Aaro Soiniemi

Left Back - IFK Mariehamn
18 Oct 2029
Thursday
Process

Marked for Aaro Soiniemi

168 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

15 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Osafo Antwi signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Osafo Antwi commits to IFK Mariehamn for another 3 years.

Squad

IFK Mariehamn are still strangers to each other

7 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at IFK Mariehamn

Luka Nuorela 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

Aaro Soiniemi 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

Arvid Bergvik 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 Arvid Bergvik is on it.

The dugout

Aaro Soiniemi 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

Back issues
167 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

8 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Joonas Pyhälä: 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.” IFK Mariehamn have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Sebastian Dahlström stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Sebastian Dahlström and IFK Mariehamn agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Sebastian Dahlström 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 IFK Mariehamn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A place in the month's best eleven for Rui Monteiro

Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Rui Monteiro has come out of that comparison in the side, and IFK Mariehamn have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.

The dugout

Aaro Soiniemi has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at IFK Mariehamn 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

Rashid Abubakar has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Rashid Abubakar has written the date down.

In brief

166 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

1 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A falling-out at IFK Mariehamn

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

Squad

Words at IFK Mariehamn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aaro Soiniemi 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

Samson Ngulube 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 Samson Ngulube is on it.

Squad

Rashid Abubakar 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 IFK Mariehamn would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.

The dugout

Hannes Gamper 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 Hannes Gamper trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

The Jelle van der Heyden question follows IFK Mariehamn around

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

In brief

165 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

24 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Words exchanged at IFK Mariehamn

Sebastian Dahlström 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

Words at IFK Mariehamn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aaro Soiniemi 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

The manager makes an example of Arvid Bergvik

“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.

Market

The Rui Monteiro talk will not go away

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

The dugout

Hannes Gamper 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.

The dugout

Aidan Ibrahimaga has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at IFK Mariehamn 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.

In brief

163 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

10 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

IFK Mariehamn finish in position 7

28 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.

Player ratings

Rui Monteiro was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 24. 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.

Squad

Tempers go at IFK Mariehamn

Yeboah Amankwah 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

Sebastian Dahlström 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

Samson Ngulube signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Samson Ngulube and IFK Mariehamn agree another 4 years.

Player ratings

Adam Larsson takes the honours

Marked 7.67 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, IFK Mariehamn had the best player on the pitch.

Player ratings

Wrong net for Anttoni Huttunen

A touch he did not mean and a goal that goes in the book with his name against it. IFK Mariehamn will not blame him tonight and he will not need them to.

Match

Honours even between IFK Mariehamn and Ilves

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

The manager makes an example of Samson Ngulube

“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

162 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

3 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Words exchanged at IFK Mariehamn

Yeboah Amankwah 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.

Match

IFK Mariehamn find a way past VPS

VPS made IFK Mariehamn work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

Rui Monteiro was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.17. 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.

Squad

Daniel Hamalainen signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daniel Hamalainen commits to IFK Mariehamn for another 3 years.

Squad

Words at IFK Mariehamn training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aaro Soiniemi 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 place in the month's best eleven for Manassé Diallo

Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Manassé Diallo has come out of that comparison in the side, and IFK Mariehamn have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Paulus Uronen, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

The dugout

Samson Ngulube 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 Samson Ngulube is on it.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Matias Riikonen

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

In brief

160 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

20 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Teppo Marttinen agrees terms with Ilves

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

Boardroom

Window shuts: 11 in, 7 out at IFK Mariehamn

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 11 arrived, 7 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Squad

Tempers go at IFK Mariehamn

Sebastian Dahlström was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Rhys Walters

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

Match

IFK Mariehamn come up short against HJK

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

The dugout

Paulus Uronen: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Squad

A row about effort at IFK Mariehamn

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

Transfer targets

A loan move for Troy Nyhammer is in the works

IFK Mariehamn have made the call to Bodo/Glimt. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

Transfer targets

IFK Mariehamn try to borrow Tyler Fletcher

Slovan Bratislava 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.

In brief

159 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

13 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

IFK Mariehamn turn down HIFK for Arvid Lundberg

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

Squad

Sebastian Dahlström 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 IFK Mariehamn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Manassé Diallo signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Manassé Diallo commits to IFK Mariehamn for another 4 years.

Transfer targets

IFK Mariehamn rebuffed over Flavio Sulejmani

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

Match

IFK Mariehamn get the job done against RoPS

A 2‑0 win over RoPS, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

Rui Monteiro was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.26. 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.

Market

Aatu Koivuporras already looking beyond IFK Mariehamn

He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.

Market

IFK Mariehamn sign Aatu Koivuporras, one for the future

Aatu Koivuporras is 20, and IFK Mariehamn have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.

The dugout

Paulus Uronen 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.” Paulus Uronen on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

In brief

152 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

25 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

9 matches without a win for IFK Mariehamn

The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around IFK Mariehamn are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Tempers go at IFK Mariehamn

Sebastian Dahlström 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.

Match

Halfway: IFK Mariehamn sit in position 8

13 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.

Player ratings

Marlo Hyvönen beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Player ratings

Rui Monteiro was the difference for IFK Mariehamn

Marked 7.32. 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 dugout

Paulus Uronen: “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.

The dugout

Tuomas Koivisto dropped after a run of poor form

The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.

Match

No goals between IFK Mariehamn and Ilves

Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Ilves will be the happier side with the point.

The dugout

Aaro Soiniemi 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 Aaro Soiniemi is on it.

In brief

148 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

28 May 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Mikael Hoskonen

41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. IFK Mariehamn lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Arvid Lundberg 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 IFK Mariehamn, and it is not being withdrawn.

Match

5 matches without a win for IFK Mariehamn

The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around IFK Mariehamn are no longer polite ones.

Match

5 matches without a goal for IFK Mariehamn

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Squad

Tempers go at IFK Mariehamn

Yeboah Amankwah 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.

Match

IFK Mariehamn come up short against RoPS

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

Player ratings

Rashid Abubakar was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 18. 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.

Squad

A row about effort at IFK Mariehamn

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

The dugout

Paulus Uronen faces the questions

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

In brief

147 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

21 May 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Teppo Marttinen is the hero from the spot

A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Teppo Marttinen: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.

Player ratings

Milton Jansson runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

IFK Mariehamn bow out of the cup

KTP go through and IFK Mariehamn go home, 0‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.

Match

No end in sight to IFK Mariehamn's wait for a win

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

Match

After 8 games, IFK Mariehamn 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 FC Lahti; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.

Match

IFK Mariehamn cannot find the net

4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

Match

FC Lahti take the points off IFK Mariehamn

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

Squad

Arvid Lundberg 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

IFK Mariehamn count the cost of losing Samson Ngulube

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

In brief

146 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

14 May 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Atte Valakari

14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. IFK Mariehamn lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Marlo Hyvönen

Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Still nobody has beaten IFK Mariehamn

The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Squad

Aaro Soiniemi reaches 100 appearances

100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.

Squad

Elliot Holmäng 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 IFK Mariehamn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

No hiding place for Jerry Voutilainen

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

The dugout

Paulus Uronen on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Paulus Uronen after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Jelle van der Heyden

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.

Looking ahead

The leaders are next for IFK Mariehamn

FC Lahti top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.

In brief

143 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

23 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Atte Valakari out for 36 days

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

Squad

Yeboah Amankwah 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 IFK Mariehamn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

IFK Mariehamn find a way past KuPS

KuPS made IFK Mariehamn work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

Adam Larsson makes it 200

200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.

Player ratings

The afternoon belonged to Rui Monteiro

A mark of 7.83, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.

Squad

Joni Kamara stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Joni Kamara and IFK Mariehamn agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

A satisfied Paulus Uronen

“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Paulus Uronen could afford to be generous.

The dugout

Aaro Soiniemi has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at IFK Mariehamn 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.

Looking ahead

Elliot Holmäng goes back to face FF Jaro

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Elliot Holmäng’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and IFK Mariehamn needing him to play as if none of it matters.

In brief

139 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

26 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Transfer targets

David Amdam due for a IFK Mariehamn medical

Everything agreed with Rosenborg, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Romaric Etonde

IFK Mariehamn asked and Monaco 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

A falling-out at IFK Mariehamn

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

The dugout

Aaro Soiniemi has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at IFK Mariehamn 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

Matias Riikonen called up by his country

A window away with the national side, and a shirt at IFK Mariehamn that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.

The dugout

Anttoni Huttunen has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Anttoni Huttunen has written the date down.

Market

Arvid Lundberg linked with a move away

The name of Arvid Lundberg keeps appearing in other people's back pages. IFK Mariehamn say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

The manager comes out for Sebastian Dahlström

Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Sebastian Dahlström has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.

Squad

The training reports on Milton Jansson are not good

A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.

In brief

135 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

26 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Transfer targets

$1.2M settles it between the clubs for Simon van Duivenbooden

HIFK have accepted the money. What IFK Mariehamn do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Transfer targets

Romaric Etonde turns down IFK Mariehamn

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Monaco keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

Yeboah Amankwah 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 IFK Mariehamn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

IFK Mariehamn try to borrow Kristian Bilovar

Dynamo Kyiv 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.

Squad

Elliot Holmäng signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Elliot Holmäng commits to IFK Mariehamn for another 4 years.

Squad

The formation has left Elliot Holmäng behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. IFK Mariehamn will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

The dugout

Aaro Soiniemi has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at IFK Mariehamn 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

Nikos Dosis 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 IFK Mariehamn, and both men came out saying it was fine.

The dugout

A door opens for Rashid Abubakar

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

131 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

29 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at IFK Mariehamn

Sebastian Dahlström 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

When it matters, Aaro Soiniemi 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

Arvid Lundberg 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 IFK Mariehamn, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

127 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

1 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Arvid Lundberg 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 IFK Mariehamn, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Yeboah Amankwah 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 IFK Mariehamn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Milton Jansson signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Milton Jansson commits to IFK Mariehamn for another 4 years.

The dugout

Milton Jansson 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

Aaro Soiniemi has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at IFK Mariehamn 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

Rashid Abubakar remains an outsider

A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at IFK Mariehamn would admit. It shows on Saturdays.

In brief

123 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

4 Dec 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Arvid Lundberg 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 IFK Mariehamn can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Tempers go at IFK Mariehamn

Sebastian Dahlström 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

Aaro Soiniemi signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Aaro Soiniemi and IFK Mariehamn agree another 4 years.

The dugout

No hiding place for Samson Ngulube

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

The dugout

Aaro Soiniemi 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 Aaro Soiniemi is on it.

The dugout

Arvid Lundberg 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 IFK Mariehamn, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

115 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

9 Oct 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at IFK Mariehamn

Sebastian Dahlström 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

Jelle van der Heyden stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Jelle van der Heyden and IFK Mariehamn agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Anttoni Huttunen

“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

104 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

24 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Aaro Soiniemi

15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. IFK Mariehamn lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A fracture rules Anttoni Huttunen out for 15 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason IFK Mariehamn will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

The dugout

Anttoni Huttunen says IFK Mariehamn 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.

Transfer targets

IFK Mariehamn bid $980.0K for Tòfol Montiel

The offer went to FC Lahti this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Transfer targets

IFK Mariehamn bid $170.0K for Josep Nuorela

The offer went to VPS this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Boardroom

IFK Mariehamn beat the market to Joona Veteli from HJK

HJK will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Joona Veteli has pre-agreed a move to IFK Mariehamn, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.

Match

IFK Mariehamn find a way past Inter Turku

Inter Turku made IFK Mariehamn work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

Michael Fonsell reaches 100 appearances

100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.

Squad

Matias Riikonen reaches 25 shut-outs

25 games in 134 appearances where nobody scored at all. A keeper's career is counted in nothing happening, and none of this happened by accident.

In brief

  • Player ratings The afternoon belonged to Rui Monteiro
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout A promise honoured at IFK Mariehamn
103 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

17 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Aaro Soiniemi out for 23 days

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

Squad

Anttoni Huttunen breaks a bone — 23 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Arvid Lundberg 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 IFK Mariehamn can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

Aaro Soiniemi says IFK Mariehamn 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

Words exchanged at IFK Mariehamn

Sebastian Dahlström 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.

Match

FF Jaro take the points off IFK Mariehamn

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

The dugout

Michael Fonsell 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

Paulus Uronen answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Marlo Hyvönen

Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

102 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

10 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Aaro Soiniemi damages knee ligaments — 30 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.

Squad

A fracture rules Anttoni Huttunen out for 31 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason IFK Mariehamn will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Tempers go at IFK Mariehamn

Sebastian Dahlström 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.

Match

IFK Mariehamn come up short against KuPS

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

Player ratings

Rui Monteiro was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 18. 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 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 Paulus Uronen to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

The form table has caught Jerry Voutilainen

Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Nikos Dosis

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. IFK Mariehamn told Nikos Dosis something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

The dugout

Jelle van der Heyden is still paying for one afternoon at IFK Mariehamn

Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.

In brief

101 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

3 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Aaro Soiniemi damages knee ligaments — 38 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.

Squad

A fracture rules Anttoni Huttunen out for 39 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason IFK Mariehamn will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Marlo Hyvönen

Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Sebastian Dahlström 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 IFK Mariehamn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

Jerry Voutilainen 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

IFK Mariehamn get the job done against HIFK

A 1‑0 win over HIFK, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

Sebastian Dahlström stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.91 on the card, and the IFK Mariehamn support went home talking about one name.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Jerry Voutilainen

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.

Boardroom

7 new boys at the IFK Mariehamn academy

Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.

In brief

100 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

26 Jun 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Aaro Soiniemi

46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. IFK Mariehamn lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Noah Nurmi has one foot out of the door

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

Squad

Words exchanged at IFK Mariehamn

Noah Nurmi 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 terraces

IFK Mariehamn supporters have found a favourite in Marlo Hyvönen

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Marlo Hyvönen 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

Sebastian Dahlström the difference as IFK Mariehamn beat Ilves

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sebastian Dahlström. 1‑0 against Ilves, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

Rui Monteiro runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

Sebastian Dahlström was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.21. 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.

Match

The half-term report on IFK Mariehamn

Position 6, 16 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Paulus Uronen, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

In brief

99 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

19 Jun 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Aaro Soiniemi out for 55 days

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

Squad

A falling-out at IFK Mariehamn

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

Match

IFK Mariehamn come up short against VPS

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

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Paulus Uronen left the room before anybody could ask which.

Looking ahead

Emmanuel Patut faces his old club

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

Market

The Rui Monteiro talk will not go away

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

The dugout

Leo Andersson has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at IFK Mariehamn 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

The manager makes Jerry Voutilainen a promise

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

Player ratings

Sebastian Dahlström runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 10. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

In brief

98 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

12 Jun 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Aaro Soiniemi damages knee ligaments — 62 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 62 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.

Match

IFK Mariehamn see off SJK

Three points for IFK Mariehamn, 1‑0 the final word against SJK in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Squad

Home is on Osafo Antwi'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; IFK Mariehamn are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Player ratings

Adam Larsson takes the honours

Marked 7.72 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, IFK Mariehamn had the best player on the pitch.

The dugout

The form table has caught Jerry Voutilainen

Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.

The dugout

A satisfied Paulus Uronen

“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Paulus Uronen could afford to be generous.

Player ratings

Marlo Hyvönen beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

The dugout

Jerry Voutilainen 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 Jerry Voutilainen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Jerry Voutilainen

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

In brief

97 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

5 Jun 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Aaro Soiniemi

70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. IFK Mariehamn lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Rashid Abubakar is no longer first choice

The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Rashid Abubakar has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.

The dugout

Paulus Uronen: “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.

Match

IFK Mariehamn draw a blank against HJK

The crowd waited for a goal that never came. HJK defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Tuomas Koivisto

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

The dugout

Jelle van der Heyden 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 IFK Mariehamn, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

Emmanuel Patut linked with a move away

The name of Emmanuel Patut keeps appearing in other people's back pages. IFK Mariehamn say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

When it matters, Teppo Marttinen 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.

Player ratings

Rui Monteiro was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 10. 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.

In brief

96 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

29 May 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Aaro Soiniemi out for 77 days

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

Market

Noah Nurmi has one foot out of the door

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

Player ratings

Rui Monteiro runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

A falling-out at IFK Mariehamn

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

Match

At last: IFK Mariehamn win one

6 matches without a win, and then this, against RoPS. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.

Squad

Arvid Lundberg signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Arvid Lundberg and IFK Mariehamn agree another 4 years.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Marlo Hyvönen

At 23 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.

Match

IFK Mariehamn find a way past RoPS

RoPS made IFK Mariehamn work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

Nothing got past Noah Nurmi

Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.

In brief

95 Edition

The IFK Mariehamn Sentinel

22 May 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Aaro Soiniemi out for 84 days

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

Match

No end in sight to IFK Mariehamn's wait for a win

6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at IFK Mariehamn has to find a result from somewhere.

Match

4 matches without a goal for IFK Mariehamn

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Squad

Words exchanged at IFK Mariehamn

Sebastian Dahlström 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.

Player ratings

Rui Monteiro 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.

Squad

Jiri Nissinen reaches 200 appearances

200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.

Squad

IFK Mariehamn count the cost of losing Lassi Huuhka

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

The dugout

IFK Mariehamn pick somebody else ahead of Jerry Voutilainen

There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Paulus Uronen chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.

In brief