2004 Latvian Higher League

Latvian Higher League

Season	2004
Champions	Skonto FC
Relegated	FC Ditton Auda
UEFA Champions League	Skonto FC
UEFA Cup	FK Liepajas Metalurgs FK Ventspils
UEFA Intertoto Cup	Dinaburg FC
Top goalscorer	Aleksandr Katasonov(21 goals)
←2003 2005→

The2004 seasonin theLatvian Higher League,namedVirslīga,was the 14th domestic competition since the Baltic nation gainedindependencefrom theSoviet Unionon 6 September 1991. Eight teams competed in this edition, withSkonto FCclaiming the title.

Final table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Skonto(C)	28	22	3	3	65	18	+47	69	Qualification forChampions League first qualifying round
2	Liepājas Metalurgs	28	21	3	4	85	27	+58	66	Qualification forUEFA Cup first qualifying round
3	Ventspils	28	16	7	5	64	28	+36	55
4	Dinaburg	28	10	6	12	35	36	−1	36	Qualification forIntertoto Cup first round
5	Jūrmala	28	8	10	10	30	33	−3	34
6	Rīga	28	6	9	13	32	43	−11	27
7	Ditton(R)	28	7	5	16	20	62	−42	26	Qualification forrelegation play-offs
8	Auda(R)	28	0	1	27	13	97	−84	1	Relegation toLatvian First League

Source:
(C)Champions;(R)Relegated

Match table

First half of the season

Home \ Away	AUD	DIN	DIT	JŪR	MET	RĪG	SKO	VEN
Auda		0–5	0–2	1–2	1–7	0–2	0–4	0–3
Dinaburg	2–0		1–0	0–0	1–4	2–1	0–1	0–2
Ditton	1–0	0–4		1–1	0–3	0–0	0–4	0–8
Jūrmala	1–1	2–0	0–2		0–2	1–1	0–1	1–1
Liepājas Metalurgs	10–1	2–1	3–0	1–0		2–1	2–3	3–4
Rīga	2–1	1–1	1–2	1–0	0–2		0–2	1–4
Skonto	3–0	1–1	2–0	3–2	1–0	1–0		1–0
Ventspils	2–1	1–2	0–0	3–2	0–2	1–0	0–3

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of the season

Home \ Away	AUD	DIN	DIT	JŪR	MET	RĪG	SKO	VEN
Auda		0–3	1–2	0–1	1–6	0–4	1–6	0–6
Dinaburg	3–1		1–0	0–1	3–0	3–3	1–2	0–2
Ditton	4–0	2–0		1–1	0–4	0–1	0–4	0–4
Jūrmala	2–0	0–0	4–1		1–4	2–0	0–1	2–2
Liepājas Metalurgs	4–1	4–0	5–1	1–1		2–2	3–1	4–0
Rīga	3–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–2		2–4	1–3
Skonto	2–0	3–0	6–0	0–2	1–2	4–1		0–0
Ventspils	5–1	3–1	3–0	4–0	1–1	1–1	1–1

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation play-offs

The matches were played on 14 and 17 November 2004.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Venta	2–0	Ditton	1–0	1–0

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Aleksandr Katasonov(RUS)	FK Liepājas Metalurgs	21
2	Viktors Dobrecovs(LAT)	FK Liepājas Metalurgs	18
3	Mihails Miholaps(LAT)	Skonto FC	16
4	Gatis Kalniņš(LAT)	Skonto FC	15
	Vīts Rimkus(LAT)	FK Ventspils

Awards

Best	Name	Team
Goalkeeper	Andrejs Piedels(LAT)	Skonto FC
Defender	Mihails Zemļinskis(LAT)	Skonto FC
Midfielder	Zurab Menteshashvili(GEO)	Skonto FC
Forward	Aleksandr Katasonov(RUS)	FK Liepājas Metalurgs