2005 Latvian Higher League

Latvian Higher League
Season	2005
	← 2004 2006 →

The 2005 season in the Latvian Higher League, named Virslīga, was the 15th domestic football (soccer) competition since the Baltic nation gained independence from the Soviet Union on 6 September 1991. Eight teams competed in this edition, with FK Liepājas Metalurgs claiming the title.

Final table[]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Liepājas Metalurgs (C)	28	22	5	1	85	19	+66	71	Qualification for Champions League first qualifying round
2	Skonto	28	17	7	4	59	25	+34	58	Qualification for UEFA Cup first qualifying round
3	Ventspils	28	16	7	5	56	30	+26	55	Qualification for UEFA Cup first qualifying round
4	Dinaburg	28	9	8	11	37	43	−6	35	Qualification for Intertoto Cup first round
5	Rīga	28	9	7	12	32	46	−14	34
6	Jūrmala	28	9	5	14	37	38	−1	32
7	Olimps Rīga (R)	28	5	4	19	24	68	−44	19	Qualification for relegation play-offs
8	Venta (R)	28	2	3	23	18	79	−61	9	Relegation to Latvian First League

Source:^{[citation needed]}
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated

Match table[]

First half of the season
Home \ Away	DIN	JŪR	MET	OLI	RĪG	SKO	VTA	VEN
Dinaburg		1–0	1–2	3–0	0–0	1–2	1–0	0–1
Jūrmala	1–2		0–1	1–0	3–0	3–2	0–0	2–2
Liepājas Metalurgs	4–2	3–1		3–0	5–1	4–2	5–1	2–0
Olimps Rīga	2–1	0–3	0–6		0–2	1–5	2–1	0–3
Rīga	3–0	3–2	0–1	1–0		0–4	0–2	0–2
Skonto	3–0	3–1	1–1	0–2	0–2		3–0	1–0
Venta	1–3	2–2	0–0	3–0	0–1	0–3		0–1
Ventspils	1–1	1–0	3–0	3–2	0–0	1–3	5–1

Source:^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of the season
Home \ Away	DIN	JŪR	MET	OLI	RĪG	SKO	VTA	VEN
Dinaburg		1–0	2–2	1–1	2–2	1–3	3–0	3–3
Jūrmala	1–0		0–1	4–3	1–0	0–3	4–0	0–1
Liepājas Metalurgs	5–0	1–0		5–0	6–0	1–1	9–0	2–1
Olimps Rīga	1–1	1–1	0–4		0–3	0–1	5–2	0–1
Rīga	1–2	1–1	0–3	1–1		1–1	4–2	1–3
Skonto	1–1	2–1	1–1	3–0	4–0		3–0	1–1
Venta	0–3	2–4	1–3	0–2	0–4	0–1		0–6
Ventspils	3��1	2–1	1–5	6–1	1–1	2–2	2–0

Source:^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation play-offs[]

11 November 2005

Olimps Rīga	0 – 2	Ditton
		Pertia 52' 90+2'

Riga

Attendance: 500

Top scorers[]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Igors Sļesarčuks (LAT)	FK Venta / FK Ventspils	18
1	Viktors Dobrecovs (LAT)	FK Liepājas Metalurgs	18
3	Aleksandr Katasonov (RUS)	FK Liepājas Metalurgs	17
4	Gatis Kalniņš (LAT)	Skonto FC	15
5	Genādijs Soloņicins (LAT)	FK Liepājas Metalurgs	13

Awards[]

Best	Name	Team
Goalkeeper	Andrejs Piedels (LAT)	Skonto FC
Defender	Dzintars Zirnis (LAT)	FK Liepājas Metalurgs
Midfielder	Genādijs Soloņicins (LAT)	FK Liepājas Metalurgs
Forward	Aleksandr Katasonov (RUS)	FK Liepājas Metalurgs

show v t Seasons of Top Latvian Football Leagues
	1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926
Higher League	1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1942 1943 1944
Latvian SSR	1941 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991
Higher League	1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

show v t 2004–05 in European football (UEFA)
Domestic leagues	Albania Andorra Armenia '04 '05 Austria Azerbaijan Belarus '04 '05 Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia '04 '05 Faroe Islands '04 '05 Finland '04 '05 France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '04 '05 Israel Italy Kazakhstan '04 '05 Latvia '04 '05 Lithuania '04 '05 Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '04 '05 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland '04 '05 Romania Russia '04 '05 San Marino Scotland Serbia and Montenegro Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden '04 '05 Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales
Domestic cups	Albania Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Faroe Islands Finland '04 France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '04 '05 Israel Italy Kazakhstan Latvia Liechtenstein Macedonia Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '04 '05 Portugal Republic of Ireland '04 '05 Romania Scotland Serbia and Montenegro Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden '04 '05 Switzerland Turkey Ukraine
League cups	England Finland France Germany Iceland '04 '05 Israel Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland '04 '05 Scotland Wales
UEFA competitions	Champions League (Qualifying rounds, group stage, knockout stage, Final) UEFA Cup (First round, group stage, final phase, Final) Intertoto Cup Super Cup

show v t 2005–06 in European football (UEFA)
Domestic leagues	Albania Andorra Armenia '05 '06 Austria Azerbaijan Belarus '05 '06 Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia '05 '06 Faroe Islands '05 '06 Finland '05 '06 France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '05 '06 Israel Italy Kazakhstan '05 '06 Latvia '05 '06 Lithuania '05 '06 Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '05 '06 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland '05 '06 Romania Russia '05 '06 San Marino Scotland Serbia and Montenegro Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden '05 '06 Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales
Domestic cups	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Faroe Islands '06 Finland '06 France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '05 '06 Israel Italy Kazakhstan Latvia Liechtenstein Macedonia Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '05 '06 Portugal Republic of Ireland '05 '06 Romania Scotland Serbia and Montenegro Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden '05 '06 Turkey Ukraine
League cups	England Finland France Germany Iceland '05 '06 Israel Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland '05 '06 Scotland Wales
UEFA competitions	Champions League (Qualifying rounds, Group stage, Knockout stage, Final) UEFA Cup (First round, Group stage, Final phase, Final) Intertoto Cup Super Cup