Marked for Robert Lartey
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 46. 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.
Match3 Jul 2027
No end in sight to HIFK's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at HIFK has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at HIFK
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at HIFK
Aaron Lindholm 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 dugout5 Jul 2027
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Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at HIFK
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Afriyie Acquah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Jul 2027
50 goals in these colours now, every one of them somebody’s memory. There is a supporter in the stand who can tell you where he was for most of them.
Match3 Jul 2027
Late, late show earns HIFK a point
Minute 91, against RoPS, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Robert Lartey, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 May 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 The request is on a desk at HIFK, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at HIFK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afriyie Acquah 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.
Match29 May 2027
The goals have deserted HIFK
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at HIFK can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad31 May 2027
Tempers go at HIFK
Elias Tamminen 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.
Match29 May 2027
A bad afternoon for HIFK against KuPS
0‑2 to KuPS, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad31 May 2027
“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 HIFK know it.
The dugout31 May 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.
The dugout31 May 2027
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Nikolai Hamalainen to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 May 2027
HIFK sink to position 12
3 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market24 May 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HIFK can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 May 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 HIFK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Afriyie Acquah 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.
Match22 May 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 May 2027
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Tiquinho
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout24 May 2027
“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.
The dugout24 May 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces17 May 2027
Supporters organise against the HIFK board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad17 May 2027
A falling-out at HIFK
Aaron Lindholm and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at HIFK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afriyie Acquah is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match15 May 2027
Ilves take the points off HIFK
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout17 May 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.
The dugout17 May 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad17 May 2027
Elias Tamminen is the weekend's best young player
At 19 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
The dugout17 May 2027
Aatu Kujanpää has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at HIFK 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
Sam Jammeh breaks a bone — 41 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at HIFK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afriyie Acquah 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at HIFK
Aatu Kujanpää and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Yiandro Raap 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 HIFK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at HIFK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afriyie Acquah 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.
Market21 Sep 2026
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Robert Lartey and HIFK agree another 3 years.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes Arttu Auranen a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at HIFK. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.