Marked for Viktor Smolov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 66 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.
Squad28 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jeisson 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
74 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.
Squad21 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Idriz Batha 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
Squad24 Aug 2026
104 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.
Match19 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Spartaks
1‑3 against Liepaja, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Market24 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.
Squad24 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Nobody could get near Jeisson
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Idriz Batha 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Idriz Batha, and the manager let it.
Market24 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Spartaks will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Off the bench and decisive: Will Richmond
The substitution nobody applauded turned out to be the whole story. Spartaks were going nowhere until he came on.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad17 Aug 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 112 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Viktor Smolov could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 8.39
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 8.39, 2 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Squad17 Aug 2026
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match12 Aug 2026
Spartaks through in the cup
A 10‑4 win over Jelgava, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Igors Fertovs at 21 — 8.19
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Igors Fertovs did not need any: 8.19, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Asion Daja goes up and wins it — 7.23
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.23 for the rest of it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Viktor Smolov 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.
Match12 Aug 2026
Davis Fertovs among the goals in a wild afternoon
14 goals in one match, Davis Fertovs on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Spartaks and Jelgava.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Spartaks say no — this time
The offer from Astrakhan for Eduards Savalnieks 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Viktor Smolov and Spartaks agree another 5 years.
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Spartaks have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Idriz Batha 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
“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
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.
Squad3 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kristaps Jagodinskis and Spartaks agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberts 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
This league is too small for Asion Daja
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Spartaks will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Market3 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Janis Zjuzins has his answer from Spartaks; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
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Market
Spartaks bring in an old head
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Market
Experience through the door at Spartaks