The Ventspils Gazette
Match12 Aug 2026
Vladimirs Gabovs sends Ventspils through
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Vladimirs Gabovs obliged against Daugavpils. 3‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Ventspils.
Market17 Aug 2026
Ventspils say no — this time
The offer from Skonto for Kristaps Jurkovskis 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Age has not caught Vladimirs Gabovs yet — 7.87
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Ventspils
Mustafa Çeçenoğlu 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Ventspils training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladimirs Oss 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
One of those days for Arturs Ciganovs
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.31, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A masterclass from Mustafa Çeçenoğlu
Marked 8.21 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Kristaps Tarasovs signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kristaps Tarasovs commits to Ventspils for another 3 years.
Squad17 Aug 2026
When it matters, Mustafa Çeçenoğlu plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
- Market Davis Gabovs is free to find somewhere else
- Player ratings Off the bench and decisive: Janis Dubra
- Market The shop window has Raivis Vanins in it