2013 Latvian Higher League

The league had a ten-team circuit like the 2012 season. 2012 Latvian First League champions Ilūkstes NSS from Ilūkste were directly promoted.

FK Daugava Rīga finished the 2012 season in ninth place and were therefore required to compete in a two-legged promotion/relegation play-off against First Division runners-up BFC Daugava. FK Daugava Riga won the play-off 4–1 on aggregate and therefore stayed in the Higher League.

Ventspils

Ilūkstes NSS

Daugava Riga
FS METTA
Skonto

Metalurgs

Jūrmala
Spartaks

Jelgava

Daugava

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Location of teams in the 2013 Latvian Higher League

Club	Location	Stadium	Capacity
FC Daugava	Daugavpils	Daugava Stadium	4,100
FK Daugava Rīga	Riga	Daugava Stadium	5,000
Ilūkstes NSS	Ilūkste	Ilūkstes pilsētas stadions	500
FK Jelgava	Jelgava	Zemgales Olimpiskais Sporta Centrs	2,200
FC Jūrmala	Jūrmala	Slokas Stadium	5,000
SK Liepājas Metalurgs	Liepāja	Daugava Stadium	6,000
FS Metta/LU	Riga	Stadions Arkādija	500
Skonto FC	Riga	Skonto Stadium	10,000
FK Spartaks Jūrmala	Jūrmala	Slokas Stadium	5,000
FK Ventspils	Ventspils	Olimpiskais Stadium	3,200

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
FC Daugava Daugavpils	Ivan Tabanov	Daniel Ola	Erreà	—
FK Daugava Rīga	Virginijus Liubšys	Mantas Savenas	Nike	—
Ilūkstes NSS	Alens Vinakurovs	Dmitri Kozlov	Erreà	—
FK Jelgava	Sergejs Golubevs	Deniss Petrenko	Macron	Igate
FC Jūrmala	Mihails Koņevs	Alberts Nikoļskis	Givova	—
SK Liepājas Metalurgs	Jānis Intenbergs	Antons Jemeļins	Adidas	—
FS Metta/LU	Andris Riherts	Artūrs Biezais	Nike	SMS Credit.lv
Skonto FC	Tamaz Pertia	Juris Laizāns	Jako	Granat Investment
FK Spartaks Jūrmala	Jurijs Popkovs	Dmitrijs Daņilovs	Nike	—
FK Ventspils	Jurģis Pučinsks	Vitālijs Smirnovs	Adidas	VK Tranzīts

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Jelgava	Dainis Kazakevičs	Own decision	4 December 2012	Pre-Season	Jānis Dreimanis	20 December 2012
Skonto	Marians Pahars	Own decision	22 December 2012	Pre-Season	Tamaz Pertia	22 December 2012
FK Daugava Rīga	Jurijs Popkovs	End of contract	27 December 2012	Pre-Season	Virginijus Liubšys	27 December 2012
FC Jūrmala	Vladimir Pachko	End of contract	9 January 2013	Pre-Season	Mihails Koņevs	9 January 2013
Spartaks	Arminas Narbekovas	End of contract	10 December 2012	Pre-Season	Oleg Kubarev	7 February 2013
Ilūkste	Alens Vinakurovs	Own decision	6 March 2013	Pre-Season	Vladimir Pachko	6 March 2013
Jelgava	Jānis Dreimanis	Health issues	22 March 2013	Pre-Season	Sergejs Golubevs	22 March 2013
Spartaks	Oleg Kubarev	Sacked	27 July 2013	5th	Aleksandrs Stradiņš	27 July 2013
Spartaks	Aleksandrs Stradiņš	Sacked	22 September 2013	6th	Jurijs Popkovs	22 September 2013
Ilūkste	Vladimir Pachko	Own decision	End of September	10th	Alens Vinakurovs	End of September

As in the previous season most of the matches are being transmitted live via sportacentrs.com online and sportacentrs TV channel.^[2] In June 2012 broadcasting rights were also bought by the English company Bet365.^[3] Since 2012, the league's homepage futbolavirsliga.lv has been active and since September 2012 this website has been accompanied by the InStat Football system, showing information and analysis of each match individually.^[4] Since October 2012, the Virslīga has also had its own analytical broadcast after each round of matches with football experts discussing the games and future events connected to Latvian football. It is transmitted via sportacentrs TV.^[5]

As of 9 November 2013

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Artūrs Karašausks	Skonto FC	16
	Andrejs Kovaļovs	FC Daugava
2	Valērijs Šabala	Skonto FC	15
3	Mantas Savėnas	Daugava Rīga	12
	Vadim Yanchuk	FK Ventspils
4	Daniils Turkovs	FK Ventspils	11
5	Povilas Lukšys	Daugava Rīga	10