Marked for Eduards Zjuzins
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Aug 2028
A fracture rules Hindrek Ojamaa out for 128 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Paide will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market21 Aug 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Paide is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Tempers go at Paide
Daniel Cabral 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 Aug 2028
The phone has started ringing about Martin Tamm again, and this time the name on the line is Tammeka. Paide are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad21 Aug 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Paide, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Paide training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Luts 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
Squad11 Oct 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kristofer Piht
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paide lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ramon Smirnov and Paide agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Nikita Baranov joins up with his country. Paide lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kristofer Piht
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paide lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Paide
Daniel Cabral 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Nikita Baranov 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
Squad30 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kristofer Piht
61 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paide lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match30 Aug 2027
Paide up to position 3
24 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Paide
Daniel Cabral 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Roberts Oss is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Market30 Aug 2027
Roberts Oss is 20, and Paide have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Too much change too quickly at Paide
5 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad7 Jun 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Marcis Rugins
22 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.
Match5 Jun 2027
Skonto make it 7 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Skonto have 7 straight wins of it.
Market7 Jun 2027
“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.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Jun 2027
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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Nikita Kamess 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 terraces7 Jun 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Raivis Jagodinskis has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match5 Jun 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Skonto. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Match5 Jun 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Amar Haïdara. 1‑0 against Ventspils, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 May 2027
Marcis Rugins damages knee ligaments — 53 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 53 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match8 May 2027
Skonto cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad10 May 2027
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 terraces10 May 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Raivis Jagodinskis has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Nikita Kamess
“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.
Match8 May 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Mihkel Ainsalu’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Skonto.
Player ratings10 May 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.44, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Marked 5.75, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Marcis Rugins
61 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match3 May 2027
Skonto up to position 1
14 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Two goals and a mark of 7.99 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad3 May 2027
Tempers go at Skonto
Adam Ševínský 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 May 2027
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Kamess 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
Upbeat
Squad29 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Marcis Rugins
99 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Alvis Ikaunieks out for 82 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Skonto will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
The terraces29 Mar 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 11 of the 33 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
A first appearance Gatis Rugins will want to forget — 5.67
Everybody's debut is one of two stories and this was the other one. 5.67, and the only consolation available is that nobody's career has ever been decided by ninety minutes in a shirt he had just been given.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Raivis Jagodinskis and Skonto agree another 4 years.
Match27 Mar 2027
A bad afternoon for Skonto against Liepaja
0‑1 to Liepaja, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
Doors closed at Skonto
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Skonto
Adam Ševínský 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Kamess 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Marcis Rugins
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom16 Nov 2026
Silverware for Skonto
They will talk about this season in this town for a long time. The trophy comes home with the squad, and the route is already agreed.
Squad16 Nov 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Nikita Kamess 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
Upbeat
Market26 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Skonto is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom26 Oct 2026
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Kamess 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.