Marked for Alexander Ring
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
67 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tempers go at HJK
Lassi Lappalainen 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
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Joona Veteli and HJK agree another 2 years.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at HJK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihailo Bogićević 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
“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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Liam Möller gets picked when it counts
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 Liam Möller is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market5 Oct 2026
Only the photograph left for Lucas Lingman
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lucas Lingman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around HJK the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Oct 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lucas Lingman, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at HJK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihailo Bogićević 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at HJK
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Santeri Haarala has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at HJK 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“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.
Market5 Oct 2026
The Isaac Sackey story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Isaac Sackey signs something — a contract at HJK or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A wage question at HJK
Lassi Lappalainen has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market28 Sep 2026
Ville Tikkanen has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around HJK they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at HJK
Lassi Lappalainen 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of David Ezeh
“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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lassi Lappalainen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
When it matters, Liam Möller plays
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 Sep 2026
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.
Market28 Sep 2026
The clock does Mihailo Bogićević’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee HJK could ask drops and the wages Mihailo Bogićević can ask rise.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Market28 Sep 2026
The Pyry Mentu question follows HJK around
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Pyry Mentu’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Aug 2026
HJK march on in the cup
Ilves are out and HJK go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.97, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market31 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.14, and nobody on the pitch better.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at HJK
Lassi Lappalainen 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Whatever happens, HJK do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
VPS will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Antti-Ville Räisänen has pre-agreed a move to HJK, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The window shuts on the Adam Vidjeskog deal
HJK ran out of time with FF Jaro. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Aug 2026
HJK through in the cup
A 2‑1 win over VPS, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match22 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against RoPS, and it could have been more.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.91, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market24 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Roni Hudd at 21 — 8.35
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Roni Hudd did not need any: 8.35, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings24 Aug 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Alexander Ring, 35, rolls back the years — 7.89
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.89 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market24 Aug 2026
Till Cissokho has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around HJK they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match22 Aug 2026
HJK cannot stop winning
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Alfie Cicale beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 31. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market10 Aug 2026
KuPS 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 ratings10 Aug 2026
Age has not caught Teemu Pukki yet — 8.36
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.36 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market10 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Ville Tikkanen again, and this time the name on the line is IFK Mariehamn. HJK are listening politely and promising nothing.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mihailo Bogićević 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at HJK
Alexander Ring and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market10 Aug 2026
KuPS paid $130.0K and HJK took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A row about effort at HJK
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lassi Lappalainen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match8 Aug 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Teemu Pukki’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to HJK.