Marked for Ivan Djantou
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Oct 2026
Every point is an argument now for Aalesund
Position 14 and 11 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Philip Aukland: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Aalesund have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Uba Charles 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Elias Hagen 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.
Squad26 Oct 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Haugesund leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Oct 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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Kristoffer Nessø, 33, rolls back the years — 8.02
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.02 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Eirik Holmen 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ivan Djantou and Aalesund agree another 3 years.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Elias Hagen 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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match10 Oct 2026
Three points for Aalesund, 2‑0 the final word against Mjondalen in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.06 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad12 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aalesund may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Eirik Holmen in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aalesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elias Hagen 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
A bad afternoon for Aalesund against Molde
0‑1 to Molde, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad5 Oct 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market5 Oct 2026
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Andrés Gigena is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
Market5 Oct 2026
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Juan Vergara is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 5.77. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match12 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Aalesund
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Elias Hagen 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
Kévin Hoggas in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aalesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Uba Charles, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for Aalesund
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Aalesund are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Uba Charles in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aalesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elias Hagen 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
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Henrik Melland, and the manager let it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.44 on the card, and the Aalesund support went home talking about one name.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Aalesund
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Uba Charles commits to Aalesund for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Eirik Holmen in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aalesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elias Hagen 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Market3 Aug 2026
No place for Erik Frøysa in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Erik Frøysa has his answer from Aalesund; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad3 Aug 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Experience through the door at Aalesund
Eirik Holmen arrives at 34 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Match1 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Valerenga will be the happier side with the point.