Marked for Eduards Oss
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vitalijs Cauna
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jelgava lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market4 Jan 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Jelgava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market4 Jan 2027
Jelgava say no — this time
The offer from Spartaks for Eduards Oss was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market4 Jan 2027
The name of Pavels Savalnieks has come up in conversations Jelgava were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Jelgava are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Jelgava
Rodolphe Ekou and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Vladimirs Fertovs falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Open for business: Jelgava enter the window
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
96 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jelgava lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Rodolphe Ekou was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Jelgava
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Klinshak Longbak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
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The dugout
Eduards Oss is still being punished for one mistake
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Squad
5 new faces, and Jelgava are still learning each other
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The dugout
When it matters, Alvis Dubra plays
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The dugout
Vitalijs Cauna knocks on the manager’s door
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
Vitalijs Cauna damages knee ligaments — 127 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 127 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Jelgava
Klinshak Longbak and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Vladimirs Fertovs falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Loan watch23 Nov 2026
“I watch every Jelgava game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ventspils runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Eduards Oss is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Nikita Oss knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jelgava, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
Rodolphe Ekou was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Jelgava
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladimirs Fertovs was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch26 Oct 2026
“I watch every Jelgava game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ventspils runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Jelgava
Vladimirs Fertovs and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Jelgava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavels Savalnieks is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Eduards Oss's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Market28 Sep 2026
Jelgava have let the market know Kristaps Vanins can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kristaps Vanins trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Alvis Dubra has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Jelgava will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Arturs Jagodinskis damages knee ligaments — 18 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 18 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Marcis Bulvitis was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market21 Sep 2026
Jelgava have made Eduards Oss available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
Arturs Jagodinskis damages knee ligaments — 26 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 26 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Jelgava
Rodolphe Ekou and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Jelgava training over how hard people work
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Market
The window shut and Eduards Oss is still in the building
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The dugout
The manager plants his flag on Rodolphe Ekou
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Squad
Word from the training ground: Rodolphe Ekou
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
Eduards Oss hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jelgava can pretend not to have heard.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Raivis Dubra had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $8.0K — a club that wants Papa Omar Gningue enough to be asked twice.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Jelgava
Marcis Bulvitis and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Jelgava offered $8.0K; Daugavpils said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Torpedo-BelAZ have kept their man, and Jelgava go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market31 Aug 2026
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Market31 Aug 2026
Everyone has stopped pretending: Spartaks will make the call about Pavels Zjuzins this week. Jelgava have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Eduards Oss is still paying for one afternoon at Jelgava
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Jelgava
1‑2 against Spartaks, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A move Timurs Azarovs would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Timurs Azarovs is living that version at Jelgava, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
No thanks: Domen Bijol rejects the move
Jelgava had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at NK Domzale, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The offer went to Liepaja this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The offer went to Liepaja this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jelgava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartaks have kept their man, and Jelgava go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Jelgava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavels Savalnieks is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Ventspils come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Jelgava did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
No thanks: Rodolphe Ekou rejects the move
Jelgava had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Liepaja, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vladimirs Fertovs and Jelgava agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Jelgava
Vladimirs Fertovs and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market10 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Jelgava have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Skonto have kept their man, and Jelgava go back to a list with one name crossed off it.