From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 May 2027
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Match8 May 2027
Umeå FC will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Degerfors were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The dugout10 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Degerfors may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Bilal Hussein goes up and wins it — 7.99
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.99 for the rest of it.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match8 May 2027
Still nobody has beaten Degerfors
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad10 May 2027
Daniel Sundgren 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Kevin Ackermann 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 May 2027
“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.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Match1 May 2027
Whatever happens, Degerfors 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Pedro Ganchas 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words exchanged at Degerfors
Dijan Vukojević 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.
Match1 May 2027
Level with 96 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Degerfors had all but put away. Västerås SK will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Squad3 May 2027
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Dijan Vukojević is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Market3 May 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Degerfors, another week without a signature from Kevin Ackermann.
The dugout3 May 2027
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Moussa Diallo, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.72
A mark of 7.72 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Daniel Sundgren and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Ganchas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match24 Apr 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Moussa Diallo’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Degerfors.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Adam Bergmark Wiberg 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Degerfors can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Marcus Forsberg, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Malte Frejd Pålsson, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces19 Apr 2027
Anger at Degerfors spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market19 Apr 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Degerfors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Pedro Ganchas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Degerfors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Ackermann 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.
Transfer targets19 Apr 2027
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.
Match17 Apr 2027
Late, late show earns Degerfors a point
Minute 90, against Varbergs BoIS, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Daniel Sundgren
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Match17 Apr 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Varbergs BoIS leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Degerfors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Apr 2027
Bilal Hussein 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 Degerfors can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Degerfors
Daniel Sundgren 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Ganchas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets12 Apr 2027
Degerfors asked and AGF said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market12 Apr 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Filip Jansson has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market12 Apr 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Isak Guidetti has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Degerfors can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Market12 Apr 2027
“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 ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Apr 2027
The drought breaks for Degerfors
14 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Östersund were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Market5 Apr 2027
The deal that would have taken Bilal Hussein to Malmo FF has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Degerfors with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Degerfors may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
Window shuts: 10 in, 4 out at Degerfors
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 10 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets5 Apr 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Brann keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Pedro Ganchas 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bilal Hussein was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets5 Apr 2027
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.
The terraces5 Apr 2027
He is 20 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Degerfors
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Degerfors is running low.
Market29 Mar 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Degerfors people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market29 Mar 2027
“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.
Transfer targets29 Mar 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: FC Midtjylland keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Degerfors can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Ackermann was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad29 Mar 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 Degerfors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets29 Mar 2027
Degerfors asked and FC Nordsjaelland said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Samba Diatara commits to Degerfors for another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces22 Mar 2027
The mood at Degerfors has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market22 Mar 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Degerfors, and it is not being withdrawn.
The terraces22 Mar 2027
Degerfors sell a favourite for $1.7M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Matvei Igonen was one of the reasons people came, and $1.7M does not replace that by itself.
Market22 Mar 2027
Matvei Igonen has left for GAIS in a $1.7M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets22 Mar 2027
Everything agreed with Brann, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets22 Mar 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: AGF keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Daniel Sundgren and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Raul Avram arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Raul Avram has, at Degerfors, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Degerfors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bilal Hussein 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 Mar 2027
“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.
Boardroom15 Mar 2027
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $50.1K — a club that wants Alan Carleton enough to be asked twice.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Degerfors
Dijan Vukojević 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.
Market15 Mar 2027
The Matvei Igonen conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: GAIS will make the call about Matvei Igonen this week. Degerfors have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Transfer targets15 Mar 2027
Sandviken wanted more than $46.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Bilal Hussein 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 targets15 Mar 2027
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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Degerfors know it.
Market15 Mar 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
Marcus Forsberg has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Degerfors can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market8 Mar 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Degerfors, and it is not being withdrawn.
The terraces8 Mar 2027
Degerfors sell a favourite for $660.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Elias Barsoum was one of the reasons people came, and $660.0K does not replace that by itself.
Transfer targets8 Mar 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at FC Nordsjaelland is saying, and nobody at Degerfors is enjoying the guessing.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ludvig Fritzson commits to Degerfors for another 3 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Degerfors
Matvei Igonen 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
Elias Barsoum has left for Landskrona BoIS in a $660.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets8 Mar 2027
$43.0K on the table at Sandviken. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Ackermann was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Pressure builds in the Degerfors boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market1 Mar 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2027
The deal with Västerås SK is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2027
Degerfors had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Silkeborg, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Matvei Igonen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Degerfors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Ackermann 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.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2027
Degerfors asked and Bodo/Glimt said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Degerfors can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad1 Mar 2027
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces22 Feb 2027
Supporters organise against the Degerfors board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market22 Feb 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Degerfors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: AGF keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Västerås SK have kept their man, and Degerfors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad22 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 Degerfors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Degerfors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bilal Hussein 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 dugout22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniel Sundgren, and the manager let it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Degerfors are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
FC Nordsjaelland have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 Feb 2027
$2.1M from Öster for Marcus Rafferty. Money is money, but the dressing room has lost the man it looked to.
Market15 Feb 2027
Bilal Hussein 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 Degerfors can pretend not to have heard.
Market15 Feb 2027
IK Sirius come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Degerfors did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
The terraces15 Feb 2027
Degerfors sell a favourite for $2.1M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Marcus Rafferty was one of the reasons people came, and $2.1M does not replace that by itself.
Boardroom15 Feb 2027
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $55.6K — a club that wants Alai Ghasem enough to be asked twice.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Matvei Igonen 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.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Degerfors asked and IFK Norrkoping said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Rein Bluyssen arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Rein Bluyssen has, at Degerfors, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
In brief
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Transfer targets
No deal for Alai Ghasem at that price
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The terraces
The town asked, and Degerfors paid $780.0K
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Squad
Words at Degerfors training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market8 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Öster waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Degerfors is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Marcus Forsberg has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market8 Feb 2027
Matvei Igonen 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 Degerfors can pretend not to have heard.
Market8 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Malmo FF; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $940.0K — a club that wants Malte Frejd Pålsson enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
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.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The offer went to Orebro this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bilal Hussein was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Degerfors
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market1 Feb 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Degerfors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bilal Hussein was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Kazper Karlsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Dijan Vukojević without the man who signed him
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Dijan Vukojević was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Ludvig Fritzson has moved up it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces25 Jan 2027
Supporters organise against the Degerfors board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Dijan Vukojević and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Ackermann was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market25 Jan 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dijan Vukojević signs something — a contract at Degerfors or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jan 2027
17 days out for Oscar Hiljemark after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Degerfors will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Degerfors
Dijan Vukojević 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Bilal Hussein 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Samba Diatara and Degerfors agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“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.
Market18 Jan 2027
The name of Marcus Rafferty keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Degerfors say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Oscar Hiljemark out for 24 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Degerfors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Degerfors
Matvei Igonen 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jesús Hernández is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“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.
Market11 Jan 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Viktor Granqvist has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market11 Jan 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. John Granqvist has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Nahom Girmai Netabay 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
“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.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Arman Taranis 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 Degerfors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Degerfors
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Marcus Forsberg has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Degerfors can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad4 Jan 2027
34 days out for Oscar Hiljemark after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Degerfors will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Matvei Igonen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Kevin Ackermann 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Degerfors, another week without a signature from Marcus Rafferty.
Squad4 Jan 2027
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Degerfors are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Erik Lindell 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.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marcus Rafferty trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces28 Dec 2026
Supporters organise against the Degerfors board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sebastian Ohlsson
102 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Degerfors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Oscar Hiljemark out for 41 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Degerfors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad28 Dec 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 Degerfors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bilal Hussein was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Dec 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 Degerfors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Dec 2026
Sebastian Ohlsson damages knee ligaments — 109 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 109 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
49 days out for Oscar Hiljemark after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Degerfors will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Bilal Hussein 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Abdoulaye Gouba 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.
Market21 Dec 2026
The name of Marcus Rafferty keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Degerfors say nothing, which says plenty.
Market21 Dec 2026
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Degerfors money.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Dec 2026
117 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Degerfors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market14 Dec 2026
Elias Barsoum 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 Degerfors can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Rasmus Forsell: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Degerfors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market14 Dec 2026
Rasmus Forsell has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Degerfors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market14 Dec 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Degerfors heard it as anything else.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dijan Vukojević and Degerfors agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Kevin Ackermann 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Bilal Hussein
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
It is over: Degerfors are relegated
The arithmetic ran out, and everybody could see it coming from a distance. The hard summer starts now, and next season's fixtures will be full of unfamiliar names.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Sebastian Ohlsson damages knee ligaments — 126 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 126 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.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
Marcus Forsberg has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Degerfors can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad7 Dec 2026
65 days out for Oscar Hiljemark after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Degerfors will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
The scrutiny sharpens at Degerfors
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Degerfors is running low.
Market7 Dec 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Degerfors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market7 Dec 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Degerfors heard it as anything else.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matvei Igonen and Degerfors agree another 3 years.
Squad7 Dec 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 Degerfors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
Sebastian Ohlsson damages knee ligaments — 133 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 133 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.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
Supporters organise against the Degerfors board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match30 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Degerfors
Position 16 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market30 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Degerfors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Degerfors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bilal Hussein 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Dijan Vukojević and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market30 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Arman Taranis signs something — a contract at Degerfors or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Martin Samuelsen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sebastian Ohlsson
141 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Degerfors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market23 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Degerfors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Olle Leonardsson: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Degerfors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Matvei Igonen 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
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Ackermann was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Daniel Sundgren
“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 dugout23 Nov 2026
Arman Taranis 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 Arman Taranis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market23 Nov 2026
The name of Bilal Hussein keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Degerfors say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sebastian Ohlsson
149 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Degerfors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market16 Nov 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Degerfors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market16 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Degerfors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Degerfors
Matvei Igonen 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bilal Hussein was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kevin Ackermann, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Marcus Rafferty 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
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Degerfors told Ziyad Salifu something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Market16 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marcus Rafferty signs something — a contract at Degerfors or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Degerfors's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Degerfors has to find a result from somewhere.
Market9 Nov 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mamadouba Diaby will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Degerfors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Degerfors — 7.80
1 for Bilal Hussein, marked 7.80, 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Matvei Igonen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout9 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Sebastian Ohlsson 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Degerfors rescue it on 89 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 89. IFK Värnamo had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Market9 Nov 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces2 Nov 2026
Supporters organise against the Degerfors board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match31 Oct 2026
13 matches without a win for Degerfors
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Degerfors are no longer polite ones.
Match2 Nov 2026
Degerfors sink to position 16
4 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Degerfors may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market2 Nov 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Wille Jakobsson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Degerfors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Kevin Ackermann 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
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
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Degerfors's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Degerfors has to find a result from somewhere.
Match24 Oct 2026
Nowhere to hide for Degerfors
0‑3 against Halmstad, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market26 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Degerfors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Degerfors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bilal Hussein 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Daniel Sundgren
“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.
Boardroom26 Oct 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad26 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Degerfors 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Abdoulaye Gouba 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Oct 2026
11 matches without a win for Degerfors
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Degerfors are no longer polite ones.
Market19 Oct 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Degerfors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Oct 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.
Market19 Oct 2026
Only the photograph left for Rasmus Forsell
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rasmus Forsell will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Degerfors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Arman Taranis 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
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Bilal Hussein 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
A 1‑1 draw with IF Elfsborg leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Oct 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Degerfors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 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 Degerfors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Degerfors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Ackermann 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 dugout12 Oct 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Marcus Rafferty’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market12 Oct 2026
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Degerfors could get for him.
The dugout12 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 Degerfors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Degerfors will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Nasiru Moro has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Nasiru Moro has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces5 Oct 2026
Supporters organise against the Degerfors board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match3 Oct 2026
10 matches without a win for Degerfors
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Degerfors are no longer polite ones.
Match5 Oct 2026
Every point is an argument now for Degerfors
Position 15 and 3 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A brace, and Ludvig Fritzson takes the afternoon — 8.21
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ludvig Fritzson provided it, and the 8.21 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad5 Oct 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market5 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Degerfors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 Degerfors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Degerfors's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Degerfors has to find a result from somewhere.
Market28 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Degerfors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. 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
Matvei Igonen 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
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matvei Igonen, and the manager let it.
Match26 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Mjällby, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Degerfors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nahom Girmai Netabay 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Degerfors
10 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Marcus Forsberg left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Degerfors's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Degerfors has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market21 Sep 2026
Rasmus Forsell has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Degerfors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom21 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Degerfors
Matvei Igonen 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
GAIS left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Ackermann was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Marcus Forsberg left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Degerfors's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Degerfors has to find a result from somewhere.
Market14 Sep 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Degerfors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Degerfors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bilal Hussein 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
1‑2 to IK Sirius, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Sep 2026
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout14 Sep 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.
Market14 Sep 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Marcus Forsberg after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Abdoulaye Gouba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
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 Degerfors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Erik Lindell 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bilal Hussein was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Degerfors, another week without a signature from Daniel Sundgren.
Squad7 Sep 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 Degerfors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Arman Taranis has moved up it.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Nasiru Moro 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Degerfors have let the market know Sebastian Ohlsson can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Degerfors
6 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.
Market31 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 Degerfors can pretend not to have heard.
Market31 Aug 2026
Erik Lindell has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Degerfors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Abdoulaye Gouba arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Abdoulaye Gouba has, at Degerfors, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Kazper Karlsson 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
BK Hacken left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Ackermann was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Degerfors are still strangers to each other
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2026
There were 10 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Degerfors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Degerfors's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Degerfors has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $55.6K — a club that wants Abdoulie Tamba enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Degerfors offered $52.0K; IFK Norrkoping said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Degerfors asked and Djurgarden said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bilal Hussein was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Degerfors will try again when the window opens; Falkenberg may not be selling by then.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match12 Aug 2026
The small margins put Degerfors out
Out, 0‑1 to Landskrona BoIS, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. IK Sirius have kept their man, and Degerfors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Sebastian Ohlsson delivers — 7.58
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Sebastian Ohlsson scored, was marked 7.58, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Degerfors close the window on a squad of their own making
17 in and 9 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market17 Aug 2026
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. IF Elfsborg moved on, Mamadouba Diaby reports back to Degerfors, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Falkenberg, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
Match15 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Degerfors
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Degerfors are no longer polite ones.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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
Kevin Ackermann gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Kevin Ackermann has just signed for Degerfors, and for once the answer mattered.
Market10 Aug 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Degerfors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Wille Jakobsson 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
Matvei Igonen 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ludvig Fritzson and Degerfors agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets10 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
IFK Goteborg left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
Daniel Sundgren and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matvei Igonen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Haugesund have kept their man, and Degerfors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match1 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matvei Igonen, and the manager let it.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Degerfors, another week without a signature from Matvei Igonen.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Degerfors are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.