2017 Latvian Higher League

The 2017 Latvian Higher League is the 26th season of top-tier football in Latvia. Spartaks Jūrmala are the defending champions, having won their first title in the previous season.

Latvian Higher League
Season2017
Dates10 March – 4 November 2017
ChampionsSpartaks Jūrmala
Champions LeagueSpartaks Jūrmala
Europa LeagueLiepāja
Riga
Ventspils
Matches played84
Goals scored200 (2.38 per match)
Biggest home winVentspils 4–0 Spartaks
Riga 4–0 METTA/LU
Biggest away winJelgava 0–3 Riga
Spartaks 0–3 Ventspils
METTA/LU 2–5 Liepāja
Highest scoringMETTA/LU 2–5 Liepāja
← 2016
2018 →

Teams
Locations of the 2017 Latvian Higher League teams

The bottom-placed team from the 2016 season, BFC Daugavpils, were directly relegated to the 2017 Latvian First League. They were replaced by Babīte, champions of the 2016 Latvian First League.

The seventh-placed team from the 2016 season, FS METTA/LU, retained their top-flight spot for the 2017 season by defeating 2016 First League runners-up, AFA Olaine in the play-offs.

Babīte was removed from the league on 22 June 2017 after the Latvian Football Federation received a notice from UEFA's Betting Fraud Detection System for 6 separate games involving Babīte.[1] All the results for Babīte games were invalidated and do not count for the standings.

Club Location Stadium Capacity
Babīte Piņķi Piņķu stadions 500
Jelgava Jelgava Olympic Sports Center of Zemgale 1,560
Liepāja Liepāja Daugava Stadium 5,008
Metta/LU Riga Hanzas vidusskolas laukums 2,000
RFS Riga Stadions Arkādija 1,000
Riga Riga Skonto Stadium 8,207
Spartaks Jūrmala Jūrmala Slokas Stadium 2,800
Ventspils Ventspils Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions 3,044

Source: Scoresway

Kits manufacturer and sponsors
Club Kit manufacturer Sponsor
SK Babīte Joma
FK Jelgava Nike Igate
FK Liepāja Adidas Mogo
FS Metta/LU Nike
Riga FC Jako
Rīgas Futbola skola Nike LNK Group
FK Spartaks Jūrmala Nike Hanseatisches Fußball Kontor
FK Ventspils Adidas VK Tranzīts

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Spartaks Jūrmala (C) 24 14 4 6 36 26 +10 46 Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2 Liepāja 24 11 4 9 32 25 +7 37[lower-alpha 1] Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round[lower-alpha 2]
3 Riga 24 10 7 7 28 20 +8 37[lower-alpha 1]
4 Ventspils 24 9 8 7 32 22 +10 35[lower-alpha 3]
5 RFS 24 11 2 11 29 31 −2 35[lower-alpha 3]
6 Jelgava 24 8 5 11 22 30 −8 29
7 METTA/LU (O) 24 3 6 15 21 46 −25 15 Qualification for the relegation play-offs
8 Babīte (D) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Excluded from league[lower-alpha 4]
Source: Virslīga (in Latvian), 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.[3][4]
(C) Champion; (D) Disqualified; (O) Play-off winner.
Notes:
  1. Liepāja is ahead of Riga on head-to-head goal difference: Liepāja +1, Riga -1.
  2. Liepāja qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round by winning the 2017 Latvian Football Cup.
  3. Ventspils is ahead of RFS on overall goal difference.
  4. Babīte were excluded from the league for match fixing.[2]

Results

Each team will play the other seven teams home-and-away twice, for a total of 28 games each.

Relegation play-offs

The seventh-placed side faced the runners-up of the 2017 Latvian First League in a two-legged play-off, with the winner being awarded a spot in the 2018 Higher League competition.

16 November 2017 1st legProgress/AFA Olaine1–1 METTA/LU Olaine
Asgarov  21' Report Emsis  7'
20 November 2017 2nd leg METTA/LU 3–1
(4–2 agg.)		Progress/AFA OlaineRiga
Emsis  3'
Fjodorovs  12', 32'		 Report Asgarov  90' Stadium: Hanzas vidusskolas laukums

Season statistics

Top scorers
As of 4 November 2017[5]
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Yevgeni Kozlov Spartaks Jūrmala 13
2 Artūrs Karašausks Liepāja 12
3 Adeleke Akinyemi Ventspils 10
4 Tosin Aiyegun Ventspils 9
5 Bogdan Vaštšuk Riga 8
6 Mārcis Ošs Jelgava 7
Daniils Ulimbaševs RFS
8 Kristaps Grebis Liepāja 6
Ģirts Karlsons Liepāja
Edgars Gauračs Spartaks Jūrmala

References
  1. ""Babīte / Dynamo" excluded from the Higher League" (in Latvian). SportaCentrs. 22 June 2017.
  2. "SK Babīte/Dinamo tiek izslēgta no Virslīgas čempionāta" (in Latvian). LFF. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
  3. "2017. GADA LATVIJAS VIRSLĪGAS FUTBOLA ČEMPIONĀTA REGLAMENTS" (PDF) (in Latvian). Latvian Football Federation. 29 November 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 July 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  4. "Virslīga 2017 - Season rules". Scoresway. Archived from the original on 28 March 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  5. "Latvian First Division - Top scorers". uefa.com. UEFA. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
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