Marked for Arturs Laizans
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Feb 2027
Kaspars Savalnieks damages knee ligaments — 56 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 56 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alvis Savalnieks 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.
Squad8 Feb 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
94 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
“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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Spartaks say no — this time
The offer from Metta/LU for Arturs Rugins 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.
Squad4 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Spartaks have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market4 Jan 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Raivis Vanins has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Spartaks.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
Kaspars Savalnieks damages knee ligaments — 123 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 123 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.
Market7 Dec 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Alvis Savalnieks 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 Nov 2026
131 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alvis Savalnieks 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.
Squad30 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Eduards Stolcers
107 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Davis Stolcers asks for a word with the manager
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Arturs Laizans
52 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Eduards Vanins 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alvis Savalnieks 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
Market7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alvis Savalnieks 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2026
The small margins put Spartaks out
Out, 3‑5 to Jelgava, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A brace, and Eduards Vanins takes the afternoon — 8.14
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Eduards Vanins provided it, and the 8.14 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market17 Aug 2026
Spartaks say no — this time
The offer from Skonto for Vladimirs Tarasovs 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.
Squad17 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.
Match12 Aug 2026
Eduards Vanins among the goals in a wild afternoon
8 goals in one match, Eduards Vanins on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Spartaks and Jelgava.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Raivis Vanins, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Alvis Savalnieks 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.