From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces22 Feb 2027
Supporters organise against the Leiknir 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.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Leiknir have done the hard part with IA, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Leiknir
Axel Freyr Harðarson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market22 Feb 2027
The name of Bogdan Bogdanovic has come up in conversations Leiknir were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vikingur have kept their man, and Leiknir go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Árni Elvar Árnason 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 dugout22 Feb 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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Anton Fannar Kjartansson is on it.
Market22 Feb 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dagur Ingi Hammer signs something — a contract at Leiknir or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 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 The request is on a desk at Leiknir, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Leiknir
Róbert Quental Árnason and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets15 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Duje Batinić pulls a muscle — 14 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bogdan Bogdanovic 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Kári Steinn Hlífarsson's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Feb 2027
Leiknir are in real trouble now
Position 12, 2 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.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market8 Feb 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.
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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Róbert Quental Árnason commits to Leiknir for another 4 years.
Squad8 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 Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Keflavik have kept their man, and Leiknir go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Árni Elvar Árnason 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 targets8 Feb 2027
A loan enquiry to Vikingur: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Leiknir
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
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leiknir can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Duje Batinić gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Duje Batinić has just signed for Leiknir, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Róbert Quental Árnason 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 dugout1 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Árni Elvar Árnason 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Pavle Gusak and Leiknir agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market1 Feb 2027
Max Vogele is 19, and Leiknir have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Market1 Feb 2027
He is 17, and nobody at Leiknir signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces25 Jan 2027
Supporters organise against the Leiknir 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
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bogdan Bogdanovic 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 dugout25 Jan 2027
“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 dugout25 Jan 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Faye Fallou 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 Faye Fallou trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Leiknir
Róbert Quental Árnason and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Árni Elvar Árnason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market18 Jan 2027
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Leiknir were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Market18 Jan 2027
Zackarias Svedstam is 19, and Leiknir have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Squad18 Jan 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
Match11 Jan 2027
Leiknir sink to position 12
2 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market11 Jan 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Róbert Quental Árnason is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad11 Jan 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 Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Árni Elvar Árnason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Faye Fallou 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market4 Jan 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.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Leiknir
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Leiknir is running low.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Birnir Breki Burknason is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad4 Jan 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 Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Leiknir can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Adam Örn Arnarson is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces28 Dec 2026
Supporters organise against the Leiknir 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
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rúrik Gunnarsson is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Róbert Quental Árnason 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Árni Elvar Árnason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Dec 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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Rúrik Gunnarsson 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Árni Elvar Árnason 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Kári Steinn Hlífarsson's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match14 Dec 2026
Every point is an argument now for Leiknir
Position 12 and 2 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.
Market14 Dec 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 Leiknir can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Rúrik Gunnarsson 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 Dec 2026
Bogdan Bogdanovic 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
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Dagur Ingi Hammer is on it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Þorsteinn Emil Jónsson, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Dec 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 Leiknir, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Leiknir
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sindri Björnsson commits to Leiknir for another 2 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Leiknir
Sindri Björnsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Árni Elvar Árnason 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 dugout7 Dec 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 Dec 2026
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Leiknir than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Đorđe Vladisavljević is on it.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
$3.0M taken back off the Leiknir table
What was available in the summer has quietly gone. Upstairs nobody will call it a change of ambition; downstairs nobody will call it anything else.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces30 Nov 2026
The mood at Leiknir 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Árni Elvar Árnason 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hilmar Örn Pétursson, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Anton Fannar Kjartansson is on it.
Market30 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dagur Ingi Hammer signs something — a contract at Leiknir or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Leiknir
Róbert Quental Árnason and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Bogdan Bogdanovic falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Leiknir
Position 12 and 2 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.
Market16 Nov 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Axel Freyr Harðarson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Árni Elvar Árnason 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Leiknir will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 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 Leiknir, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market9 Nov 2026
Only the photograph left for Marko Zivkovic
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marko Zivkovic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Leiknir the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Róbert Quental Árnason 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Árni Elvar Árnason 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 dugout9 Nov 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Nobody at Leiknir will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces2 Nov 2026
Anger at Leiknir 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Leiknir
Rúrik Gunnarsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kári Steinn Hlífarsson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market2 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dagur Ingi Hammer signs something — a contract at Leiknir or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market2 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
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
Árni Elvar Árnason 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 dugout26 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Oct 2026
Leiknir are in real trouble now
Position 12, 2 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.
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 Leiknir, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Leiknir have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Faye Fallou is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“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; Leiknir are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Sindri Björnsson 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 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 Leiknir can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Rúrik Gunnarsson 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Leiknir is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Róbert Quental Árnason and Leiknir agree another 4 years.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Leiknir
Sindri Björnsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Nobody at Leiknir will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Róbert Quental Árnason 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Árni Elvar Árnason 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
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Leiknir is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
The dugout5 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Leiknir 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.
Market5 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Leiknir
10 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 18 combined actions and a mark of 6.31, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Match26 Sep 2026
Leiknir leaking at the back
6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Axel Freyr Harðarson 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.
Squad28 Sep 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Árni Elvar Árnason 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 dugout28 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Vidar Fridjonsson to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Leiknir's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Leiknir has to find a result from somewhere.
Match21 Sep 2026
Leiknir sink to position 12
2 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match19 Sep 2026
0‑3 to KR, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market21 Sep 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 Leiknir, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match19 Sep 2026
Leiknir are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad21 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 Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Róbert Quental Árnason, and the manager let it.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the Leiknir dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
1‑5 to Valur, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market14 Sep 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 Leiknir can pretend not to have heard.
Match12 Sep 2026
8 matches without a win for Leiknir
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Leiknir are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Sep 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Leiknir is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match12 Sep 2026
6 goals in one match, Arnór Valur Ágústsson on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Leiknir and Valur.
Match12 Sep 2026
Leiknir are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Árni Elvar Árnason 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 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Leiknir
Rúrik Gunnarsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Árni Elvar Árnason 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
10 new faces, and Leiknir 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.
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.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Đorđe Vladisavljević is on it.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Þorsteinn Emil Jónsson’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Leiknir needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Leiknir's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Leiknir has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad31 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Sindri Björnsson 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
A bad afternoon for Leiknir against Fylkir
0‑2 to Fylkir, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Viktor Andri Pétursson, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vidar Fridjonsson after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
The dugout31 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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Leiknir
1‑2 against Valur, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Market24 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 Leiknir can pretend not to have heard.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Leiknir's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Leiknir has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
13 combined actions and 6.80. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Sindri Björnsson 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brynjar Hlöðvers was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Vidar Fridjonsson to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
Match12 Aug 2026
Leiknir through in the cup
A 0‑0 win over Stjarnan, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Árni Elvar Árnason delivers — 7.49
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Árni Elvar Árnason scored, was marked 7.49, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Market17 Aug 2026
Only the photograph left for Marko Zivkovic
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marko Zivkovic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Leiknir the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Window shuts: 16 in, 0 out at Leiknir
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market17 Aug 2026
Leiknir say no — this time
The offer from Keflavik for Þorsteinn Emil Jónsson 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Leiknir
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Leiknir are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom17 Aug 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Fjolnir wanted more than $110.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Aug 2026
12 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The clubs have shaken hands with Vikingur; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Brynjar Hlöðvers delivers — 7.76
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Brynjar Hlöðvers scored, was marked 7.76, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Leiknir have gone to Fjolnir with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market10 Aug 2026
The shirt still fits. Sindri Björnsson is back at Leiknir, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Axel Freyr Harðarson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Leiknir asked and Fylkir said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Arnor Smarason 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Andri Halldorsson is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Aug 2026
Leiknir say no — this time
The offer from Fjolnir for Dagur Ingi Hammer 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
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
159 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dagur Ingi Hammer and Leiknir agree another 4 years.
Match1 Aug 2026
Stjarnan left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
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 Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.32, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.