Marked for Pavels Zjuzins
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Roberts Bulvitis
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Skonto lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Skonto
Pavels Zjuzins 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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Raivis Rugins is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Skonto
Pavels Zjuzins and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Oct 2026
“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; Skonto are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad5 Oct 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 Skonto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Pavels Ciganovs has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Skonto 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
Upbeat
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Iraklis keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Skonto
Pavels Zjuzins 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Skonto asked and Spartaks said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Skonto have made the call to Chornomorets. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Barau have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Kaspars Tarasovs has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Skonto 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
Triumph
Match19 Aug 2026
Skonto march on in the cup
Jelgava are out and Skonto go through, 2‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market24 Aug 2026
Raivis 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 Skonto can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The deal with Zalgiris died in the treatment room. Nobody will say what was found and everybody in the game will find out by Friday.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Skonto had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Benfica, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Skonto
Pavels Zjuzins 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A mark of 7.80, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marcis Rugins and Skonto agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
No thanks: Jacopo Bacci rejects the move
Skonto had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Sorrento, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Skonto
Pavels Zjuzins and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Metta/LU pay $2.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Raivis Dubra, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Skonto know which stage they are at.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Benfica have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Zalgiris have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.