Marked for Kaspars Laizans
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Arturs Vanins
42 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Ifeagwu Ojukwu 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 Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davis Dubra 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
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kristaps Oss, and the manager let it.
Market1 Feb 2027
A season-long audition: Skonto still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Spartaks's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
Market1 Feb 2027
A season-long audition: Skonto still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Spartaks's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Arturs Vanins
58 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Ifeagwu Ojukwu 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mirko Pfarherr 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
Squad11 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Arturs Vanins
67 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.
Market11 Jan 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Gustavo Almeida gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Gustavo Almeida has just signed for Spartaks, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Roberts Tarasovs commits to Spartaks for another 3 years.
Squad11 Jan 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 Spartaks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market11 Jan 2027
“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 Gustavo Almeida.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raivis 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.
Squad19 Oct 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
Market7 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.
Squad7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raivis 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
Uneasy
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 Spartaks can pretend not to have heard.
Market31 Aug 2026
Spartaks say no — this time
The offer from Daugavpils for Deividas Dubickas 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ifeagwu Ojukwu 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
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match12 Aug 2026
Jelgava ended it 1‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market17 Aug 2026
The Jelgava deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Kristaps Jagodinskis reports back to Spartaks with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad17 Aug 2026
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Ifeagwu Ojukwu 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.