Marked for David Agbo
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ekenäs IF is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad28 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 Ekenäs IF this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“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; Ekenäs IF are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Loan watch28 Sep 2026
“I watch every Ekenäs IF game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at JäPS runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad28 Sep 2026
August Björklund 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
Oskari Sallinen 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 Ekenäs IF this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout21 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 Stanislav Efimov is on it.
Market21 Sep 2026
Still no signature from David Agbo
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Ekenäs IF could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match9 Sep 2026
AC Oulu ended it 1‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market14 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ekenäs IF is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Ekenäs IF
Johan Guadagno 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 dugout14 Sep 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Ekenäs IF
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nasiru Mohammed was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Ekenäs IF are still strangers to each other
12 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Market14 Sep 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout14 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 Nasiru Mohammed is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2026
Oliver Heino is the hero from the spot
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Oliver Heino: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match26 Aug 2026
Ekenäs IF march on in the cup
JIPPO are out and Ekenäs IF go through, 1‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
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 Ekenäs IF, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market31 Aug 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ekenäs IF is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad31 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 Ekenäs IF this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Ekenäs IF ran out of time with HJK. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
It was his to settle and he did not settle it. A long walk back to the halfway line, and a considerably longer week.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 7.90. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Jaakko Raitala after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over SalPa, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Market24 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 Ekenäs IF, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Johan Guadagno and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Ekenäs IF asked and Kalmar FF said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The clock did what KuPS would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
At 21 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Ekenäs IF
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nasiru Mohammed was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
7.68, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Ekenäs IF had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oskari Sallinen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ekenäs IF the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market17 Aug 2026
SalPa come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Ekenäs IF did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Ekenäs IF and KuPS have settled on $430.0K. 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Deadline passes with 19 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Ekenäs IF until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Oskari Sallinen has agreed terms with AC Oulu for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Ekenäs IF have gone to HJK 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Ekenäs IF
Johan Guadagno 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 targets17 Aug 2026
Ekenäs IF asked and AC Oulu said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Aug 2026
12 new faces, and Ekenäs IF 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match8 Aug 2026
SalPa will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Ekenäs IF were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market10 Aug 2026
Ekenäs IF say no — this time
The offer from PK-35 for August Björklund 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 targets10 Aug 2026
The deal with IF Gnistan 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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. David Agbo has agreed terms with HJK for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Johan Guadagno and Ekenäs IF agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 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 Ekenäs IF this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
David Agbo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.86. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Robin Granlund is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Aug 2026
Ekenäs IF say no — this time
The offer from KTP for Saidou Bah 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Thadèe Kaleba and Ekenäs IF agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Oliver Heino 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ekenäs IF can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
The crowd has taken to Saidou Bah
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Ekenäs IF
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nasiru Mohammed was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ekenäs IF, another week without a signature from Oskari Sallinen.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Thadèe Kaleba’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Iiro Mendolin is in the works
Ekenäs IF have made the call to AC Oulu. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.