# 1996 Latvian Higher League

The 1996 season in the Latvian Higher League, named Virslīga, was the sixth domestic competition since the Baltic nation gained independence from the Soviet Union on 6 September 1991. Tenth teams competed in this edition, with Skonto FC claiming the title.

## First round

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Skonto | 18 | 15 | 2 | 1 | 74 | 9 | +65 | 47 | Qualification for championship group |
| 2 | Daugava Rīga | 18 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 41 | 11 | +30 | 43 | Qualification for championship group |
| 3 | Dinaburg | 18 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 30 | 19 | +11 | 32 | Qualification for championship group |
| 4 | Baltika Liepāja | 18 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 23 | 21 | +2 | 28 | Qualification for championship group |
| 5 | Universitāte | 18 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 24 | 29 | −5 | 26 | Qualification for championship group |
| 6 | Starts | 18 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 20 | 35 | −15 | 20 | Qualification for championship group |
| 7 | Vairogs | 18 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 19 | 32 | −13 | 18 | Qualification for relegation group |
| 8 | Lokomotīve | 18 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 18 | 31 | −13 | 17 | Qualification for relegation group |
| 9 | Skonto/Metāls | 18 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 9 | 38 | −29 | 9 | Qualification for relegation group |
| 10 | Jūrnieks | 18 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 11 | 44 | −33 | 9 | Qualification for relegation group |

### Match table

| Home \ Away | BAL | DAU | DIN | JŪR | LOK | SKO | SKM | STA | UNI | VAI |
| Baltika Liepāja | | 0–1 | 0–3 | 4–0 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 3–1 |
| Daugava Rīga | 1–1 | | 2–2 | 7–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 |
| Dinaburg | 1–1 | 1–2 | | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–4 | 1–2 | 5–0 | 0–0 | 4–0 |
| Jūrnieks | 2–2 | 0–3 | 0–0 | | 1–1 | 0–4 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 4–4 | 0–2 |
| Lokomotīve | 1–2 | 1–5 | 0–1 | 2–1 | | 0–5 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Skonto | 5–0 | 3–3 | 7–0 | 5–0 | 3–2 | | 4–1 | 4–0 | 11–1 | 6–0 |
| Skonto/Metāls | 0–2 | 0–4 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–5 | | 2–2 | 1–2 | 0–3 |
| Starts | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–4 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | | 0–2 | 3–6 |
| Universitāte | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 0–1 | | 0–3 |
| Vairogs | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–5 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 | |

## Second round
### Championship group

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Skonto (C) | 28 | 23 | 4 | 1 | 98 | 12 | +86 | 73 | Qualification for Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Daugava Rīga | 28 | 18 | 7 | 3 | 61 | 18 | +43 | 61 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first qualifying round |
| 3 | Dinaburg | 28 | 13 | 8 | 7 | 53 | 31 | +22 | 47 | Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round |
| 4 | Universitāte | 28 | 11 | 6 | 11 | 37 | 45 | −8 | 39 | Qualification for Intertoto Cup group stage |
| 5 | Baltika Liepāja | 28 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 32 | 44 | −12 | 38 | |
| 6 | Starts (R) | 28 | 6 | 5 | 17 | 26 | 69 | −43 | 23 | Dissolved after the season |

#### Match table

| Home \ Away | BAL | DAU | DIN | SKO | STA | UNI |
| Baltika Liepāja | | 0–5 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 0–4 |
| Daugava Rīga | 3–1 | | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 0–1 |
| Dinaburg | 3–0 | 1–1 | | 1–1 | 7–0 | 2–1 |
| Skonto | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | | 4–0 | 6–0 |
| Starts | 0–1 | 1–4 | 2–8 | 0–2 | | 1–0 |
| Universitāte | 2–2 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | |

### Relegation group

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Relegation |
| 7 | Lokomotīve | 30 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 38 | 45 | −7 | 39 | |
| 8 | Vairogs | 30 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 37 | 54 | −17 | 33 | |
| 9 | Skonto/Metāls (R) | 30 | 7 | 6 | 17 | 25 | 53 | −28 | 27 | Qualification for relegation play-offs |
| 10 | Jūrnieks (R) | 30 | 4 | 8 | 18 | 25 | 61 | −36 | 20 | Relegation to Latvian First League |

#### Match table

Matches 19–24 :
| Matches 19–24 Home \ Away JŪR LOK SKM VAI Jūrnieks 0–2 0–2 2–3 Lokomotīve 2–1 1–1 1–2 Skonto/Metāls 0–1 1–4 1–2 Vairogs 1–1 1–1 2–1 Source: Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. | Matches 25–30 Home \ Away JŪR LOK SKM VAI Jūrnieks 1–2 1–2 5–1 Lokomotīve 1–0 0–2 3–2 Skonto/Metāls 0–0 2–2 3–2 Vairogs 1–2 1–1 0–1 Source: Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. |

## Relegation play-offs

The matches were played on 29 October and 3 November 1996.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Skonto/Metāls | 1–2 | Valmiera | 1–0 | 0–2 |

## Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Mihails Miholaps (LAT) | FK Daugava Rīga | 33 |
| 2 | Aleksandr Pindeyev (UKR) | Skonto FC | 17 |
| 3 | Vladimirs Babičevs (LAT) | Skonto FC | 16 |
| 3 | Juris Karašausks (LAT) | Dinaburg FC | 16 |
| 5 | Aleksandrs Fedotovs (LAT) | Dinaburg FC | 13 |

## Awards

| Best | Name | Team |
| Goalkeeper | Raimonds Laizāns (LAT) | Skonto FC |
| Defender | Jurijs Ševļakovs (LAT) | Skonto FC |
| Midfielder | Vitālijs Astafjevs (LAT) | Skonto FC |
| Forward | Mihails Miholaps (LAT) | FK Daugava Rīga |

## Skonto FC 1996

| Pos | Name | Birthdate | P | | | |
| MF | Vitālijs Astafjevs | 03.04.1971 | 18 | 12 | 1 | - |
| MF | Vladimirs Babičevs | 22.04.1968 | 25 | 16 | 3 | - |
| - | Vladlen Bausev | 03.03.1967 | 10 | 3 | - | - |
| DF | Oļegs Blagonadeždins | 16.05.1973 | 23 | 1 | - | - |
| MF | Imants Bleidelis | 16.08.1975 | 20 | 3 | - | - |
| - | Konstantin Ivanov | 10.05.1964 | 6 | - | - | - |
| MF | Valērijs Ivanovs | 23.02.1970 | 27 | 3 | 2 | - |
| FW | Aleksandrs Jelisejevs | 11.08.1971 | 15 | 10 | 1 | - |
| GK | Aleksandrs Koļiņko | 18.06.1975 | 9 | –3 | 1 | - |
| GK | Raimonds Laizāns | 05.08.1964 | 19 | –9 | 1 | - |
| - | Vsevolods Līdaks | 22.10.1977 | 6 | 1 | - | - |
| - | Valentins Lobaņovs | 23.10.1971 | 19 | 3 | 2 | - |
| DF | Boriss Monjaks | 11.04.1970 | 10 | - | - | - |
| FW | Marians Pahars | 05.08.1976 | 28 | 12 | 2 | - |
| - | Aleksandr Pindejev | 03.03.1971 | 26 | 17 | 5 | - |
| - | Igors Stepanovs | 21.01.1976 | 22 | 2 | 3 | - |
| DF | Jurijs Ševļakovs | 24.01.1959 | 24 | 1 | 5 | - |
| FW | Andrejs Štolcers | 08.07.1974 | 26 | 6 | 3 | - |
| DF | Igors Troickis | 11.01.1969 | 26 | 3 | 4 | - |
| DF | Mihails Zemļinskis | 21.12.1969 | 24 | 4 | 3 | - |
| Manager: Aleksandrs Starkovs |||||||