Marked for Davis Bulvitis
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match12 Aug 2026
Cup progress for Spartaks
A 4‑2 win over Jelgava, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.11 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Arturs Vanins at 21 — 8.41
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Arturs Vanins did not need any: 8.41, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market17 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 Spartaks can pretend not to have heard.
Market17 Aug 2026
Ventspils pay $930.0K, 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.
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 Spartaks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Aug 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Spartaks and Jelgava in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igors Jurkovskis 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 terraces17 Aug 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market17 Aug 2026
$930.0K — a new record at Ventspils
No footballer has ever cost this club more, and the number will be read out every time he misplaces a pass for the next two years.
Match12 Aug 2026
Ventspils through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over Daugavpils, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
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 Ventspils this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Davis Bulvitis from Spartaks for $930.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Ventspils training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mirko Andrić 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
This league is too small for Manuel Pérez
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Ventspils will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Ventspils
18 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A mark of 7.41, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Spartaks say no — this time
The offer from Liepaja for Davis Bulvitis 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.
Market10 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 Spartaks can pretend not to have heard.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kaspars Dubra and Spartaks agree another 3 years.
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 Spartaks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kaspars Vanins 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Davis Bulvitis has his answer from Spartaks; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 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 Spartaks, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Vladimirs Cauna 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
Igors Jurkovskis 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.