Marked for Samuel Brolin
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Nov 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kalmar FF they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Nov 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 Kalmar FF this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Lars Sætra knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lars Sætra trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout23 Nov 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“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.
Market23 Nov 2026
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Kalmar FF money.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Kalmar FF had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Market16 Nov 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aboubacar Keita will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kalmar FF the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Joakim Nilsson 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
A row about effort at Kalmar FF
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Melker Hallberg was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Samuel Brolin
“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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Lars Sætra asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
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 Victor Larsson is on it.
The dugout16 Nov 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.
Market16 Nov 2026
Lars Sætra runs his contract down
2 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Kalmar FF money.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.29, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market9 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kalmar FF is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Kalmar FF training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Melker Hallberg 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
A 3‑1 win over Örgryte, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
At 23 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.08, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Kalmar FF
Nassef Chourak and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Robert Gojani, and the manager let it.
Market9 Nov 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.
In brief
-
The dugout
The view from the dugout
-
The dugout
Kasper Paananen has become a man the manager trusts
-
The dugout
Samuel Brolin knocks on the manager's door
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Nov 2026
Only the photograph left for Samuel Brolin
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Samuel Brolin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kalmar FF the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Melker Hallberg was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.37. 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Kalmar FF caught on 88 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Utsikten scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Market2 Nov 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Kalmar FF have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Samuel Brolin is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.08 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market19 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kalmar FF is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Kalmar FF
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Melker Hallberg was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
Öster will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Christian Kouakou has pre-agreed a move to Kalmar FF, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match17 Oct 2026
A 2‑0 win over IK Brage, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Karl Larsson on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout19 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Oct 2026
Samuel Brolin has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kalmar FF they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.17, and nobody on the pitch better.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Anthony Olusanya 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Jon Esenga 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Anthony Olusanya and Kalmar FF agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Kalmar FF
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Melker Hallberg was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match3 Oct 2026
A 2‑0 win over Falkenberg, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Sep 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aboubacar Keita will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kalmar FF the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Kalmar FF — 7.67
1 for Lars Sætra, marked 7.67, 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Kalmar FF
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Malcolm Stolt was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Nassef Chourak and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match19 Sep 2026
A goal on 92 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Match19 Sep 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Umeå FC leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Lars Sætra asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Karl Larsson was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Kalmar FF dressing room was either.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Shots: 7, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Sep 2026
Sivert Øverby has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kalmar FF they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Kalmar FF training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Melker Hallberg 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Orebro left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Lars Sætra 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kalmar FF, another week without a signature from Samuel Brolin.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Karl Larsson after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Emeka Nnamani has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Kalmar FF 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Sep 2026
Samuel Brolin hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kalmar FF can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Sep 2026
Samuel Brolin has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kalmar FF they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Sivert Øverby has agreed terms with AIK for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Kalmar FF
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Melker Hallberg was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Robert Gojani
“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.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kalmar FF, another week without a signature from Lars Sætra.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Noah Shamoun slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Noah Shamoun is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.61, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market24 Aug 2026
The deal that would have taken Samuel Brolin to Sandviken has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Kalmar FF with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
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
Vilmer Tyrén, 21, steals the show — 7.89
Marked 7.89 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market24 Aug 2026
Only the photograph left for Jakob Kindberg
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jakob Kindberg will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kalmar FF the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Jakob Kindberg 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Kalmar FF
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Melker Hallberg was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Kalmar FF asked and Viking said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Aug 2026
Kalmar FF through in the cup
A 2‑1 win over Västerås SK, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Market17 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market17 Aug 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kalmar FF they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Kalmar FF — 7.67
1 for Nassef Chourak, marked 7.67, 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Window shuts: 10 in, 2 out at Kalmar FF
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 10 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Aboubacar Keita 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Melker Hallberg 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Aug 2026
BK Hacken come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Kalmar FF did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $47.1K — a club that wants Jon Esenga enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Bodo/Glimt keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Melker Hallberg and Kalmar FF agree another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Kalmar FF
Joakim Nilsson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$45.0K on the table at IF Elfsborg. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
GIF Sundsvall will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Marc Manchón has pre-agreed a move to Kalmar FF, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Kalmar FF asked and AC Horsens said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marcus Berg 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
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market3 Aug 2026
Kalmar FF say no — this time
The offer from SJK for Marius Söderbäck 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
Melker Hallberg 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match1 Aug 2026
0‑1 to Landskrona BoIS, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
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. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Karl Larsson to a room that had heard them before.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Elion Imeri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.