From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Sep 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Lillestrom have 5 straight wins of it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 28 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Nobody could get near Felix Vá
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.33 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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 Lillestrom this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Filip Mladenović 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Thomas Lehne Olsen. 1‑0 against Stromsgodset, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 17, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad21 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
There were 8 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Nobody could get near Felix Vá
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match12 Sep 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Lillestrom have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad14 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 Lillestrom this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Lillestrom training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Mladenović 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 ratings14 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.85, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match12 Sep 2026
Lillestrom are at home on the road
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Match12 Sep 2026
Viking made Lillestrom work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad14 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Gabriel Costa, 36, rolls back the years — 8.01
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.01 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match5 Sep 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Lillestrom have 3 straight wins of it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Roman Neustädter 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Lillestrom training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Gabriel Costa’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Lillestrom.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gabriel Costa, and the manager let it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 8.45 — 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Lillestrom, another week without a signature from Gabriel Costa.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.87 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Nobody could get near Felix Vá
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 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 Lillestrom this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 Aug 2026
Whatever happens, Lillestrom do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Lillestrom training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Mladenović 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Markus Karlsbakk’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Lillestrom.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thomas Lehne Olsen, and the manager let it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Lillestrom
14 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Lillestrom know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
There were 11 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.
Match19 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Lillestrom
2‑2 against Viking, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Match22 Aug 2026
3‑0, and Markus Karlsbakk took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Lillestrom tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.99, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer from IK Start for Armand Wangen 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
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 Lillestrom this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Filip Mladenović 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 terraces24 Aug 2026
At 19 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over Aalesund, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from Bodo/Glimt for Markus Karlsbakk 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Felix Vá runs at them all day
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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Linus Alperud, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.85
A mark of 7.85 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.91 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Ulrik Yttergård Jenssen 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
Jakub Pokorný 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 terraces17 Aug 2026
At 20 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 20, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.39 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kevin Krygård and Lillestrom agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ulrik Yttergård Jenssen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Lillestrom training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Mladenović 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.
Squad10 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Felix Vá runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 19. 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
Eric Kitolano was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.25. 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Ruben Gabrielsen has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Lillestrom.
Market10 Aug 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
The terraces3 Aug 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 24 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Christopher Kjensteberg has agreed terms with Stabaek for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Thomas Lehne Olsen and Lillestrom agree another 2 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 Lillestrom this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market3 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ylldren Ibrahimaj has his answer from Lillestrom; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad3 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Christopher Kjensteberg has come up in conversations Lillestrom were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match1 Aug 2026
IK Start left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.