Inter Turku U18

Finnish Veikkausliiga U18
29 Nov 2026
Sunday
Process
17 Edition

The Inter Turku Gazette

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at Inter Turku

Eetu Huuhtanen 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.

Squad

Words at Inter Turku training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Prosper Ahiabu 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.

Squad

Eero Vuorjoki stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Eero Vuorjoki and Inter Turku agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Market

Still no ink between Inter Turku and Seth Saarinen

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Inter Turku, another week without a signature from Seth Saarinen.

The dugout

A door opens for Jasse Tuominen

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.

The dugout

Seth Saarinen 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 Seth Saarinen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

Back issues
16 Edition

The Inter Turku Gazette

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Words exchanged at Inter Turku

Eetu Huuhtanen 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Inter Turku

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bismark Ampofo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Bismark Ampofo

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bismark Ampofo, and the manager let it.

Squad

International break empties Inter Turku

4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.

Market

The Jean Botué story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jean Botué signs something — a contract at Inter Turku or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

Jasse Tuominen 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 Jasse Tuominen has written the date down.

In brief

15 Edition

The Inter Turku Gazette

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A falling-out at Inter Turku

Eetu Huuhtanen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Bismark Ampofo 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.

Market

One of our own: Matti Soiri joins the Inter Turku first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Matti Soiri is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

Inter Turku promote Joni Lam from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Joni Lam 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.

The dugout

Jean Botué 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.

Market

The Loic Essomba talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Inter Turku know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

14 Edition

The Inter Turku Gazette

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A row about effort at Inter Turku

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Prosper Ahiabu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

A falling-out at Inter Turku

Julius Tauriainen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

Jean Botué 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 Jean Botué trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

13 Edition

The Inter Turku Gazette

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Boardroom

Inter Turku book their European place

Done, and with games to spare. Next season has floodlit nights against clubs from other countries in it, and the accounts have a line they did not have last year.

Squad

A row about effort at Inter Turku

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bismark Ampofo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

8 new faces, and Inter Turku 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.

In brief

12 Edition

The Inter Turku Gazette

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Eero Vuorjoki says Inter Turku went back on their word

“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.

Squad

The step up is real for Eetu Huuhtanen

At 23 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.

Squad

Bismark Ampofo 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Inter Turku

Jussi Niska and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

The dugout

Bismark Ampofo 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 dugout

Jean Botué 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 Jean Botué has written the date down.

In brief

11 Edition

The Inter Turku Gazette

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The step up is real for Max Kulmala

At 18 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Inter Turku

Jussi Niska and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

One of our own: Antti Hamalainen joins the Inter Turku first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Antti Hamalainen is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Squad

Prosper Ahiabu 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.

Squad

4 Inter Turku players away with their countries

The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.

Market

The Loic Essomba talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Inter Turku know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

10 Edition

The Inter Turku Gazette

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A falling-out at Inter Turku

Musa Hietakangas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Bismark Ampofo 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 dugout

Jasse Tuominen 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.

In brief

9 Edition

The Inter Turku Gazette

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at Inter Turku

Eetu Huuhtanen 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.

Squad

Bismark Ampofo 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.

Squad

8 new faces, and Inter Turku 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.

In brief

8 Edition

The Inter Turku Gazette

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Words exchanged at Inter Turku

Eetu Huuhtanen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

The dugout

A door opens for Jasse Tuominen

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.

Squad

Luka Kuittinen is not doing himself any favours

A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.

In brief

7 Edition

The Inter Turku Gazette

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A falling-out at Inter Turku

Eetu Huuhtanen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Bismark Ampofo 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.

Market

Leo Lod steps up from the Inter Turku academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Leo Lod has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

One of our own: Juhani Joronen joins the Inter Turku first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Juhani Joronen is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

The Loic Essomba talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Inter Turku know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Jasse Tuominen 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 Jasse Tuominen has written the date down.

In brief

6 Edition

The Inter Turku Gazette

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Herman Sjögrell was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 26. 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.

Squad

Words at Inter Turku training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bismark Ampofo 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Bismark Ampofo

“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.

Squad

Alie Conteh is the division's best young player this month

At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Inter Turku will try very hard not to make too much of it.

Match

Two points walk out of the ground

Level with 88 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Inter Turku had all but put away. KuPS will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.

Squad

A step back for Prosper Ahiabu at Inter Turku

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.

Squad

Player of the month: Loic Essomba

Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Inter Turku prefer.

Player ratings

Jasse Tuominen was the difference for Inter Turku

Marked 7.66. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.

Match

Inter Turku share the spoils with KuPS

A 1‑1 draw with KuPS leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

In brief

5 Edition

The Inter Turku Gazette

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Both of them Alie Conteh's — 9.20

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.20, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Transfer targets

Diogo Fernandes will not be coming to Inter Turku

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Porto is saying, and nobody at Inter Turku is enjoying the guessing.

Player ratings

Janne-Pekka Laine was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 20. 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Inter Turku

Jussi Niska 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.

Match

Alie Conteh sends Inter Turku past HIFK

It finished 2‑0, and it was Alie Conteh’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Inter Turku.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Inter Turku

7 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 dugout

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.” Kaan Pohjanpalo, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

The dugout

No hiding place for Juuso Hämäläinen

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juuso Hämäläinen, and the manager let it.

Looking ahead

A test against the best for Inter Turku

The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against KuPS.

In brief

4 Edition

The Inter Turku Gazette

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

The cup run ends for Inter Turku

0‑1 against SJK, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

Market

Inter Turku turn down Ilves for Jean Botué

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Player ratings

Loic Essomba scores twice — 8.60

Two goals and a mark of 8.60 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Alie Conteh at 21 — 7.74

The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alie Conteh did not need any: 7.74, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Transfer targets

Diogo Fernandes due for a Inter Turku medical

Everything agreed with Porto, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Transfer targets

Giuseppe Coppola turns down Inter Turku

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Picerno keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

Prosper Ahiabu 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 ratings

Bismark Ampofo runs at them all day

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Inter Turku

Jussi Niska 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.

In brief

3 Edition

The Inter Turku Gazette

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Jean Botué attracts admirers

The name of Jean Botué has come up in conversations Inter Turku were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 15 signed and 1 gone

That is the business done at Inter Turku until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Guglielmo Mignani rejects the move

Inter Turku had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Benevento, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

Prosper Ahiabu 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 targets

Inter Turku rebuffed over Klāvs Bethers

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Catania have kept their man, and Inter Turku go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

A falling-out at Inter Turku

Jussi Niska and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

VPS take the points off Inter Turku

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Kaan Pohjanpalo to a room that had heard them before.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Herman Sjögrell

Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

2 Edition

The Inter Turku Gazette

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Words exchanged at Inter Turku

Prosper Ahiabu and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Úlfur Ágúst Björnsson

Inter Turku asked and FH said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Loic Essomba

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.

Market

Inter Turku promote Lukas Joronen from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Lukas Joronen 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.

Market

Rasmus Sparv steps up from the Inter Turku academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Rasmus Sparv has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

One of our own: Oliver Lod joins the Inter Turku first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Oliver Lod is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

One of our own: Kaan Uronen joins the Inter Turku first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Kaan Uronen is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Jean Botué

“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.

Match

Inter Turku see off SJK

Three points for Inter Turku, 1‑0 the final word against SJK in a contest settled by the finer margins.

In brief

1 Edition

The Inter Turku Gazette

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Alie Conteh at 21 — 7.96

The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alie Conteh did not need any: 7.96, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Squad

Robert Ivanov stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Robert Ivanov and Inter Turku agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Eetu Huuhtanen 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 Inter Turku this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Inter Turku

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Prosper Ahiabu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Vicenza tell Inter Turku: Filippo Alessio is not for sale

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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Eetu Huuhtanen

“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.

Match

Two points walk out of the ground

Level with 89 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Inter Turku had all but put away. HJK will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.

Market

The clock runs on Robert Ivanov's contract

36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.

Squad

8 new faces, and Inter Turku 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.

In brief