Marius Söderbäck

Attacking Midfielder (R) - Hammarby
24 Jun 2028
Saturday
Process

Marked for Marius Söderbäck

99 Edition

The Hammarby Chronicle

19 Jun 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

The derby belongs to Hammarby

3‑1 against AIK, and the songs went on long after the whistle. League positions come and go; days like this get retold at family dinners for years.

Match

13 unbeaten for Hammarby

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 13 matches without defeat is a foundation Hammarby did not have in the autumn.

Market

Hammarby turn down Vejle for Frederik Winther

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Player ratings

Frederik Winther settles the derby

Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them, with his name on it, and it is a year of bragging rights for Hammarby and a story that will outlast his contract.

Market

Wellington Phoenix join the queue for Ibrahima Fofana

Add another name to the list: Wellington Phoenix have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ibrahima Fofana. The answer from Hammarby has not changed — yet.

Squad

A row about effort at Hammarby

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hampus Skoglund was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Hammarby lose Marius Söderbäck

14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

The dugout

Nikola Vasić back under a manager who knows him

The new man at Hammarby has worked with Nikola Vasić before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.

The dugout

No hiding place for Ramon Pascal Lundqvist

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ramon Pascal Lundqvist, and the manager let it.

In brief

Back issues
95 Edition

The Hammarby Chronicle

22 May 2028
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Still nobody has beaten Hammarby

The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Player ratings

Frederik Christensen beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

A row about effort at Hammarby

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hampus Skoglund was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Frederik Ihler the difference as Hammarby beat Mjällby

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Frederik Ihler. 2‑0 against Mjällby, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

One of those days for Frederik Ihler

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.11, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

The dugout

Nikola Vasić back under a manager who knows him

The new man at Hammarby has worked with Nikola Vasić before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.

The dugout

Nahir Besara 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 Nahir Besara is on it.

The dugout

Jakob Quaison has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Jakob Quaison on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Marius Söderbäck

“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.

In brief

93 Edition

The Hammarby Chronicle

8 May 2028
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Hammarby through in the cup

A 3‑0 win over Utsikten, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.

Match

Paulos Abraham leads the rout of BK Hacken

3‑0, and Paulos Abraham took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Hammarby tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Match

Hammarby make it 6 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Hammarby have 6 straight wins of it.

Player ratings

Suwaibou Kebbeh, 21, steals the show — 8.07

Marked 8.07 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Nikola Vasić yet — 8.18

At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.18 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Frederik Christensen

Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Nahir Besara signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nahir Besara and Hammarby agree another 2 years.

Squad

Hampus Skoglund 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 terraces

Hammarby supporters have found a favourite in Oliver Hagen

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Oliver Hagen has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

In brief

87 Edition

The Hammarby Chronicle

27 Mar 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Élohim Kaboré sold, and an era ends

$21.0M from IF Elfsborg for Élohim Kaboré. Money is money, but the dressing room has lost the man it looked to.

Market

Victor Eriksson asks to leave Hammarby

“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.

The terraces

Hammarby sell a favourite for $21.0M

The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Élohim Kaboré was one of the reasons people came, and $21.0M does not replace that by itself.

Transfer targets

An offer of $22.0K for Robin Olsen

Hammarby have gone to Malmo FF 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.

Squad

Words at Hammarby training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hampus Skoglund 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Hammarby

Marius Söderbäck and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

Nahir Besara 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 Nahir Besara is on it.

Market

Keyano Marrah is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Hammarby has been clear about where Keyano Marrah stands, which is more than many ever get.

Market

The Victor Eriksson story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Victor Eriksson signs something — a contract at Hammarby or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

80 Edition

The Hammarby Chronicle

7 Feb 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

The view from the top for Hammarby

64 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Market

Essayas Lwampindy Bofua 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 Hammarby can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

A move Guga 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. Guga is living that version at Hammarby, and it tends to show in the first month.

Market

Viktor Đukanović attracts admirers

The name of Viktor Đukanović has come up in conversations Hammarby were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Transfer targets

Hammarby rebuffed over Dennis Collander

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Utsikten have kept their man, and Hammarby go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Warner Hahn signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Warner Hahn commits to Hammarby for another 2 years.

Transfer targets

No deal for Tobias Børkeeiet at that price

Hammarby offered $780.0K; Västerås SK said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.

Squad

A row about effort at Hammarby

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hampus Skoglund was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

Frederik Winther told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Frederik Winther has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Hammarby.

In brief

79 Edition

The Hammarby Chronicle

31 Jan 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Frederik Winther asks to leave Hammarby

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Hammarby

Montader Madjed 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 dugout

No hiding place for Paulos Abraham

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Paulos Abraham, and the manager let it.

The dugout

When it matters, Nahir Besara plays

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.

The dugout

Viktor Đukanović asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

The Markus Karlsson story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Markus Karlsson signs something — a contract at Hammarby or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

63 Edition

The Hammarby Chronicle

11 Oct 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at Hammarby

Nahir Besara 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.

Squad

Hampus Skoglund 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.

Looking ahead

Derby week at Hammarby

AIK next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.

The dugout

Viktor Đukanović 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.

The dugout

Nahir Besara 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 Nahir Besara is on it.

The dugout

Hammarby keep their word to Marius Söderbäck

Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.

Market

The Victor Eriksson question follows Hammarby around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Victor Eriksson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Paulos Abraham

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against AIK in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

Loan watch

Suwaibou Kebbeh keeps scoring at GIF Sundsvall

24 appearances away from home and 6 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.

In brief

55 Edition

The Hammarby Chronicle

16 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Market

Not going: Paulos Abraham stays at Hammarby

“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Aalborg had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.

Player ratings

Both of them Nahir Besara's — 8.45

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.45, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Transfer targets

Adam Wikman is a medical away from Hammarby

The deal with IK Sirius is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.

Market

So close: Marius Söderbäck’s move dies late

The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. KuPS moved on, Marius Söderbäck reports back to Hammarby, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.

Squad

Nahir Besara is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.33 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Transfer targets

Blau-Weiß Linz tell Hammarby: Karim Konaté is not for sale

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.

Match

Hammarby get the job done against Djurgarden

A 2‑1 win over Djurgarden, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Squad

Hammarby count the cost of losing Hugo Gyllenvall

55 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Squad

Matheo Elviersson Sica stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Matheo Elviersson Sica and Hammarby agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

In brief

54 Edition

The Hammarby Chronicle

9 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Not going: Obilor Okeke stays at Hammarby

“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Lyngby had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.

Market

Marius Söderbäck agrees terms with KuPS

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Hammarby people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Market

Esbjerg come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Hammarby did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Frederik Christensen

Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Alexander Lundin asks to leave Hammarby

“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 ratings

Victor Eriksson goes up and wins it — 7.85

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 7.85 for the rest of it.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hammarby

Nahir Besara 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.

Squad

Frederik Winther signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Frederik Winther and Hammarby agree another 4 years.

Match

The run is over for Hammarby

6 matches without defeat, and then Helsingborg. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.

In brief

52 Edition

The Hammarby Chronicle

26 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

The view from the top for Hammarby

40 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Match

Hammarby cannot stop winning

5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Nahir Besara yet — 8.37

At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.37 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Market

Paulos Abraham attracts admirers

The name of Paulos Abraham has come up in conversations Hammarby were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Market

Hammarby sign Marius Söderbäck for $720.0K

The paperwork is done: Marius Söderbäck joins from Kalmar FF in a deal worth $720.0K. Now comes the harder part.

Transfer targets

Hammarby rebuffed over Levi Garcia

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak Moscow have kept their man, and Hammarby go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Match

Hammarby see off Malmo FF

Three points for Hammarby, 2‑1 the final word against Malmo FF in a contest settled by the finer margins.

The dugout

Warner Hahn 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.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Nahir Besara

11 goals and a season average of 7.27 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

In brief

52 Edition

The Kalmar FF Sentinel

26 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Kalmar FF run riot against Trelleborg

3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Market

Malmo FF come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Kalmar FF did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Malcolm Stolt takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Player ratings

Oliver Kapsimalis, 20, steals the show — 8.10

Marked 8.10 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Market

Abdussalam Magashy’s move to Malmo FF falls through

The deal that would have taken Abdussalam Magashy to Malmo FF has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Kalmar FF with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.

Squad

Words exchanged at Kalmar FF

Joakim Nilsson 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.

Market

Kalmar FF sell Marius Söderbäck for $720.0K

Marius Söderbäck has left for Hammarby in a $720.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

Market

Kalmar FF sell Nassef Chourak for $580.0K

Nassef Chourak has left for Malmo FF in a $580.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Malcolm Stolt

Marked 9.33 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

In brief

51 Edition

The Hammarby Chronicle

19 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Hammarby turn down Brommapojkarna for Frederik Winther

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Marius Söderbäck

Hammarby and Kalmar FF have settled on $720.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Élohim Kaboré at 20 — 8.14

The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Élohim Kaboré did not need any: 8.14, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Match

Hammarby cannot stop winning

4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.

Squad

Victor Lind signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Victor Lind and Hammarby agree another 5 years.

Transfer targets

No deal for Victor Larsson at that price

Hammarby offered $420.0K; Kalmar FF said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.

Market

Oddevold join the queue for Jonathan Karlsson

Add another name to the list: Oddevold have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jonathan Karlsson. The answer from Hammarby has not changed — yet.

Boardroom

Hammarby beat the market to Bilal Hussein from Degerfors

Degerfors will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Bilal Hussein has pre-agreed a move to Hammarby, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.

Transfer targets

CSKA Moscow tell Hammarby: Tomáš Chorý is not for sale

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.

In brief

49 Edition

The Kalmar FF Sentinel

5 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Oliver Kapsimalis at 20 — 7.77

The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Oliver Kapsimalis did not need any: 7.77, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Market

Only the photograph left for Marius Söderbäck

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marius Söderbäck will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kalmar FF the goodbyes have quietly begun.

The dugout

Bartosz Ziółko says Kalmar FF went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Lars Sætra signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lars Sætra and Kalmar FF agree another 2 years.

Squad

Melker Hallberg 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.

Match

Kalmar FF get the job done against Utsikten

A 2‑1 win over Utsikten, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

The terraces

One of their own: Daniel Braut

He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.

Player ratings

Melker Hallberg in the eights

A performance of 8.32 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Squad

Nassef Chourak wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kalmar FF can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

In brief

  • Squad Nassef Chourak is no longer first choice
  • Boardroom Intake day at the Kalmar FF academy
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
48 Edition

The Kalmar FF Sentinel

28 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The step up is real for Oliver Kapsimalis

At 20 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Kalmar FF

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Melker Hallberg was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

A bad afternoon for Kalmar FF against GIF Sundsvall

0‑1 to GIF Sundsvall, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Nassef Chourak

“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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Kalmar FF

Harald Martin Hauso 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.

The dugout

Simon Granqvist faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Simon Granqvist after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

Abdussalam Magashy 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 Abdussalam Magashy is on it.

Looking ahead

Hugo Fagerberg faces his old club

Utsikten next, and one man in the Kalmar FF dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.

Market

The Malcolm Stolt question follows Kalmar FF around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Malcolm Stolt’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

47 Edition

The Kalmar FF Sentinel

21 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Cup progress for Kalmar FF

A 1‑0 win over Västerås SK, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?

Player ratings

Oliver Kapsimalis, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.61

A mark of 7.61 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

The terraces

Kalmar FF supporters have found a favourite in Charles Sagoe Jr

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Charles Sagoe Jr has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

The dugout

Victor Larsson 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.

Match

Kalmar FF come up short against IK Brage

IK Brage left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

A row about effort at Kalmar FF

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Robert Gojani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Nobody on the pitch touched Abdussalam Magashy

7.70, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Kalmar FF had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Simon Granqvist to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Robert Gojani

The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.

In brief

45 Edition

The Kalmar FF Sentinel

7 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

A 2-goal lead gone for Kalmar FF

It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Sandviken kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Kalmar FF will be asked about the last half hour all week.

Market

Only the photograph left for Marius Söderbäck

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marius Söderbäck will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kalmar FF the goodbyes have quietly begun.

The dugout

Jakob Jäger Röding says Kalmar FF went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Mustapha Isah out for 40 days

The medical room confirms 40 days on the sidelines for Mustapha Isah, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Squad

Tempers go at Kalmar FF

Joakim Nilsson 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.

Squad

Words at Kalmar FF training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Melker Hallberg 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.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Mustapha Isah at his very best

Marked 8.27. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Kalmar FF.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Daniel Braut at his very best

Marked 8.21. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Kalmar FF.

Player ratings

Abdi Sabriye in the eights

A performance of 8.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

In brief

41 Edition

The Kalmar FF Sentinel

10 May 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Jakob Jäger Röding is the hero from the spot

A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Jakob Jäger Röding: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.

Match

Kalmar FF march on in the cup

Landskrona BoIS are out and Kalmar FF go through, 2‑2 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Player ratings

Abdussalam Magashy scores twice — 8.16

Two goals and a mark of 8.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Oliver Kapsimalis, 19, steals the show — 8.13

Marked 8.13 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Market

Marius Söderbäck is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kalmar FF is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

A falling-out at Kalmar FF

Nassef Chourak and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The terraces

Kalmar FF supporters have found a favourite in Oliver Kapsimalis

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Oliver Kapsimalis has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

Match

Östersund take the points off Kalmar FF

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Robert Gojani 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.

In brief

40 Edition

The Kalmar FF Sentinel

3 May 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A falling-out at Kalmar FF

Victor Larsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Melker Hallberg 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.

Squad

Nassef Chourak wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kalmar FF can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Player ratings

Abdi Sabriye was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Nassef Chourak

“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 ratings

Malcolm Stolt stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.47 on the card, and the Kalmar FF support went home talking about one name.

Squad

A step back for Marius Söderbäck at Kalmar FF

Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.

Match

Honours even between Kalmar FF and Halmstad

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

The dugout

Victor Larsson asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

38 Edition

The Kalmar FF Sentinel

19 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Lars Sætra damages knee ligaments — 15 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.

The dugout

Tarik Karic: 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.” Kalmar FF have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Match

No end in sight to Kalmar FF's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Kalmar FF has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

A falling-out at Kalmar FF

Joakim Nilsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Daniel Braut ran the middle of the pitch — 6.70

He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 6.70, and not one of them will make a highlights package.

Match

Landskrona BoIS take the points off Kalmar FF

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Hugo Fagerberg

“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.

Squad

Robert Gojani 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.

Squad

Home is on Fabiano Pacia's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Kalmar FF are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

In brief

37 Edition

The Kalmar FF Sentinel

12 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Lars Sætra out for 23 days

23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kalmar FF lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Only the photograph left for Marius Söderbäck

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marius Söderbäck will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kalmar FF the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Match

After 8 games, Kalmar FF finally taste it again

The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Trelleborg; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.

Squad

Words exchanged at Kalmar FF

Joakim Nilsson 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 targets

Door shut on Hugo Keto

Kalmar FF asked and IFK Värnamo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

Words at Kalmar FF training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mustapha Isah 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.

Squad

Home is on Emeka Nnamani's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Kalmar FF are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Match

The run at home goes on for Kalmar FF

8 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Match

Trelleborg take the points off Kalmar FF

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

In brief

35 Edition

The Kalmar FF Sentinel

29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Daniel Braut is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Market

Marius Söderbäck attracts admirers

The name of Marius Söderbäck has come up in conversations Kalmar FF were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Transfer targets

Isak Helstad Amundsen will not be coming to Kalmar FF

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Brann is saying, and nobody at Kalmar FF is enjoying the guessing.

Market

Business is business: Jakob Kindberg goes

IK Sirius paid $120.0K and Kalmar FF took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Transfer targets

Kalmar FF rebuffed over Buster Runheim

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Orebro have kept their man, and Kalmar FF go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Isak Helstad Amundsen is in the works

Kalmar FF have made the call to Brann. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

Transfer targets

Kalmar FF try to borrow Jakob Jäger Röding

GIF Sundsvall have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

The dugout

Charles Sagoe Jr has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Kalmar FF 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.

Squad

A season on the outside for Mustapha Isah

He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Kalmar FF has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.

In brief

34 Edition

The Kalmar FF Sentinel

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Kalmar FF are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 23 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Isak Helstad Amundsen

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Kalmar FF have done the hard part with Brann, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Squad

Melker Hallberg 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.

Squad

Mustapha Isah needs a bigger stage

He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Kalmar FF know which stage they are at.

Squad

A falling-out at Kalmar FF

Harald Martin Hauso and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

10 new faces, and Kalmar FF are still learning each other

A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.

The dugout

When it matters, Marius Söderbäck plays

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.

Market

The Victor Larsson question follows Kalmar FF around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Victor Larsson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

No hiding place for Oliver Kapsimalis

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oliver Kapsimalis, and the manager let it.

In brief

33 Edition

The Kalmar FF Sentinel

15 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Marius Söderbäck agrees terms with Trelleborg

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kalmar FF people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Market

Kalmar FF turn down IK Sirius for Jakob Kindberg

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Kalmar FF sell Anthony Olusanya for $1.6M

Anthony Olusanya has left for Helsingborg in a $1.6M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

Squad

A falling-out at Kalmar FF

Victor Larsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Home is on Marius Söderbäck's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Kalmar FF are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Squad

A row about effort at Kalmar FF

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Melker Hallberg was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Daniel Braut has outgrown this division

There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Kalmar FF know it, and so does everybody who watches him.

Market

Kalmar FF buy the years ahead of Nikolaj Staykov

He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Isak Helstad Amundsen is in the works

Kalmar FF have made the call to Brann. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

In brief

32 Edition

The Kalmar FF Sentinel

8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Kalmar FF say no — this time

The offer from Ilves for Marius Söderbäck 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.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Nikolaj Staykov

Kalmar FF and AIK have settled on $340.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

Squad

Joakim Nilsson stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Joakim Nilsson and Kalmar FF agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Market

Eyes on Jakob Kindberg again

The phone has started ringing about Jakob Kindberg again, and this time the name on the line is IK Sirius. Kalmar FF are listening politely and promising nothing.

Transfer targets

Hammarby tell Kalmar FF: Alexander Lundin is not for sale

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.

Market

The Anthony Olusanya conversation is coming

Everyone has stopped pretending: Helsingborg will make the call about Anthony Olusanya this week. Kalmar FF have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.

Squad

Words at Kalmar FF training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Robert Gojani 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.

Squad

Nassef Chourak wants to go home

“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Kalmar FF know it.

The dugout

Anthony Olusanya 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.

In brief

31 Edition

The Ilves Post

1 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

JIPPO come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Ilves did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Transfer targets

Ilves agree $43.0K for Elmeri Lappalainen

The clubs have shaken hands with IF Gnistan; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

Market

Niilo Husu is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ilves is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Market

Eyes on Yiandro Raap again

The phone has started ringing about Yiandro Raap again, and this time the name on the line is TPS. Ilves are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad

Andre Raymond wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ilves can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Transfer targets

Vicenza tell Ilves: Thomas Sandon is not for sale

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.

Squad

A falling-out at Ilves

Goudouss Bamba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Ilves ask about Marius Söderbäck

A loan enquiry to Kalmar FF: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Market

The Elias Tamminen story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Elias Tamminen signs something — a contract at Ilves or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

  • The dugout Jardell Kanga has become a man the manager trusts
  • Squad Kelwin is no longer first choice
  • Squad Gabriel Rasho falls out with a teammate over standards
30 Edition

The Kalmar FF Sentinel

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Terms done: Marius Söderbäck is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Umeå FC waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Kalmar FF is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Match

Kalmar FF up to position 3

23 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Squad

A falling-out at Kalmar FF

Joakim Nilsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Kalmar FF

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Melker Hallberg was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Kalmar FF rebuffed over Peter Christiansen

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Viking have kept their man, and Kalmar FF go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Marius Söderbäck

“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.

Transfer targets

Kalmar FF ask about Isak Määttä

A loan enquiry to Bodo/Glimt: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Adam Danko is in the works

Kalmar FF have made the call to Kolding IF. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

The dugout

Emeka Nnamani knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Emeka Nnamani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

29 Edition

The Kalmar FF Sentinel

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Kalmar FF say no — this time

The offer from Östersund for Marius Söderbäck 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.

Squad

Words at Kalmar FF training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Robert Gojani 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.

Squad

Nassef Chourak 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 Kalmar FF this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Kalmar FF ask about Duarte Moreira

A loan enquiry to Brann: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Transfer targets

Kalmar FF ask about Eric Kahl

A loan enquiry to AGF: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Squad

5 new faces, and Kalmar FF are still learning each other

A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.

The dugout

Marius Söderbäck has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Kalmar FF 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.

Market

The Victor Larsson story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Victor Larsson signs something — a contract at Kalmar FF or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Squad

Emeka Nnamani still has not settled

A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Kalmar FF would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.

In brief

27 Edition

The Kalmar FF Sentinel

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Zakarias Råvik puts it in writing

“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 Kalmar FF, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Melker Hallberg 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Kalmar FF

Nassef Chourak 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.

Squad

Kalmar FF lose Bartosz Ziółko

14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad

“I want to play”: Marius Söderbäck speaks

“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.

The dugout

The manager makes Anthony Olusanya a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Kalmar FF. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

25 Edition

The Kalmar FF Sentinel

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Melker Hallberg 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.

Squad

Bartosz Ziółko 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 Kalmar FF this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

When it matters, Marius Söderbäck plays

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.

Market

The Victor Larsson story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Victor Larsson signs something — a contract at Kalmar FF or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Bartosz Ziółko

“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 dugout

Abdussalam Magashy asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

24 Edition

The Kalmar FF Sentinel

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at Kalmar FF

Joakim Nilsson 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.

Squad

Marius Söderbäck stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Marius Söderbäck and Kalmar FF agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Words at Kalmar FF training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Melker Hallberg 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 dugout

Marius Söderbäck 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.

The dugout

When it matters, Charles Sagoe Jr plays

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.

The dugout

Emeka Nnamani knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Emeka Nnamani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

21 Edition

The Kalmar FF Sentinel

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Melker Hallberg 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Jesper Löfgren

“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 dugout

Marius Söderbäck 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 Marius Söderbäck is on it.

The dugout

Victor Larsson knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Victor Larsson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

Still no signature from Aboubacar Keita

1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Kalmar FF could get for him.

Market

The Victor Larsson story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Victor Larsson signs something — a contract at Kalmar FF or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Squad

Vilmer Tyrén wants out of the dugout

“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Kalmar FF will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.

Squad

The penny has dropped for Charles Sagoe Jr

He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Kalmar FF the difference is visible from the back of the stand.

The dugout

The manager plants his flag on Nassef Chourak

“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Nassef Chourak’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.

In brief

20 Edition

The Kalmar FF Sentinel

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Samuel Brolin is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kalmar FF is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

A falling-out at Kalmar FF

Nassef Chourak and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Talks stall between Kalmar FF and Aboubacar Keita

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

Market

Still no signature from Samuel Brolin

1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Kalmar FF could get for him.

The dugout

Vilmer Tyrén 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.

The dugout

Charles Sagoe Jr 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 Charles Sagoe Jr is on it.

Market

The Malcolm Stolt talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kalmar FF know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

Squad

Marius Söderbäck has had enough of the bench

“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Kalmar FF will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.

The dugout

A door opens for Anthony Olusanya

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.

In brief

17 Edition

The Kalmar FF Sentinel

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Anthony Olusanya has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kalmar FF they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

The dugout

Nassef Chourak says Kalmar FF went back on their word

“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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Emeka Nnamani

“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 dugout

Marius Söderbäck has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Kalmar FF 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.

The dugout

Robert Gojani 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 Kalmar FF, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

Anthony Olusanya runs his contract down

1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Kalmar FF money.

Market

The Victor Larsson story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Victor Larsson signs something — a contract at Kalmar FF or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Squad

The penny has dropped for Kasper Paananen

He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Kalmar FF the difference is visible from the back of the stand.

Squad

Kasper Paananen is training like a man with a point to make

Nobody has promised him anything and he has not asked. The coaching staff have noticed, which at this stage of a season is the only thing that matters.

In brief

13 Edition

The Kalmar FF Sentinel

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Abdussalam Magashy damages knee ligaments — 42 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.

Market

Anthony Olusanya has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kalmar FF they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Words at Kalmar FF training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Melker Hallberg 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 dugout

Malcolm Stolt 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Kalmar FF

Harald Martin Hauso 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.

The dugout

Simon Granqvist: “We have to be better”

“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.

Player ratings

Melker Hallberg leaves them behind him

Shots: 11. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.

Match

Kalmar FF and GIF Sundsvall cancel each other out

Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. GIF Sundsvall came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.

Player ratings

Charles Sagoe Jr unlocks it

Chances created: 9. The column nobody reads carried the whole story of the match, and his name was at the top of it.

In brief

6 Edition

The Kalmar FF Sentinel

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Samuel Brolin 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 Kalmar FF can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Abdussalam Magashy is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kalmar FF is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

A row about effort at Kalmar FF

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Melker Hallberg was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

Kalmar FF beat the market to Kevin Jensen from Landskrona BoIS

Landskrona BoIS will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Kevin Jensen has pre-agreed a move to Kalmar FF, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.

Squad

Kalmar FF lose Jakob Kindberg

48 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad

Tempers go at Kalmar FF

Nassef Chourak 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.

Market

Still no ink between Kalmar FF and Malcolm Stolt

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kalmar FF, another week without a signature from Malcolm Stolt.

Squad

Noah Shamoun slips down the pecking order

The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Noah Shamoun is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.

The dugout

When it matters, Marius Söderbäck plays

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.

In brief

3 Edition

The Kalmar FF Sentinel

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Kalmar FF through in the cup

A 2‑0 win over Västerås SK, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.

Player ratings

Both of them Marius Söderbäck's — 8.13

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.13, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Boardroom

Kalmar FF close the window on a squad of their own making

9 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.

Boardroom

Kalmar FF go back to the board over Filip Öhman

The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $34.1K — a club that wants Filip Öhman enough to be asked twice.

Transfer targets

Kalmar FF make their move for Filip Öhman

$33.0K on the table at BK Hacken. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Squad

Melker Hallberg 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 targets

FC Copenhagen tell Kalmar FF: Rúnar Alex Rúnarsson is not for sale

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 terraces

The crowd has taken to Charles Sagoe Jr

At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Samuel Brolin

“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.

In brief