 Jelgava (26 November 2020) Jelgava 0–7 Liepāja (29 November 2020)
Longest winning run	14 matches Riga
Longest unbeaten run	14 matches Riga
Longest winless run	20 matches Tukums
Longest losing run	6 matches Tukums
← 2019 2021 → All statistics correct as of 29 November 2020.

Riga were the defending champions after winning the league the previous season.^[3]

Teams

The nine clubs from the previous season remained in the league and Tukums joined as champions of 1.Liga.^[4]

Riga

Valmieras FK

Jelgava

Liepāja

Spartaks

Ventspils

Daugavpils

Tukums

Riga teams:
METTA/LU
RFS
Riga

Locations of the 2020 Latvian Higher League teams

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Riga (C)	27	23	0	4	60	21	+39	69	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Rīgas FS	27	21	3	3	66	21	+45	66	Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round
3	Valmiera/BSS	27	13	8	6	47	33	+14	47
4	Ventspils	27	12	8	7	40	25	+15	44
5	Liepāja	27	12	6	9	57	34	+23	42	Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round[a]
6	Spartaks Jūrmala	27	11	7	9	53	44	+9	40
7	Jelgava	27	6	4	17	19	64	−45	22
8	Daugavpils	27	5	5	17	30	48	−18	20
9	Metta/LU	27	4	4	19	22	55	−33	16
10	Tukums (R)	27	3	5	19	21	70	−49	14	Relegation to the Latvian First League

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Goal difference; 5) Goals scored; 6) Fair-play ranking; 7) Play-off.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Liepāja qualified for the Europa Conference League as the 2020 Latvian Football Cup winners.

Results

Rounds 1–18

Rounds 1–18

Home \ Away	DAU	JEL	LIE	MLU	RIG	RFS	SPJ	TUK	VAL	VEN
Daugavpils		0–0	0–2	4–2	0–1	2–3	0–2	1–1	0–2	3–1
Jelgava	1–0		1–5	2–2	0–3	0–4	2–3	2–1	1–2	1–0
Liepāja	1–1	3–1		3–0	1–4	2–5	3–2	2–2	0–1	1–1
Metta / LU	1–4	1–0	2–1		0–3	0–1	1–2	2–0	2–2	1–2
Riga	3–1	3–0	2–0	2–0		0–2	4–2	5–2	2–0	1–0
Rīgas FS	2–1	1–0	3–0	5–1	1–2		4–1	3–0	5–2	1–0
Spartaks Jūrmala	3–3	4–1	2–2	2–0	2–1	1–1		1–1	2–3	1–3
Tukums	0–6	1–2	0–5	1–3	1–5	0–3	0–2		2–3	0–0
Valmiera / BSS	3–0	2–0	1–1	1–0	0–1	0–4	2–2	2–0		3–0
Ventspils	2–0	5–0	2–1	0–0	0–2	3–2	1–1	3–0	2–2

Source: soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Rounds 19–27

Rounds 19–27

Home \ Away	DAU	JEL	LIE	MLU	RIG	RFS	SPJ	TUK	VAL	VEN
Daugavpils			0–4	1–0		1–2	1–3			0–0
Jelgava	2–0		0–7		0–2				2–2	0–5
Liepāja				3–0		1–0	0–1	5–0	1–1
Metta / LU		0–1				0–3	1–1		1–2
Riga	2–0		2–1	5–1					1–0	0–3
Rīgas FS		1–0			3–0		2–1			1–1
Spartaks Jūrmala		7–0			1–2			2–4		1–2
Tukums	2–1	0–0		3–1	0–2	0–2
Valmiera / BSS	3–0					2–2	0–1	5–0
Ventspils			0–2	1–0				2–0	1–1

Source: soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Statistics

Top scorers

As of matches played 29 November 2020^[5]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Dodô	Liepāja	18
2	Tolu Arokodare	Valmiera	15
	Nemanja Belaković	Spartaks
4	Kule Mbombo	Riga	12
5	Yevgeni Kozlov	Ventspils	11
	Raimonds Krollis	METTA/LU
7	Chinonso Offor	Daugavpils RFS	10
	Emerson Deocleciano	RFS
9	Artūrs Karašausks	Liepāja	9
10	Alain Kouadio	RFS	8
	Tomáš Šimkovič	RFS
	Kaspars Svārups	Ventspils