2011 Latvian Higher League

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. However, before this playoff took place, Tranzit informed the Latvian Football Federation 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.

League table

Updated to games played on 5 November 2011.
Source: Latvian Football Federation (Latvian)
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
¹The winners of the 2011–12 Latvian Football Cup competition (Skonto Riga) qualified for the second qualifying round of UEFA Europa League.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

First half of season

Source: Latvian Football Federation (Latvian)
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
²Match took place in Daugavpils. Placed as a Gulbene home match for organizational purposes.
³This match originally ended 1-1. However, it was awarded to Ventspils as an 0-3 win because Daugava fielded an inelligible player.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season

Updated to games played on 5 November 2011.
Source: Latvian Football Federation (Latvian)
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
²This match was cancelled and awarded to Daugava 0-3 due to Jurmala-VV being unable to field a team for the match.
³Match took place in Gulbene. Placed as a Daugava home match for organizational purposes.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

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 (Latvian)

Team of the Tournament

sportacentrs.com version:

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Latvian Football Federation version:

Individual nominations

Players selected by sportacentrs.com:

Best foreign player: Daniel Ola (Jūrmala)

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

Best coach: Tamaz Pertia (Daugava Daugavpils/ Olimps/RFS)

Surprise of the season: Oļegs Laizāns (Ventspils)

Player of the season: Jurģis Kalns (Liepājas Metalurgs)

Players selected by LFF:

Best goalkeeper: Germans Māliņš (Skonto Riga)

Best defender: Pāvels Mihadjuks (Liepājas Metalurgs)

Best midfielder: Oļegs Laizāns (Ventspils)

Best forward: Nathan Júnior (Skonto Riga)

Best coach: Sergei Podpaly (Ventspils)

Top scorer: Nathan Júnior (Skonto Riga) (22 goals)

Best young player (U-21): Valērijs Šabala (Skonto Riga)

Player of the season: Oļegs Laizāns (Ventspils)

Team awards

Players selected by LFF:

Best match organization:Jelgava

Fair-play award:Gulbene