Football Season Guide

Baltika ran a pretty much flawless campaign last year as they finished top of the standings with quite a lot to spare and accomplished immediate return to the big time of the Russian Premier League. They were based on an extremely compact defensive unit that conceded just 18 goals during the 34-game season. Moreover, they lost only once since September, against the side just behind them in Torpedo Moscow, and were just far too consistent, experienced and focused for anyone to stand a chance against them. Now the task for Andrey Talalaev and the management is to build a squad that is better prepared for the challenges ahead and ensure that they are not yet again in the bottom of the standings, as they were in the 2023-24 season. Indeed, Baltika have been the most ambitious and proactive team in the market so far this season and have definitely lifted the overall level of their squad with the additions of players like Stefan Kovac, Daniil Utkin and Chignons Offor. They are expected to bring depth and competition for places in the squad while young players like Sergry Varytanov, Maksim Borisko and Sergey Pryakhin look to build on very promising campaigns last year. As a whole, things are looking quite optimistic for the Kaliningrad outfit as they have massively upgraded their squad, have a real defensive identity under Talalaev, and are also backed by quite a big crowd for most games. All this gives a reason to believe that this campaign will be more successful than the one from a couple of years ago.