Marked for Davis Fertovs
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Daugavpils
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ceti Junior Tchibinda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Davis Cauna in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Daugavpils this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Joel Yakubu gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Joel Yakubu is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Daugavpils can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 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 Daugavpils this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Jelgava have kept their man, and Daugavpils go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Danila Patijčuks 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
4 Daugavpils players away with their countries
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Jānis Beks has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Daugavpils 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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Gļebs Mihaļcovs
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
No place for Davis Fertovs in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Daugavpils are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market31 Aug 2026
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Davis Cauna arrives from Spartaks with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
No thanks: Davis Fertovs rejects the move
Daugavpils had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Skonto, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad10 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 Daugavpils this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Skonto 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 targets10 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Alvis Gabovs has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Arturs Ikaunieks has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Arturs Stolcers is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Arturs Ciganovs has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Raivis Gabovs
35 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.
Market10 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.
Market10 Aug 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 Skonto, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Flora keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vitalijs Ciganovs and Skonto agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Skonto
Vitalijs Ciganovs and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zalgiris have kept their man, and Skonto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Olegs Jagodinskis 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Daugavpils have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Gatis Cauna. The answer from Skonto has not changed — yet.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ziad Ouled-Haj-M'hand and Daugavpils agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ziad Ouled-Haj-M'hand 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Daugavpils training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ceti Junior Tchibinda 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Bruno Melnis is in the works
Daugavpils have made the call to Liepaja. 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
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Skonto say no — this time
The offer from Naftan for Roberts Jurkovskis 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Skonto
Vitalijs Ciganovs 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Skonto
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igors Kamess was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Davis Fertovs again, and this time the name on the line is Daugavpils. Skonto are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Skonto know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Andreas Vaher is in the works
Skonto have made the call to Flora. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for David Planka is in the works
Skonto have made the call to Banik Ostrava. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout3 Aug 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 Skonto, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A strip of cloth that decides nothing on the pitch and tells the dressing room whose opinion counts. The manager has made a statement without making one.