Marked for Matias Babb
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at AC Oulu
Simon van Duivenbooden 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A row about effort at AC Oulu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihailo Bogićević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matias Babb, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Son 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 AC Oulu would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“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.
Market8 Nov 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Alex Lietsa may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 Aug 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at AC Oulu, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market9 Aug 2027
The chase for Ali-Abubakar Torfiq ended with $1.6M changing hands and Haka out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Match7 Aug 2027
At last: AC Oulu win one
7 matches without a win, and then this, against Haka. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Simon van Duivenbooden 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.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Elias Kallio beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The terraces9 Aug 2027
The town asked, and AC Oulu paid $1.6M
Ali-Abubakar Torfiq was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $1.6M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at AC Oulu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Son 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.
Market9 Aug 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. AC Oulu have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match7 Aug 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Onni Tiihonen. 1‑0 against Haka, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Jul 2027
“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 AC Oulu, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match24 Jul 2027
6 matches without a win for AC Oulu
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around AC Oulu are no longer polite ones.
Match24 Jul 2027
6 matches without a goal for AC Oulu
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Market26 Jul 2027
AC Oulu spend $1.4M to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $1.4M has been paid because Simon van Duivenbooden is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“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.
Market26 Jul 2027
Ekenäs IF come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and AC Oulu did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
AC Oulu asked and Haka 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 targets26 Jul 2027
The offer went to HJK 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.
Market26 Jul 2027
The paperwork is done: Niklas Harju joins from TPS in a deal worth $270.0K. Now comes the harder part.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
$120.0K settles it between the clubs for Emil Leveälahti
HJK have accepted the money. What AC Oulu do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market19 Jul 2027
AC Oulu say no — this time
The offer from Haka for Santeri Silander 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.
Match17 Jul 2027
5 matches without a win for AC Oulu
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around AC Oulu are no longer polite ones.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
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.
Match17 Jul 2027
5 matches without a goal for AC Oulu
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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Oulu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market19 Jul 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. AC Oulu have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at AC Oulu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Son 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.
Match17 Jul 2027
A bad afternoon for AC Oulu against FF Jaro
0‑2 to FF Jaro, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Jun 2027
A falling-out at AC Oulu
Miguel Santos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Loan watch14 Jun 2027
“I did not go to SJK to sit and watch. I want to come back to AC Oulu and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“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.
Match12 Jun 2027
A bad afternoon for AC Oulu against Ilves
0‑1 to Ilves, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A row about effort at AC Oulu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihailo Bogićević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“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.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
The form table has caught Matias Ojala
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.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
Looking ahead14 Jun 2027
IF Gnistan next, and one man in the AC Oulu dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at AC Oulu
Miguel Santos 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Son 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.
Match5 Jun 2027
A point taken on 91 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Eetu Saarela commits to AC Oulu for another 3 years.
Loan watch7 Jun 2027
“I did not go to Haugesund to sit and watch. I want to come back to AC Oulu and fight for my place.” 7 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Julius Körkkö named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Julius Körkkö is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Match5 Jun 2027
It needed Jasse Tuominen to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against VPS, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Paulus Uronen after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.