# 2021 Latvian Higher League

The 2021 Latvian Higher League, known as the Optibet Virslīga for sponsorship reasons, is the 30th season of top-tier football in Latvia. The season began on 13 March 2021 and ended 6 November 2021. RFS are the league champions and earned a place in the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League while the second, third and fourth-placed clubs earned a place in the 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League.
Riga were the defending champions after winning the league for a third consecutive season.

## Teams

The league consists of 8 clubs from the previous season, joined by Noah Jurmala as champions of the 2020 Latvian First League. Tukums (relegated after one year in the top flight) were relegated after finishing last in the previous season and declined to apply for a license. Meanwhile, Jelgava did not receive a licence and will not take part in this year's tournament.
On 19 June 2021, Ventspils withdrew from the remainder of the season and was dissloved later on.
On 23 July 2021, Noah Jurmala withdrew from the league, remaining matches were 3–0 forfeits.

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | RFS (C) | 28 | 20 | 6 | 2 | 65 | 22 | +43 | 66 | Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Valmiera | 28 | 19 | 5 | 4 | 54 | 19 | +35 | 62 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League second qualifying round |
| 3 | Liepāja | 28 | 16 | 3 | 9 | 47 | 26 | +21 | 51 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round |
| 4 | Riga | 28 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 54 | 26 | +28 | 50 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round |
| 5 | Spartaks Jūrmala | 28 | 11 | 2 | 15 | 40 | 41 | −1 | 35 | |
| 6 | Daugavpils | 28 | 9 | 5 | 14 | 37 | 53 | −16 | 32 | |
| 7 | Metta | 28 | 5 | 5 | 18 | 33 | 55 | −22 | 20 | |
| 8 | Noah Jurmala | 28 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 8 | 96 | −88 | 3 | Withdrew from league |
| 9 | Ventspils | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Withdrew from league |

## Fixtures and results
### Rounds 1–18

Rounds 1–18 :
| Home \ Away | DAU | LIE | MLU | NOA | RIG | RFS | SPJ | VAL |
| Daugavpils | | 0–1 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 1–2 |
| Liepāja | 0–0 | | 4–1 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–2 |
| Metta/LU | 0–1 | 0–3 | | 7–0 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| Noah Jurmala | 1–4 | 0–5 | 0–3 | | 0–7 | 0–3 | 0–5 | 0–3 |
| Riga | 4–0 | 4–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | | 0–3 | 6–1 | 1–0 |
| RFS | 2–1 | 4–0 | 3–0 | 4–2 | 3–1 | | 1–0 | 2–3 |
| Spartaks Jūrmala | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 5–2 | 2–3 | 0–1 | | 1–0 |
| Valmiera | 2–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | |
| Ventspils | | | | | | | | |

### Rounds 19–36

Rounds 19–36 :
| Home \ Away | DAU | LIE | MLU | NOA | RIG | RFS | SPJ | VAL |
| Daugavpils | | 1–1 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 1–5 |
| Liepāja | 3–1 | | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 |
| Metta/LU | 2–2 | 0–3 | | 3–0 | 0–1 | 2–5 | 0–3 | 0–4 |
| Noah Jurmala | 0–3 | 0–3 | 0–3 | | 0–3 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 0–3 |
| Riga | 7–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 |
| RFS | 2–0 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 5–0 | 0–0 | | 1–1 | 1–2 |
| Spartaks Jūrmala | 3–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | | 1–4 |
| Valmiera | 4–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | |
| Ventspils | | | | | | | | |

## Statistics
### Top goalscorers

    As of 24 August 2021
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Stefan Milošević | Riga | 13 |
| 2 | Ibrahima Sow | Valmiera | 10 |
| 3 | Yunusa Muritala | Metta/LU Riga | 9 |
| 3 | Leonel Wamba | Spartaks Jūrmala | 9 |
| 5 | Raimonds Krollis | Valmiera | 8 |
| 6 | Mikael Soisalo | Riga | 7 |
| 7 | Richard Friday | Spartaks Jūrmala | 6 |
| 7 | Lūkass Vapne | Metta/LU | 6 |
| 9 | Marks Kurtišs | Ventspils | 5 |
| 9 | Darko Lemajić | RFS | 5 |
| 9 | Dodô | Liepāja | 5 |
| 9 | Djibril Guèye | Valmiera | 5 |
| 9 | Žiga Lipušček | RFS | 5 |
| 9 | Raivis Ķiršs | Daugavpils | 5 |
| 9 | Tomislav Šarić | RFS | 5 |