From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market2 Nov 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Helsingborg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Helsingborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ole Kristian Lauvli 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Marcus Gudmann 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.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Helsingborg, another week without a signature from Max Svensson.
Squad2 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Helsingborg told Jakob Voelkerling Persson something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Daouda Amadou
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Helsingborg's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Helsingborg has to find a result from somewhere.
Match24 Oct 2026
Helsingborg come up short in Europe
0‑2 away to the standard of KAA Gent. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Ole Kristian Lauvli 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Max Svensson
“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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Helsingborg pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match24 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Helsingborg's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Helsingborg has to find a result from somewhere.
Market19 Oct 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 Helsingborg can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Demba N'Diaye is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Helsingborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakob Voelkerling Persson 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Max Svensson in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Helsingborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad19 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 5.72, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Helsingborg's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Helsingborg has to find a result from somewhere.
Market12 Oct 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match12 Oct 2026
Helsingborg are in real trouble now
Position 14, 11 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market12 Oct 2026
Only the photograph left for Max Svensson
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Max Svensson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Helsingborg the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 Helsingborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Ole Kristian Lauvli 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
0‑2 to Malmo FF, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2026
10 matches without a win for Helsingborg
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Helsingborg are no longer polite ones.
Match3 Oct 2026
1‑2 against Ajax. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 26 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Johan Brattberg: 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.” Helsingborg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market5 Oct 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. William Westerlund will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Helsingborg the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Getterson Alves 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 Oct 2026
Words at Helsingborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ole Kristian Lauvli is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ervin Gigović, and the manager let it.
Match3 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Orebro, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Sep 2026
8 matches without a win for Helsingborg
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Helsingborg are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A defender's afternoon for Ervin Gigović
Defensive actions: 27. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Welinton Júnior 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
14 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Player ratings28 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
Uneasy
Match19 Sep 2026
Helsingborg come up short in Europe
1‑2 away to the standard of Shakhtar. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Match19 Sep 2026
7 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.89 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Helsingborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ole Kristian Lauvli 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Max Svensson in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Helsingborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marcus Gudmann was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.91. 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.
Squad21 Sep 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Ervin Gigović will call it something else in private.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Sep 2026
Max Svensson has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Helsingborg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match12 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Helsingborg's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Helsingborg has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Ole Kristian Lauvli 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.
Squad14 Sep 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
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 Helsingborg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match5 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Helsingborg
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Helsingborg are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Helsingborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakob Voelkerling Persson 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.14, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Max Svensson in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Helsingborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Adam Akimey has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 8.08. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Helsingborg.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match5 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2026
Max Svensson 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Helsingborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joachim Imbrechts 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joachim Imbrechts, and the manager let it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match29 Aug 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Johan Brattberg trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
11 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Market31 Aug 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexander Johansson signs something — a contract at Helsingborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Off the bench and decisive: Leo Hedenberg
The substitution nobody applauded turned out to be the whole story. Helsingborg were going nowhere until he came on.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Aug 2026
Djurgarden ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 7 of the 27 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Helsingborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakob Voelkerling Persson 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Getterson Alves 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Max Svensson scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Kalmar FF, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jakob Voelkerling Persson, and the manager let it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 8.07 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad24 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Aug 2026
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match12 Aug 2026
A 0‑0 win over IFK Norrkoping, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Market17 Aug 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Helsingborg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A debut Demba N'Diaye will not forget — 7.65
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.65 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Max Svensson has agreed terms with Djurgarden for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A defender's afternoon for Ervin Gigović
Defensive actions: 23. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Max Svensson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A performance of 9.42 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Aug 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A move Welinton Júnior would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Welinton Júnior is living that version at Helsingborg, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market10 Aug 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Helsingborg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alexander Johansson commits to Helsingborg for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Johan Brattberg 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 terraces10 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Lukas Kjellnäs has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A defender's afternoon for Ervin Gigović
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Marked 8.76 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match8 Aug 2026
BK Hacken made Helsingborg work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Johan Brattberg and Helsingborg agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Helsingborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Helsingborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakob Voelkerling Persson 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.34 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
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 Helsingborg, another week without a signature from Max Svensson.
Market3 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” William Westerlund has his answer from Helsingborg; what he does with it is the next window’s story.