Marked for Noah Dybvik
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match3 May 2028
The small margins put Falkenberg out
Out, 1‑2 to IFK Goteborg, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad8 May 2028
57 days out for Anton Andreasson after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Falkenberg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings8 May 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.68 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings8 May 2028
No sign of nerves from Lion Beqiri at 21 — 7.79
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lion Beqiri did not need any: 7.79, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad8 May 2028
Nils Bertilsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match6 May 2028
Three points for Falkenberg, 3‑2 the final word against Örgryte in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings8 May 2028
Lars Schenk was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. 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.
Squad8 May 2028
“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; Falkenberg are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout8 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diogo Tomás, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Apr 2028
A fracture rules Anton Andreasson out for 97 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Falkenberg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Lion Beqiri, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.96
A mark of 7.96 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
A defender's goal wins it for Falkenberg — 7.45
1 for Lars Schenk, marked 7.45, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“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.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 9 gone
That is the business done at Falkenberg until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Match1 Apr 2028
Falkenberg make home a hard place to visit
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Ole Martin Kolskogen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Nov 2027
Oskar Lindberg has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Falkenberg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout29 Nov 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Nils Bertilsson 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.
Market29 Nov 2027
Haris Brkić is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Falkenberg has been clear about where Haris Brkić stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Melker Nilsson
“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.
Market29 Nov 2027
The shop window has Hugo Komano in it
Falkenberg have let the market know Hugo Komano can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Haris Brkić 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 Falkenberg, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market29 Nov 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Anton Andersson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Melker Nilsson
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Falkenberg lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.23 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
Noah Dybvik: 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.” Falkenberg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
Window shuts: 12 in, 7 out at Falkenberg
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 12 arrived, 7 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Falkenberg asked and Orebro said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match21 Aug 2027
Orebro made Falkenberg work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
91% of the income goes out in wages at Falkenberg
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Mikael Larsson could afford to be generous.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
No hiding place for Lass
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lass, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Melker Nilsson
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Falkenberg lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Saidu Salisu: 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.” Falkenberg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Malmo FF, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Match24 Jul 2027
Still nobody has beaten Falkenberg
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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Falkenberg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nils Bertilsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match24 Jul 2027
Three points for Falkenberg, 1‑0 the final word against Utsikten in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
Wages eat 117% of everything Falkenberg 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.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.91 on the card, and the Falkenberg support went home talking about one name.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout5 Apr 2027
William Videhult: 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.” Falkenberg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market5 Apr 2027
The name of Alexander Salo has come up in conversations Falkenberg were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Falkenberg until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Noah Dybvik is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
2 academy players handed senior numbers at Falkenberg
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Falkenberg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nils Bertilsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets5 Apr 2027
Falkenberg asked and Kolding IF said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market5 Apr 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jakob Ibrahimovic has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market5 Apr 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Joel Hiljemark is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets29 Mar 2027
The deal with Barau is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad29 Mar 2027
At 19 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Falkenberg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lion Beqiri 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.
Transfer targets29 Mar 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Paksi have kept their man, and Falkenberg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market29 Mar 2027
Tim Stålheden is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Falkenberg has been clear about where Tim Stålheden stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Tim Stålheden
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Feb 2027
The offer from Degerfors for Lion Beqiri 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.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The Falkenberg board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Everything agreed with IF Elfsborg, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Noah Dybvik gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Noah Dybvik has just signed for Falkenberg, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Falkenberg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nils Bertilsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market8 Feb 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Falkenberg, another week without a signature from Alexander Salo.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
A loan move for Sanders Ngabo is in the works
Falkenberg have made the call to BK Hacken. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
Wages eat 89% of everything Falkenberg 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Aalesund can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ulrik Valderhaug Syversen 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 dugout7 Sep 2026
Noah Dybvik 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.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Kristoffer Nessø’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Aalesund needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Simen Haram 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 Simen Haram has written the date down.
Market7 Sep 2026
Aalesund have let the market know Ulrik Valderhaug Syversen can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Tromso is saying, and nobody at Aalesund is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Aalesund have gone to Egersund with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Emil Engqvist and Aalesund agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Elias Hagen 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Tobias Elyounoussi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Vegard Bjorkan has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Martin Johansen is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Henrik Ajer has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.