Marked for Alexander Ring
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 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 HJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market1 Feb 2027
Roni Hudd is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at HJK has been clear about where Roni Hudd stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Mads Borchers 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 HJK, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at HJK is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match5 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for HJK
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around HJK are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Emmanuel Boateng commits to HJK for another 4 years.
Match5 Sep 2026
7 unbeaten for HJK
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation HJK did not have in the autumn.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at HJK
Robert Taylor 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 22. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 21, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Wages eat 273% of everything HJK 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mihailo Bogićević will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around HJK the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market17 Aug 2026
SJK come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and HJK did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Aug 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 HJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Andrei Vlad has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. HJK know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A mark of 7.61, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 14, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Market17 Aug 2026
At 35, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Aug 2026
Only the photograph left for Ville Tikkanen
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ville Tikkanen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around HJK the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Market10 Aug 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 HJK can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 25 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad10 Aug 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 HJK 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mads Borchers. 1‑0 against KTP, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.51 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mouhamed Guèye and HJK agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Aug 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 HJK can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Teemu Pukki commits to HJK for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at HJK
Robert Taylor 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: HIFK have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mouhamed Guèye. The answer from HJK has not changed — yet.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alfie Cicale, and the manager let it.
Market3 Aug 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Matej Marković's contract
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.