Marked for Fiodor Mikoliunas
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Trakai lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Trakai
Daniele Montevago and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fiodor Mikoliunas 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rokas Novikovas is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Trakai
Daniele Montevago 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Trakai
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fiodor Mikoliunas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Trakai
Daniele Montevago 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rokas Novikovas, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Fiodor Mikoliunas 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Trakai
Daniele Montevago 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 Sep 2026
Tadas Vaitkunas 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Trakai, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 4 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Trakai until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Slavia Prague is saying, and nobody at Trakai is enjoying the guessing.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Trakai
Daniele Montevago and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Trakai asked and Levski said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Karolis Dubickas is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Deividas Mikoliunas 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Trakai than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Trakai
Besar Halimi 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
Trakai asked and Perugia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tadas Vaitkunas 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A loan move for Divine Teah is in the works
Trakai have made the call to Slavia Prague. 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
Trakai have made the call to Slavia Prague. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match12 Aug 2026
The small margins put Trakai out
Out, 0‑2 to Siauliai, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Trakai
Besar Halimi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market17 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Trakai have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Fiodor Mikoliunas 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout17 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Trakai know it, and so does everybody who watches him.