From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
115 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Roope Riski 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 Ilves this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 269% of everything Ilves earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Ilves
Roope Riski 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 manager makes an example of Otso Virtanen
“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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Faris Krkalić 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Roope Riski 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 Ilves this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
“I watch every Ilves game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at KuPS runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Otso Virtanen 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 Ilves, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Ilves
Jaime Carreño 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A season on the outside for Jaime Carreño
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Ilves has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market14 Sep 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Andre Raymond signs something — a contract at Ilves or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Sep 2026
6 matches without a win for Ilves
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Ilves are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Sep 2026
148 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
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 Ilves this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 21, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Wages eat 397% of everything Ilves earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.67 on the card, and the Ilves support went home talking about one name.
Squad7 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Filip Jović 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 Filip Jović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Ilves
5 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Ilves
Jaime Carreño 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
The manager makes an example of Otso Virtanen
“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 ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 8.51 — 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Ilves share the spoils with KTP
A 1‑1 draw with KTP leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Aug 2026
Ilves bow out of the cup
HIFK go through and Ilves go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 5 of the 24 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Ilves's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ilves has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 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 Ilves this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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
The manager makes an example of Roope Riski
“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.
Match22 Aug 2026
0‑1 to Inter Turku, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 Aug 2026
This league is too small for Aldair Ramírez
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Ilves will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Shots: 6, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Otso Virtanen decides it from twelve yards
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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Ilves march on in the cup
FF Jaro are out and Ilves go through, 0‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market17 Aug 2026
Ilves say no — this time
The offer from Leiknir for Oskari Paavola was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market17 Aug 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ilves is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Ilves
Roope Riski 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.
Squad17 Aug 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Jaime Carreño has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Ilves know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market17 Aug 2026
VPS are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Ilves will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market10 Aug 2026
SJK come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Ilves did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The match ball belongs to Roope Riski, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The medical room confirms 36 days on the sidelines for Maksim Stjopin, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Ilves
Roope Riski 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 ratings10 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 10.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match8 Aug 2026
Ilves get the job done against KuPS
A 3‑1 win over KuPS, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Marked 8.09 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market3 Aug 2026
Ilves say no — this time
The offer from HIFK for Teemu Hytönen was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Roope Riski and Ilves agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Roope Riski 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 Ilves this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Aug 2026
HIFK made Ilves work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.75, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.74 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Otso Virtanen, and the manager let it.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.44 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.