In both Switzerland and Czech Republic, the new season starts during the upcoming weekend. In both countries, the first matches in the men’s and women’s leagues will be played on Saturday, 14th of September.
Switzerland
Men’s NLA
The Swiss Supercup, which was played two weeks ago, offered great insights for the upcoming season. SV Wiler-Ersigen won their 12th championship title last season and the team is eager to win this year as well. The team coach Thomas Berger said in the interview by swiss unihockey, that they have high expectations, and want to succeed not only on the national level but on the international level meaning next year’s Champions Cup. And they have all the possibilities to be successful. Not only did two Finnish World Champions, Joonas Pylsy and Krister Savonen join them, but they also have hungry forwards like Michal Dudovic and Deny Känzig. Also, Matthias Hofbauer will continue his long career. One of the most interesting transfers was Jan Zaugg leaving Floorball Köniz and transferring to Mullsjö Ais in Sweden. Köniz did get Manuel Maurer back but will they be able to challenge Wiler? And what about last year’s silver medallist GC Zurich?
Women’s NLA
In the women’s league, it is clear that two favourites for the upcoming season are Piranha Chur and Kloten-Dietlikon Jets. KD Jets took a double win last season, when they first won the Swiss Cup and later took their 8th championship title. But, in this year’s Swiss Supercup, the tables had turned. Piranha Chur was able to start their season strong, when they beat the Jets 7-1 two weeks ago. This will be surely remembered by both teams when the season really starts. Kloten-Dietlikon Jets got two important transfers from Sweden, when Alice Granstedt and Iza Rydfjäll joined the team. Bad news is that they lost their team captain, Andrea Gämperli and also Elsa Frisk, when they transferred to Sweden. Piranha had also some changes in the roster, when the Norwegian national team player Karen Farnes and Slovakia’s Katarina Klapitova joined Chur.
More information and match schedules: swiss unihockey
Czech Republic
Men’s Superliga
In the men’s Superliga, the season starts on Saturday when the reigning champion Vítkovice will play against Sokol Pardubice. The games continue on Sunday, when in total four matches will be played. 14 teams are fighting for the championship title this season. Some interesting transfers also happened during summer. The Czech national team players Daniel Sebek and Patrik Suchanek transferred back to Mlada Boleslav from Swedish Helsingborg. Also, the U19 World Champion Josef Juha, changed Prague’s Bohemians to Sparta. Vitkovice got couple new players in their roster when Maciej Bogdanski, the Polish national team goalkeeper and the Slovakian U19 national team player Simon Hatala joined the team. Will Vitkovice celebrate another championship title next spring?
Women’s Extraliga Zen
12 teams are playing for the title in Extraliga Zen. Vitkovice will defend the championship title this season, once again. In last season’s final they won against Chodov in overtime. Vitkovice has gone through some changes in the roster since Alzbeta Durikova transferred to Finnish SC Classic and the current captain Denisa Ferencikova returned to Vitkovice from Classic. Also Singapore’s Siti Nurhaliza Khairul Anuar joined Vitkovice for this season. How will she adapt into her new team and floorball culture in Czechia?
This season will be extremely special for Vitkovice, since both men and women will play in the 2020 Champions Cup which is organised in Ostrava 11th-12th of January.
Overview of the weekend’s matches can be found here
