From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Jelgava
Adeyemo Bolaji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The captaincy has been taken off Adeyemo Bolaji. Jelgava will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Jelgava
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Raivis Ciganovs was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Kristaps Oss gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kristaps Oss is on it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes Ramon Azeez a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Jelgava. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A decision that decides nothing on the pitch and everything in the room. The manager has said, without saying it, whose voice he wants heard when his own is not there.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 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 Jelgava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Jelgava
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcis Fertovs was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Vladimirs Vanins has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Jelgava will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Oct 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 Jelgava can pretend not to have heard.
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 Jelgava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Jelgava
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcis Fertovs was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Adeyemo Bolaji 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Ramon Azeez
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Jelgava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raivis Ciganovs 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
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Jelgava
Adeyemo Bolaji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Jelgava
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Marcis Fertovs 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
Squad28 Sep 2026
The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Adeyemo Bolaji, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Jelgava
Adeyemo Bolaji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Marcis Fertovs 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Vladimirs Vanins is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 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.
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 Jelgava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Eduards Bulvitis and Jelgava agree another 3 years.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Raivis Ciganovs 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Ramon Azeez has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ramon Azeez has written the date down.
Market21 Sep 2026
Jelgava have made Davis Vanins available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 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 Jelgava can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Adeyemo Bolaji 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Ramon Azeez gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Marcis Fertovs 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Jelgava would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Jelgava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 5 in, 1 out at Jelgava
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market7 Sep 2026
Skonto come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Jelgava did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
No thanks: Pavels Kamess rejects the move
Jelgava had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Skonto, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Jelgava
Iļja Korotkovs and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Jelgava
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Davis Vanins is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Davis Vanins has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Marcis Fertovs 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.
The dugout7 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
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
$330.0K. No player has ever cost Jelgava more, and expectation arrives with him.
Market31 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Jelgava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market31 Aug 2026
Skonto come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Jelgava did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Jelgava
Adeyemo Bolaji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
The town asked, and Jelgava paid $330.0K
Iļja Korotkovs was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $330.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Market31 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Skonto have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Marcis Ciganovs. The answer from Jelgava has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Metta/LU have kept their man, and Jelgava go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Davis Rugins for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Jelgava will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad31 Aug 2026
No place for Iļja Korotkovs in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Jelgava are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Aug 2026
The small margins put Jelgava out
Out, 0‑5 to Liepaja, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
A cup embarrassment at Liepaja follows Jelgava home
0-5. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Barau is saying, and nobody at Jelgava is enjoying the guessing.
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 Jelgava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Jelgava asked and Arda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Jelgava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcis Fertovs 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.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Davis Vanins
“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.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Doors closed at Jelgava
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Somebody else is better right now than Arturs Stolcers
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The dugout
The plan did not have a place for Ramon Azeez
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match12 Aug 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Kristaps Oss obliged against Spartaks. 2‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Jelgava.
Squad17 Aug 2026
There were 8 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.
Market17 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.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Jelgava sell a favourite for $190.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Vitalijs Jagodinskis was one of the reasons people came, and $190.0K does not replace that by itself.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Liepaja keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$310.0K on the table at Liepaja. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Adeyemo Bolaji 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Jelgava asked and Kauno Zalgiris said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Jelgava have done the hard part with Liepaja, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market10 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Daugavpils have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Vitalijs Jagodinskis. The answer from Jelgava has not changed — yet.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Davis Vanins and Jelgava agree another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Jelgava
Adeyemo Bolaji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Jelgava
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcis Fertovs was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad10 Aug 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Jelgava know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Davis Vanins 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 Jelgava, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Jelgava, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Jelgava
Valentin Prokhorov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Jelgava asked and Zbrojovka Brno said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Jelgava
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcis Fertovs was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Kaspars Jurkovskis has come up in conversations Jelgava were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad3 Aug 2026
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. Jelgava will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Rodolphe Ekou is in the works
Jelgava have made the call to Liepaja. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Jelgava have made the call to Bendel Insurance. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.