Marked for Justice Apaingolo
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 May 2027
AC Oulu sink to position 10
5 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match22 May 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.
Match22 May 2027
The goals have deserted AC Oulu
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at AC Oulu can tell you which week it ends in.
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 AC Oulu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 May 2027
AC Oulu come up short against KuPS
KuPS left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad24 May 2027
Matias Ojala 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 dugout24 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Juhani Kamara to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout24 May 2027
Miguel Santos has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AC Oulu 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Feb 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 The request is on a desk at AC Oulu, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“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; AC Oulu are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad1 Feb 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Juha Pirinen and AC Oulu agree another 1 years.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at AC Oulu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julius Körkkö 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 dugout1 Feb 2027
Miguel Santos has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AC Oulu 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
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
Emmanuel Boateng 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at AC Oulu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matias Ojala 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 dugout25 Jan 2027
Lamine Ghezali has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AC Oulu 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
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
Miguel Santos 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at AC Oulu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julius Körkkö 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
Arttu Lötjönen has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AC Oulu 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
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
Adramane Cassamá is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Sampo Ala-Iso 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 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 AC Oulu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at AC Oulu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julius Körkkö was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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 dugout28 Dec 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 Dec 2026
Matias Ojala 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 AC Oulu, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market28 Dec 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AC Oulu know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout21 Dec 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at AC Oulu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julius Körkkö was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Arttu Lötjönen is on it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Matias Ojala 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
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.
Market21 Dec 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AC Oulu know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AC Oulu lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad30 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 AC Oulu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alex Lietsa, and the manager let it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at AC Oulu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sampo Ala-Iso was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. AC Oulu have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Tuomas Kaukua
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AC Oulu lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Miguel Santos 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at AC Oulu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matias Ojala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Arttu Lötjönen is on it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Alex Lietsa 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 AC Oulu, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market23 Nov 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.