Marked for Hakim Sulemana
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces1 Mar 2027
Anger at Kolding IF spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kolding IF can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Pedro Ganchas 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Chris Sleveland 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Mike Themsen has moved up it.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Casper Jørgensen 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
Uneasy
Market11 Jan 2027
“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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
No thanks: Pedro Ganchas rejects the move
Kolding IF had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Silkeborg, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad11 Jan 2027
William Glindtvad is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Kolding IF training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pascal Estrada 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kolding IF can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Denis Prendi 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 Kolding IF this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Denis Prendi, and the manager let it.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Casper Jørgensen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market11 Jan 2027
A season-long audition: Hillerød still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Kolding IF's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces4 Jan 2027
Anger at Kolding IF spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match2 Jan 2027
10 matches without a win for Kolding IF
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Kolding IF are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Pressure builds in the Kolding IF boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market4 Jan 2027
Ari Leifsson 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 Kolding IF can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Kolding IF have done the hard part with Hillerød, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Nicolai Bossen is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Squad4 Jan 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 Kolding IF this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kolding IF can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The decline has begun for Jesús Alfaro
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Kolding IF is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Hakim Sulemana at 21 — 8.04
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Hakim Sulemana did not need any: 8.04, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Kolding IF's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Kolding IF has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Up for the corner, and Pascal Estrada delivers — 7.67
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Pascal Estrada scored, was marked 7.67, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad30 Nov 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; Kolding IF are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
He is 21 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 ratings30 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.05 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 98% of everything Kolding IF earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Loan watch30 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Sesvete to sit and watch. I want to come back to Kolding IF and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jeffrey Adjei-Broni commits to Kolding IF for another 4 years.
Squad9 Nov 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 Kolding IF this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Nov 2026
Hobro left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Jesús Alfaro 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“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 Kolding IF know it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Age has not caught Jesús Alfaro yet — 8.01
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.01 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match31 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Andersson, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Berkay Dabanli and Kolding IF agree another 1 years.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Berkay Dabanli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 98% of everything Kolding IF earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
A promise honoured at Kolding IF
Something was said to David Andersson and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Casper Jørgensen 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
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Loan watch
Adam Danko wants to come home
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Squad
Kolding IF are still strangers to each other
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.06, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad26 Oct 2026
David Andersson 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 ratings26 Oct 2026
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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Kolding IF training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jesús Alfaro 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.
Match26 Oct 2026
The half-term report on Kolding IF
Position 9, 11 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
Eric Voufack 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
A 1‑1 draw with B.93 leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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.” Casper Vestergaard chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kolding IF may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The step up is real for Magnus Døj
At 21 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The decline has begun for Jesús Alfaro
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Kolding IF is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market12 Oct 2026
No place for Magnus Saaby in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Magnus Saaby has his answer from Kolding IF; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Hakim Sulemana’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Kolding IF needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Oscar Buur 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 Kolding IF will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Magnus Saaby 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 Magnus Saaby trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“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 Kolding IF know it.
Loan watch5 Oct 2026
“I watch every Kolding IF game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sesvete runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. David Andersson 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Kolding IF training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jesús Alfaro 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 117% of the Kolding IF income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Kolding IF
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
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.” Casper Vestergaard chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
Jeffrey Adjei-Broni 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Nebiyou Perry 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
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout28 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Pascal Estrada 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 Pascal Estrada trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Jeffrey Adjei-Broni’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Kolding IF needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Not in the side at kick-off and the story of it by the end. Kolding IF were going nowhere until he came on, and half an hour was all he needed.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for Kolding IF
A 1‑4 beating by Hvidovre was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match19 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Kolding IF
1‑3 against Viborg, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad24 Aug 2026
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Kolding IF and AGF have settled on $55.0K. 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 ratings24 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Hans Høllsberg delivers — 7.63
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Hans Høllsberg scored, was marked 7.63, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.7M — a club that wants Eskild Dall enough to be asked twice.
Match22 Aug 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Kolding IF
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Hobro wanted more than $160.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vejle have kept their man, and Kolding IF go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Kolding IF offered $1.2M; FC Midtjylland 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $166.9K — a club that wants Andreas Søndergaard enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$160.0K on the table at Hobro. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Match15 Aug 2026
AC Horsens left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Nordsjaelland have kept their man, and Kolding IF go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Kasper Andersen
“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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Kolding IF
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nebiyou Perry was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Casper Vestergaard after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Looking ahead17 Aug 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Jeffrey Adjei-Broni’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Kolding IF needing him to play as if none of it matters.