From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Loan watch26 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Daugavpils to sit and watch. I want to come back to Spartaks and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 11 matches say the rest.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Pavels Bulvitis plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
Loan watch26 Oct 2026
15 days left on the agreement, 0 appearances behind him, and two clubs who have both been putting off the same conversation.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Vitaliy Shishov
“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.
Loan watch28 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Daugavpils to sit and watch. I want to come back to Spartaks and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 7 matches say the rest.
Squad28 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 Spartaks, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
Hugo Jesse hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Metta/LU can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Aug 2026
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A new face in his position, and Daniils Ulimbaševs suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Metta/LU have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
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
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Aleksandrs Gabovs plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Spartaks
0-1 against Jelgava, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Arturs Laizans commits to Spartaks for another 3 years.
Squad17 Aug 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
At 17 years old, Marcis Ikaunieks became the latest name off the academy production line to be handed a senior shirt.
Market17 Aug 2026
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Spartaks has been clear about where Kaspars Tarasovs stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market17 Aug 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Spartaks know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Roberts Dubra commits to Spartaks for another 2 years.
Squad10 Aug 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market10 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Vitalijs Jagodinskis has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Spartaks.
Market10 Aug 2026
Spartaks bring in an old head
Idriz Batha is 34 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Aleksandrs Ikaunieks has come up in conversations Spartaks were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Roberts Dubra knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Spartaks, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It is a strip of cloth and it decides nothing on a Saturday. It still tells the dressing room exactly whose opinion the manager values, which is the whole point of it.