It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at GIF Sundsvall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
0‑0 against Dynamo Kyiv, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around GIF Sundsvall they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at GIF Sundsvall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at GIF Sundsvall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christos Gravius 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Samuel Tammivuori will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around GIF Sundsvall the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Victor 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.
0‑2 against KV Oostende. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around GIF Sundsvall they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Lucas Kåhed 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.
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.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Christos Gravius's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at GIF Sundsvall is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Noah Sahsah 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at GIF Sundsvall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christos Gravius 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around GIF Sundsvall they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Noah Sahsah 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at GIF Sundsvall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christos Gravius 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at GIF Sundsvall is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at GIF Sundsvall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
1‑0 against Utrecht, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around GIF Sundsvall they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Noah Sahsah 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.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Henrik Bäckström 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.
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at GIF Sundsvall who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Victor Andersson is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at GIF Sundsvall is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at GIF Sundsvall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at GIF Sundsvall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Forsberg 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around GIF Sundsvall they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Noah Sahsah 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at GIF Sundsvall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christos Gravius 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 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around GIF Sundsvall they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Henrik Bäckström has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at GIF Sundsvall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and GIF Sundsvall are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at GIF Sundsvall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at GIF Sundsvall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Kåhed 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Abdulahi Shino has his answer from GIF Sundsvall; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Lucas Kåhed has just signed for GIF Sundsvall, and for once the answer mattered.
Taiki Kagayama 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
Lucas Kåhed 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Charles Baah has his answer from GIF Sundsvall; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee GIF Sundsvall could ask drops and the wages Hugo Aviander can ask rise.