2025 Latvian Higher League

Latvian Higher League
Season2025
Dates5 March 2025 – 9 November 2025[1]
ChampionsRiga (4th title)
RelegatedMetta
Champions LeagueRiga
Conference LeagueRFS
Liepāja
Auda
Matches180
Goals534 (2.97 per match)
Top goalscorerDarko Lemajić (28 goals)
Biggest home winRFS 6–0 Grobiņa
(31 May 2025)
Riga 6–0 Auda
(13 September 2025)
Biggest away winDaugavpils 1–7 RFS
(30 June 2025)
Highest scoringDaugavpils 1–7 RFS
(30 June 2025)
RFS 6–2 Tukums 2000
(26 July 2025)
Riga 2–6 Super Nova
(30 August 2025)
Longest winning run15 matches
Riga
Longest unbeaten run31 matches
Riga
Longest winless run16 matches
Metta
Longest losing run4 matches
Auda
Jelgava
Tukums 2000
Super Nova
Grobiņa
Metta
Highest attendance5,062
Riga 3–1 RFS
(18 June 2025)
Lowest attendance76
Liepāja 2–2 Jelgava
(25 October 2025)
Total attendance78,892
Average attendance438
← 2024
2026 →

The 2025 Latvian Higher League, known as the TonyBet Virslīga for sponsorship reasons, was the 34th season of top-tier football in Latvia. The season began on 5 March 2025 and ended in November 2025 (not including play-off matches).

Teams

Locations of the 2025 Latvian Higher League teams
Locations of the 2025 teams from Riga

The league consisted of ten teams; the top nine clubs from the previous season, and one team promoted from the Latvian First League. RFS entered the season as defending champions (for the second consecutive season).

The promoted team was 2024 Latvian First League champions Super Nova (returning to the top flight after a single-season absence). They replaced the 2024 Latvian Higher League fourth-placed team Valmiera, who were disqualified from the last campaign and left the division after seven seasons in the top flight due to being refused a Latvian Higher League license.[2][3][4]

2025 Virslīga competitors

Club Seasons
in Virsliga 		2024 position Stadium Capacity
Auda 7th 3rd Skonto Stadium 6,747
Daugavpils 10th 5th Esplanādes stadions 575
Grobiņa 2nd 9th Daugava Stadium (Liepāja) 4,022
FS Jelgava 3rd 10th Zemgale Olympic Center 1,560
Liepāja 12th 6th Daugava Stadium (Liepāja) 4,022
Metta 14th 7th Sloka Stadium 2,500
RFS 10th 1st LNK Sporta Parks 1,700
Riga 10th 2nd Skonto Stadium 6,747
Super Nova 3rd 1st in Latvian First League Jānis Skredelis' Stadium 396
Tukums 2000 5th 8th Tukuma Pilsētas Stadions 425

Personnel

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 Head coach Captain
Auda Jurģis Kalns Kemehlo Nguena
Daugavpils Kirils Kurbatovs Edgars Ivanovs
Grobiņa Viktors Dobrecovs Dāvids Družiņins
Jelgava Aleksandrs Basovs Armands Pētersons
Liepāja Andreas Alm Danijel Petković
Metta Andris Riherts Kārlis Vilnis
RFS Viktors Morozs Žiga Lipušček
Riga Adrián Guľa Antonijs Černomordijs
Super Nova Ervīns Pērkons Dāvis Vējkrīgers
Tukums 2000 Kristaps Dišlers Bogdans Samoilovs

Managerial changes

Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Liepāja Tamaz Pertia Sacked 7 January 2025 Pre-season Dino Skender[5] 7 January 2025
Auda Zoran Zeljković[6] 7 January 2025 Aleksandre Rekhviashvili (interim)[7] 8 January 2025
Riga Mareks Zuntners (interim)[8] End of interim spell 14 January 2025 Adrián Guľa[8] 14 January 2025
Auda Aleksandre Rekhviashvili (interim)[9] 9 February 2025 Jurģis Kalns[9] 9 February 2025
Liepāja Dino Skender[10] Sacked 6 April 2025 5th Jānis Goba (interim)[10] 6 April 2025

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Riga (C) 36 27 7 2 85 26 +59 88 Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2 RFS 36 28 3 5 100 39 +61 87 Qualification for the Conference League first qualifying round
3 Liepāja 36 18 7 11 59 55 +4 61
4 Daugavpils 36 13 9 14 52 62 −10 48
5 Auda 36 13 6 17 44 49 −5 45 Qualification for the Conference League second qualifying round[a]
6 Jelgava 36 8 14 14 39 46 −7 38
7 Tukums 2000 36 9 9 18 39 63 −24 36
8 Super Nova 36 6 14 16 44 56 −12 32
9 Grobiņa (O) 36 8 8 20 33 64 −31 32 Qualification for the Latvian Higher League play-off
10 Metta (R) 36 8 7 21 39 74 −35 31 Relegation to Latvian First League
Source: LFF, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference; 6) Goals scored; 7) Play-off.[11]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ The 2025 Latvian Football Cup winners (Auda) qualify for the Conference League second qualifying round.

Results

Teams play each other four times (twice at home and twice away).

Home \ Away AUD DAU GRO JEL LIE MLU RFS RIG SNO TUK AUD DAU GRO JEL LIE MLU RFS RIG SNO TUK
Auda 1–1 2–0 2–0 3–0 4–1 1–2 1–3 1–0 2–0 1–3 1–0 2–0 1–2 0–1 0–1 1–3 3–2 0–1
Daugavpils 2–1 3–2 1–0 4–2 2–0 1–2 0–1 1–1 3–0 1–0 3–2 2–0 1–2 4–2 1–7 0–1 2–2 1–2
Grobiņa 1–2 3–2 1–1 2–0 2–4 1–4 0–2 1–1 2–0 2–2 1–0 3–2 0–1 0–1 2–3 1–1 0–0 1–0
Jelgava 3–1 4–1 1–0 0–1 2–1 2–2 1–1 2–1 2–1 1–1 0–0 0–1 1–2 2–2 0–1 2–3 1–0 1–1
Liepāja 0–0 1–1 4–1 1–0 4–0 2–1 2–5 2–2 0–0 2–0 2–1 2–0 2–2 1–0 2–2 2–3 0–3 4–1
Metta 0–1 2–2 1–1 0–0 2–3 1–0 0–3 0–2 3–2 3–2 3–1 0–1 2–2 1–2 0–4 0–1 2–1 0–3
RFS 1–0 5–1 6–0 1–0 4–1 2–0 0–1 2–1 2–0 1–0 5–1 5–0 1–4 2–1 5–1 0–0 4–1 6–2
Riga 2–2 1–2 3–0 2–0 2–0 1–1 3–1 2–0 3–0 6–0 1–1 2–0 3–0 3–0 3–2 3–4 2–0 0–0
Super Nova 1–1 4–1 1–1 0–0 1–3 4–0 1–2 1–5 1–1 0–1 1–1 0–0 1–1 3–0 1–1 1–3 2–6 1–0
Tukums 2000 2–4 0–0 2–0 1–1 2–2 2–0 2–5 0–3 2–2 1–0 0–1 2–1 1–1 1–3 3–2 2–4 0–1 2–1
Source: LFF
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Latvian Higher League play-off

The ninth-placed team (Grobiņa) will face the second-placed team of the 2025 Latvian First League (JDFS Alberts) in a two-legged play-off for the final place in the 2026 Latvian Higher League.

First leg

20 November 2025 Grobiņa 0–0 JDFS Alberts Liepāja
18:00 Report Stadium: Stadions "Daugava", rezerves laukums
Attendance: 147
Referee: Aleksejs Griščenko

Second leg

23 November 2025 JDFS Alberts 0–1 Grobiņa Riga
14:00  26' Matvii Marusii
 62' Matīss Zēģele		 Report Devids Dobrecovs
45' Aleksejs Grjaznovs		 Stadium: RTU stadions
Attendance: 325
Referee: Andris Treimanis

Grobiņa won 1–0 on aggregate

Statistics

Top scorers

Rank Player Club Goals[12]
1 Darko Lemajić RFS 28
2 Djibril Guèye Liepāja 19
Jānis Ikaunieks RFS
4 Ingars Pūlis Tukums 2000 18
5 Marko Regža Riga 16
6 Reginaldo Ramires 14
7 Kingsley Emenike Jelgava 10
Kemelho Nguena Auda
9 Anthony Contreras Riga 9
Mor Talla RFS
Stefan Panić

Hat-tricks

Player For Against Result Date
Darko Lemajić RFS Daugavpils 5–1 (H)[13] 9 May 2025
Kemelho Nguena Auda Tukums 2000 4–2 (A)[14] 13 June 2025
Darko Lemajić RFS 6–2 (H)[15] 26 July 2025

Clean sheets

Rank Player Club Clean sheets[16]
1 Krišjānis Zviedris Riga 20
2 Danijel Petković Liepāja 9
3 Jānis Beks Daugavpils 8
4 Frenks Orols Grobiņa (4) / Super Nova (3) 7
Rihards Matrevics Auda
6 Raivo Stūriņš Tukums 2000 5
Ņikita Parfjonovs Tukums 2000 (3) / Metta (2)
Adam Dvořák Jelgava
9 Sergejs Vilkovs RFS 4
Ņikita Pinčuks Grobiņa

Discipline

Player

  • Most yellow cards: 16
    • Kaspars Anmanis (Tukums 2000)
  • Most red cards: 2

Club

  • Most red cards: 6
    • Auda
    • Tukums 2000
    • Grobiņa
  • Most yellow cards: 107
    • Grobiņa

Attendances

# Club Average[16]
1 Rīga 1,173
2 RFS 744
3 Liepāja 461
4 Grobiņa 355
5 Daugavpils 318
6 Auda 291
7 Jelgava 290
8 Super Nova 259
9 Tukums 258
10 Metta 213


References

  1. ^ "Kalendārs 2025" (in Latvian). 10 February 2025. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  2. ^ "2024. gada sezona" (in Latvian). 14 January 2025. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
  3. ^ "Valmiera booted from top Latvian football league over financial affairs". eng.lsm.lv. 2025-01-29. Retrieved 2025-02-14.
  4. ^ ""Valmiera FC" neizpilda kritērijus; virslīgas licence piešķirta FS "Jelgava"" (in Latvian). 16 January 2025. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  5. ^ "Dino Skenders – FK Liepāja galvenais treneris" (in Latvian). 7 January 2025. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  6. ^ "Zeļkovičs un asistenti darbu neturpinās" (in Latvian). 7 January 2025. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  7. ^ "Pirmssezonu sākam kopā ar Aleksandru Rehviašvili" (in Latvian). 8 January 2025. Retrieved 8 January 2025.
  8. ^ a b "Adrians Gula – Riga Football Club galvenais treneris" (in Latvian). 14 January 2025. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
  9. ^ a b "FK Auda turpmāk vadīs Jurģis Kalns" (in Latvian). 9 February 2025. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  10. ^ a b "Pirmā treneru maiņa – Liepājas vēji horvātu aizpūš jau aprīļa sākumā" (in Latvian). 6 April 2025. Retrieved 6 April 2025.
  11. ^ "2025.gada Latvijas Virslīgas futbola čempionāta reglaments" (PDF) (in Latvian). Latvian Football Federation. 18 December 2024. Retrieved 8 March 2025.
  12. ^ "Virslīga Labākie vārtu guvēji" (in Latvian). Latvian Football Association. Retrieved 9 November 2025.
  13. ^ "FC RFS 5–1 BFC Daugavpils" (in Latvian). Latvian Football Association. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
  14. ^ "FK Tukums 2000 2–4 FK Auda" (in Latvian). Latvian Football Association. Retrieved 13 June 2025.
  15. ^ "FC RFS 6–2 FK Tukums 2000" (in Latvian). Latvian Football Association. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  16. ^ a b "Virslīga" (in Latvian). Latvian Football Association. Retrieved 9 November 2025.
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