IK Start U20

16 Jan 2027
Saturday
Process
24 Edition

The IK Start Gazette

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Jiří Bederka asks to leave IK Start

“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.

Squad

Eirik Schulze 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 IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Loan watch

15 goals on loan for Ahmed Adebayo

20 appearances at Valletta and the goals keep coming. IK Start are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

In brief

Back issues
23 Edition

The IK Start Gazette

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

João Vitor puts it in writing

“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 The request is on a desk at IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Tempers go at IK Start

Eirik Schulze 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

The manager makes an example of Claudio Saieva

“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

Jonathan Lima 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 Jonathan Lima trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Squad

Is this Eirik Wollen Steen’s last season?

“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Eirik Wollen Steen is 34, with 0 appearances behind him, and IK Start will have to plan for whichever answer comes.

Market

The shop window has Tom Strannegård in it

IK Start have let the market know Tom Strannegård can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.

In brief

22 Edition

The IK Start Gazette

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Eirik Wollen Steen puts it in writing

“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 The request is on a desk at IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Storm Strand-Kolbjørnsen is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IK Start is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Markus Soomets 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 IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

21 Edition

The IK Start Gazette

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

IK Start are in real trouble now

Position 16, 8 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.

Market

Tom Strannegård puts it in writing

“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 IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Sebastian Griesbeck has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Tempers go at IK Start

Markus Soomets 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.

Loan watch

Ahmed Adebayo keeps scoring at Valletta

17 appearances away from home and 14 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.

Squad

Claudio Saieva 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 Claudio Saieva trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

20 Edition

The IK Start Gazette

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Terry Benjamin asks to leave IK Start

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at IK Start

Tom Strannegård 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

João Vitor wants to go home

“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and IK Start know it.

In brief

19 Edition

The IK Start Gazette

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

João Vitor puts it in writing

“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 IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Johan Meyer says IK Start 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

Tempers go at IK Start

Markus Soomets 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.

In brief

18 Edition

The IK Start Gazette

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Eirik Wollen Steen asks to leave IK Start

“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.

Squad

Eirik Wollen Steen says IK Start 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.

Market

Storm Strand-Kolbjørnsen has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Markus Soomets 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 IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Boardroom

264% of the income goes out in wages at IK Start

Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.

Loan watch

The goals keep arriving from Ahmed Adebayo’s exile

12 goals in 14 games at Valletta — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at IK Start updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.

In brief

17 Edition

The IK Start Gazette

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

IK Start sink to position 16

8 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Market

Tom Strannegård asks to leave IK Start

“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.

Squad

João Vitor says IK Start 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.

Market

Sebastian Griesbeck has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Tempers go at IK Start

Eirik Schulze 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.

Loan watch

Ahmed Adebayo keeps scoring at Valletta

13 appearances away from home and 11 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.

In brief

16 Edition

The IK Start Gazette

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Terry Benjamin puts it in writing

“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 IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Felix Kutsche Eriksen keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” IK Start may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Markus Soomets 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 IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Jonathan Lima 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 Jacob Pryts question follows IK Start around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Jacob Pryts’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Squad

International call for Markus Soomets

Markus Soomets joins up with his country. IK Start lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.

In brief

15 Edition

The IK Start Gazette

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Jiří Bederka puts it in writing

“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 IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Tempers go at IK Start

Markus Soomets 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

Jesper Cornelius signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jesper Cornelius commits to IK Start for another 4 years.

In brief

14 Edition

The IK Start Gazette

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Eirik Wollen Steen asks to leave IK Start

“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.

Player ratings

Tom Strannegård 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.

Match

No end in sight to IK Start's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at IK Start has to find a result from somewhere.

Market

Storm Strand-Kolbjørnsen has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Tempers go at IK Start

Vagner Gonçalves Nogueira 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

Rosenborg take the points off IK Start

Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Jesper Cornelius signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jesper Cornelius and IK Start agree another 4 years.

Boardroom

264% of the income goes out in wages at IK Start

Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Steve Mvoué

“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.

In brief

13 Edition

The IK Start Gazette

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

IK Start sink to position 16

8 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Market

Tom Strannegård asks to leave IK Start

“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.

Squad

Jiří Bederka keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” IK Start may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Player ratings

Tom Strannegård runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Sebastian Griesbeck is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IK Start is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Tempers go at IK Start

Markus Soomets 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

No hiding place for Jacob Pryts

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

Match

Stabaek take the points off IK Start

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

Loan watch

7 goals on loan for Ahmed Adebayo

9 appearances at Valletta and the goals keep coming. IK Start are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

In brief

12 Edition

The IK Start Gazette

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Terry Benjamin hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Blerton Isufi keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” IK Start may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Markus Soomets 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 IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

A bad afternoon for IK Start against Stromsgodset

0‑2 to Stromsgodset, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Player ratings

Tom Strannegård's mistake decides it

Ten men and a goalkeeper behind him, and it still finished in the net. He knew before anybody told him, and nobody at IK Start needed to.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Felix Kutsche Eriksen

“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

Jiří Bederka 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.

Player ratings

Terry Benjamin leaves them behind him

Shots: 7. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.

Player ratings

Eirik Schulze runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

In brief

11 Edition

The IK Start Gazette

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

A defender's afternoon for Steve Mvoué

Defensive actions: 35. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

Market

Jiří Bederka hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Tempers go at IK Start

Eirik Schulze 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 ratings

Nobody could get near Tom Strannegård

Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Mikael Ugland stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Mikael Ugland and IK Start agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Home is on João Vitor's mind

“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; IK Start are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Squad

Eirik Wollen Steen 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.

Match

IK Start draw a blank against Viking

The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Viking defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.

Player ratings

Jiří Bederka shuts the door

Defensive actions: 12, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.

In brief

10 Edition

The IK Start Gazette

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Nothing got past Markus Soomets

Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 32 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.

Player ratings

A defender's afternoon for Fredrik Pålerud

Defensive actions: 30. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

Player ratings

Jesper Cornelius runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Storm Strand-Kolbjørnsen has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Markus Soomets 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 IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Boardroom

Wages eat 383% of everything IK Start 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.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Per-Egil Flo

“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

IK Start get the job done against Sarpsborg 08

A 1‑0 win over Sarpsborg 08, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

Terry Benjamin in the eights

A performance of 8.35 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

In brief

9 Edition

The IK Start Gazette

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

IK Start sink to position 16

4 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Market

Tom Strannegård hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.

Match

No end in sight to IK Start's wait for a win

7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at IK Start has to find a result from somewhere.

Market

Only the photograph left for Sebastian Griesbeck

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sebastian Griesbeck will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IK Start the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Tempers go at IK Start

Markus Soomets 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 ratings

Tom Strannegård 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

The manager makes an example of Jiří Bederka

“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

Jacob Pryts lets one through his hands

A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.

Match

IK Start and Haugesund take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

In brief

8 Edition

The IK Start Gazette

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The small margins put IK Start out

Out, 0‑1 to Viking, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.

The terraces

The boos come down from three sides

“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 8 of the 31 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.

Match

6 matches without a win for IK Start

The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around IK Start are no longer polite ones.

Player ratings

Tom Strannegård runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Eirik Schulze 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 IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Mjondalen take the points off IK Start

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Fredrik Pålerud

“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

Jonathan Lima 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 Jonathan Lima trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Player ratings

The one thing Terry Benjamin could not do

Shots: 7, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.

In brief

7 Edition

The IK Start Gazette

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

4 matches without a win for IK Start

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around IK Start are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Tempers go at IK Start

Markus Soomets 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 ratings

Tom Strannegård runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

No hiding place for Eirik Wollen Steen

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

Match

Odd take the points off IK Start

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

Player ratings

Terry Benjamin leaves them behind him

Shots: 7. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.

In brief

6 Edition

The IK Start Gazette

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

A defender's afternoon for Steve Mvoué

Defensive actions: 30. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

Player ratings

Tom Strannegård 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.

Squad

Jacob Pryts keeps IK Start in it on his own

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.

Market

Only the photograph left for Storm Strand-Kolbjørnsen

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Storm Strand-Kolbjørnsen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IK Start the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Markus Soomets 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 IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Boardroom

Wages eat 313% of everything IK Start 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.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Per-Egil Flo

“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

Markus Soomets loses the armband

The captaincy has been taken off Markus Soomets. IK Start will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.

Match

Point won or two lost for IK Start?

Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Sandefjord? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.

In brief

5 Edition

The IK Start Gazette

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Tom Strannegård puts it in writing

“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 IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Sebastian Griesbeck has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Player ratings

John Olav Norheim shuts the door

Defensive actions: 23, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Tom Strannegård

Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Tempers go at IK Start

Eirik Schulze 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 ratings

Steve Mvoué shuts the door

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.

Squad

No hiding place for Steve Mvoué

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

Squad

Erlend Dahl Reitan 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 IK Start, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Player ratings

Terry Benjamin keeps on missing

Shots: 5, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.

In brief

4 Edition

The IK Start Gazette

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Jesper Cornelius sends IK Start through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Jesper Cornelius obliged against Stromsgodset. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is IK Start.

Player ratings

Tom Strannegård 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.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Jacob Pryts

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.

Squad

Markus Soomets 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 IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Deni Dashaev shuts the door

Defensive actions: 22, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.

Player ratings

One of those days for Jesper Cornelius

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.94, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Squad

No hiding place for Erlend Dahl Reitan

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

Match

Tromso take the points off IK Start

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

Squad

Steve Mvoué 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 Steve Mvoué trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

3 Edition

The IK Start Gazette

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

IK Start march on in the cup

Bodo/Glimt are out and IK Start go through, 0‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Market

Mjondalen come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and IK Start did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Jacob Pryts decides it from twelve yards

1 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.

Match

4 matches without a win for IK Start

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around IK Start are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Tempers go at IK Start

Markus Soomets 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

Eirik Schulze 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.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Terry Benjamin

Marked 8.17 — 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.

Player ratings

Jesper Cornelius runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Honours even between IK Start and Valerenga

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

In brief

2 Edition

The IK Start Gazette

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Storm Strand-Kolbjørnsen has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

John Olav Norheim signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” John Olav Norheim commits to IK Start for another 3 years.

Squad

Tempers go at IK Start

Eirik Schulze 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.

Market

IK Start sell Håkon Lorentzen for $710.0K

Håkon Lorentzen has left for Valerenga in a $710.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

Squad

No hiding place for Jacob Pryts

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

Match

A bad afternoon for IK Start against Bodo/Glimt

0‑1 to Bodo/Glimt, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Market

Odd expected to open talks for Alexander Gurendal

Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. IK Start will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.

Market

IK Start and Vagner Gonçalves Nogueira are talking past each other

“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.

Player ratings

Jesper Cornelius runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

In brief

1 Edition

The IK Start Gazette

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Tom Strannegård hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Håkon Lorentzen attracts admirers

The name of Håkon Lorentzen has come up in conversations IK Start were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

Steve Mvoué signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Steve Mvoué and IK Start agree another 4 years.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Tom Strannegård

Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Markus Soomets 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 IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

IK Start come up short against Lillestrom

Lillestrom left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Player ratings

One of those days for Markus Soomets

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.17, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Squad

Kristoffer Tønnessen 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.

Market

49 months and counting on Steve Mvoué

Still no offer on the table, and Steve Mvoué’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.

In brief