Marked for Marcis Bulvitis
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Edgar Villasboa
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spartaks lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Pavels Zjuzins out for 80 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Spartaks will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market11 Jan 2027
Spartaks say no — this time
The offer from Jelgava for Marcis 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Edgar Villasboa
86 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spartaks lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market4 Jan 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Spartaks, and it is not being withdrawn.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
Edgar Villasboa damages knee ligaments — 131 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 131 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.
Squad23 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 Spartaks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
Edgar Villasboa damages knee ligaments — 152 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 152 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.
Market2 Nov 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brando Castillo 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
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kaspars Ciganovs
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spartaks lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market5 Oct 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Brando Castillo 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Sep 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raivis Jagodinskis 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.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Liepaja to sit and watch. I want to come back to Spartaks and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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 Spartaks, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brando Castillo 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Spartaks, another week without a signature from Khalid Shakhtiev.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Aug 2026
The unthinkable, invoiced: Davis Vanins sold
Liepaja arrived with $290.0K and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Market24 Aug 2026
Liepaja come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Spartaks did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market24 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.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Supporters turn on the $290.0K sale of Davis Vanins
He is going to Liepaja, the club has $290.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Brando Castillo 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Janis Stolcers 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
Steady
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 Spartaks, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Raivis Jagodinskis and Spartaks agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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. Raivis Jagodinskis 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Pavels Dubra gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market10 Aug 2026
Pavels Zjuzins is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Spartaks has been clear about where Pavels Zjuzins stands, which is more than many ever get.