Petri Kettunen led the Finnish Men’s national team to gold in Riga last December. Now the experienced national team coach will continue his career in Czech Republic with the Czech Men’s national team.

Petri Kettunen has been the head coach of the Finnish Men’s national team for the past three World Floorball Championships (WFC). He has won two silver medals and the gold medal in Riga last December. Now the Finnish coach has signed a two-year contract with the Czech Men’s national team. Kettunen has chosen Czech assistants, experienced as players as well as coaches,  Radek Sikora and Milan Fridrich to his coaching team. 46-year-old Kettunen is looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead and since the Men’s WFC 2018 will be held in Prague, Czech Republic, there is even a bit more pressure for the first foreigner to coach the team:
– It is a huge challenge for me and a great chance to lead the Czech national team on the home World Championship, which is going to be a big floorball event not only in the Czech Republic. I am sure that the Czech team has a great potential and my job and challenge is to fully develop this potential right on the 2018 World Championship, says Kettunen.

The Czechs are happy to have Kettunen:
– In the final phase, we negotiated with four chosen cantidates, who led winners or finalists of the World Championships. Petri Kettunen has persuaded us by his overall concept and deep interest in leading the Czech national team. I really appreciate his professional approach to the team preparation and I was surprised by the level of an overview of knowledge and details he knows about all the Czech players, says the Chairman of the Czech National Team’s Commission David Zlatnik.

One of the reasons to hire Kettunen was his experience in working under pressure:
– We want to do our best to success on the home Championship. It is one of the reasons why we negotiated with the world top coaches, who have experience with demanding challenges such as pressure and expectations connected with the home tournament. Petri Kettunen will bring huge experience, which we want to use not only for the national team, but also for the education of all floorball coaches in the Czech Republic, says Filip Suman, the President of the Czech Floorball Union.

Read more at www.ceskyflorbal.cz
Photos: Czech Floorball Union