From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad24 Aug 2026
The match ball belongs to Vladimirs Vanins, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match19 Aug 2026
Skonto march on in the cup
Daugavpils are out and Skonto go through, 5‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market24 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Metta/LU waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Skonto is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Vladimirs Vanins at 20 — 9.77
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vladimirs Vanins did not need any: 9.77, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market24 Aug 2026
Liepaja come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Skonto did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Kristaps Ciganovs had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market24 Aug 2026
Janis Zjuzins hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Skonto can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The paperwork begins on Luka Račić
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Skonto have done the hard part with Kauno Zalgiris, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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 Skonto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
A move Abbas Ibrahim would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Abbas Ibrahim is living that version at Skonto, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Skonto
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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$26.0K was the most the club would pay and Liepaja were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kano Pillars have kept their man, and Skonto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market17 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Kristaps Ciganovs again, and this time the name on the line is Lushnja. Skonto are listening politely and promising nothing.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marius Barauskas, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ebere Eugene and Skonto agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad17 Aug 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Skonto know which stage they are at.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Pavels Kamess had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market10 Aug 2026
Ventspils come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Skonto did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $28.4K — a club that wants Iļja Korotkovs enough to be asked twice.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Muhammed Kabiru and Skonto agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Skonto have gone to Liepaja with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Skonto
Gatis Stolcers 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ifeagwu Ojukwu 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.
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.
The dugout10 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
Montana come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Skonto did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Skonto
Gatis Stolcers and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Skonto have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Skonto asked and Dinamo Bucharest 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
Alvis Tarasovs 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Rangers International: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.