# 2008 Latvian Higher League

The 2008 Virslīga season was the 17th Virslīga season. It began on 5 April 2008 with the first round of games and ended on 9 November 2008 with the final matches of the championship and relegation rounds. Ventspils were the defending champions.

## Season details

For the 2008 season the league has expanded to ten clubs, and the fixture format has changed. Due to expansion there was no relegation at the end of the 2007 season, and the top two clubs from the 1. līga 2007 season, champions FK Vindava (from Ventspils), and second placed SK Blāzma (from Rēzekne) were both promoted. From the 2008 season on, the league will be held in two rounds.
In the first round each club played all the other nine clubs twice, home and away starting with Matchday 1 on 5 April and finishing with Matchday 18 on 10 August.
In the second round there were two "mini leagues", with the top six clubs after the First Round, playing each other twice and clubs in 7th to 10th place after the First Round playing each other four times. Second round matches started on 24 August and finished on 9 November.
At the end of the season, the club finishing bottom of the Virslīga were automatically relegated to the 1. līga, and the champions of the 1. līga were automatically promoted, taking the place of the relegated club. The club that finished next to the bottom in the Virslīga play a two-legged playoff for the final place in the Virslīga for the next season with the club that finished second in 1. līga.

## First round
### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Ventspils | 18 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 33 | 6 | +27 | 40 | Qualification for championship round |
| 2 | Skonto | 18 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 28 | 19 | +9 | 36 | Qualification for championship round |
| 3 | Dinaburg | 18 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 22 | 13 | +9 | 32 | Qualification for championship round |
| 4 | Rīga | 18 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 28 | 27 | +1 | 30 | Qualification for championship round |
| 5 | Liepājas Metalurgs | 18 | 7 | 9 | 2 | 27 | 17 | +10 | 30 | Qualification for championship round |
| 6 | Daugava Daugavpils | 18 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 27 | 22 | +5 | 24 | Qualification for championship round |
| 7 | Vindava Ventspils | 18 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 27 | −13 | 17 | Qualification for relegation round |
| 8 | Jūrmala | 18 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 27 | −12 | 16 | Qualification for relegation round |
| 9 | Blāzma Rēzekne | 18 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 8 | 26 | −18 | 10 | Qualification for relegation round |
| 10 | Olimps/RFS | 18 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 12 | 30 | −18 | 9 | Qualification for relegation round |
* 1 2 RĪG 2–2 LIE; LIE 2–2 RĪG

### Results

| Home \ Away | BLĀ | DGD | DIN | JŪR | LIE | RFS | RĪG | SKO | VEN | VIN |
| Blāzma Rēzekne | | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 1–1 |
| FC Daugava Daugavpils | 2–0 | | 0–1 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 3–1 | 6–1 | 1–3 | 1–4 | 1–1 |
| Dinaburg FC | 2–1 | 0–3 | | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 |
| FK Jūrmala | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 |
| SK Liepājas Metalurgs | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 7–2 | | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 2–0 |
| Olimps/RFS | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–3 | | 1–3 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 0–1 |
| FK Rīga | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 3–1 | | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–2 |
| Skonto FC | 1–0 | 3–1 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 1–2 | | 1–0 | 3–0 |
| Ventspils | 3–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | | 1–0 |
| Vindava Ventspils | 2–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–7 | |

## Second round
### Championship round
#### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Ventspils (C) | 28 | 19 | 6 | 3 | 53 | 14 | +39 | 63 | Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round |
| 2 | Liepājas Metalurgs | 28 | 14 | 11 | 3 | 48 | 25 | +23 | 53 | Qualification for Europa League second qualifying round |
| 3 | Skonto | 28 | 15 | 7 | 6 | 43 | 31 | +12 | 52 | Qualification for Europa League second qualifying round |
| 4 | Dinaburg | 28 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 32 | 31 | +1 | 38 | Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round |
| 5 | Daugava Daugavpils | 28 | 10 | 7 | 11 | 40 | 35 | +5 | 37 | |
| 6 | Rīga | 28 | 10 | 3 | 15 | 36 | 55 | −19 | 33 | |
* 1 2 Daugava Daugavpils won the Latvian Football Cup 2008 competition, thereby qualifying for UEFA Europa League 2009–10 second qualification round. However, Daugava Daugavpils merged with Dinaburg, so the Europa League spots were redistributed based on league position.

#### Results

| Home \ Away | DGD | DIN | LIE | RĪG | SKO | VEN |
| FC Daugava Daugavpils | | 2–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 |
| Dinaburg FC | 3–3 | | 0–0 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 0–3 |
| SK Liepājas Metalurgs | 3–1 | 3–1 | | 3–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 |
| FK Rīga | 0–2 | 3–2 | 1–4 | | 1–2 | 0–2 |
| Skonto FC | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 3–1 | | 2–2 |
| Ventspils | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 5–1 | 2–2 | |
* ↑ The match originally finished 0–0, but was eventually awarded with as won by a score of 3–0 to Ventspils because Dinaburg FC fielded player who was not in match protocol.

### Relegation round
#### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Jūrmala | 30 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 35 | 34 | +1 | 40 | |
| 2 | Vindava Ventspils | 30 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 27 | 41 | −14 | 36 | |
| 3 | Blāzma Rēzekne (O) | 30 | 5 | 8 | 17 | 20 | 43 | −23 | 23 | Qualification for relegation play-offs |
| 4 | Olimps/RFS (R) | 30 | 2 | 11 | 17 | 22 | 47 | −25 | 17 | Relegation to Latvian First League |

#### Relegation play-offs

Blāzma Rēzekne, the 9th placed team in the Virslīga, and 1. līga runners-up, Tranzīts Ventspils, competed in a two-legged play-off for a spot in the Virslīga 2009. Blāzma Rēzekne won 6–1 on aggregate and thereby kept their spot in the next season of the Virslīga.

## Topscorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Vits Rimkus (LAT) | FK Ventspils | 14 |
| 2 | Kristaps Grebis (LAT) | FK Liepājas Metalurgs | 13 |
| 2 | Oļegs Malašenoks (LAT) | FK Jūrmala | 13 |
| 4 | Andrejs Butriks (LAT) | FK Ventspils | 11 |
| 5 | Mikalay Ryndzyuk (BLR) | Dinaburg FC | 9 |
| 5 | Vladimir Dvalishvili (GEO) | Skonto FC | 9 |