Marked for Marcus Melchior
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Ruben Alte 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Vetle Walle Egeli 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
8 matches without a win for Sandefjord
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Sandefjord are no longer polite ones.
Match26 Sep 2026
8 matches without a goal for Sandefjord
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match28 Sep 2026
7 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Ruben Alte 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 Sandefjord this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
No hiding place for Onur Ayık
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Onur Ayık, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
Omar el Masri damages knee ligaments — 19 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 19 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match19 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Sandefjord
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match19 Sep 2026
The goals have deserted Sandefjord
7 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Sandefjord can tell you which week it ends in.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Ruben Alte 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Sandefjord against Odd
0‑1 to Odd, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Ruben Alte 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Sandefjord training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stian Kristiansen 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
3 matches without a goal for Sandefjord
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match22 Aug 2026
0‑1 to Valerenga, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marcus Melchior, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2026
The small margins put Sandefjord out
Out, 0‑1 to Molde, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Ruben Alte 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 Sandefjord this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vojtěch Gornický, and the manager let it.
Match15 Aug 2026
Bodo/Glimt left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Sandefjord training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcus Melchior 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jakob Dunsby and Sandefjord agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ruben Alte 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 Sandefjord this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Jakob Dunsby 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Nikolaj Möller
“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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Evangelos Patoulidis was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Marcus Melchior’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer from Halmstad for Marcus Melchior 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Evangelos Patoulidis and Sandefjord agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ruben Alte 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Sandefjord training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stian Kristiansen 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vetle Walle Egeli, and the manager let it.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.