The Swedish Floorball Federation has signed agreements with both Thomas Brottman and Niklas Nordén who will be the new head coaches of the men’s national team.
Thomas Brottman has a long coaching career behind him, where he has won four Swedish Championship golds with IBF Falun and two with Storvreta IBK. As a player, he has won two World Floorball Championships golds and four Swedish Championship golds (three with Balrog, one with Warberg).
– My leadership is about winning. I love to win and it is important if you are part of Swedish Floorball on this level. But it is also about a development phase. I think I have succeeded in both winning and getting younger players, he says in Swedish Floorball Federation’s press release.
Brottman currently holds the coaching job of Falun’s men’s team, where he has taken the team to the Swedish Championship final five of the last six seasons.
– It is obviously important to have acquaintance with big matches with crowded arenas and a lot at stake. I also already have some international experience from the Champions Cup, where I have met Petteri Nykki (Finnish national team head coach) several times.
To further strengthen the chances of becoming world champions, Niklas Nordén has also been recruited as an equal national team coach with Brottman. Nordén has previously successfully trained Växjö IBK, where he took the team to the Swedish Championship final 2017.
– Hopefully we have been chosen to make Sweden the best again. Everyone must understand what it takes to win, we must work hard to reach that. And it’s very cool to do it with Thomas Brottman. He has incredible experience of what it is like to create a winning team, he says.
Now the aim is set to put the men’s national team back on the World Floorball Championships (WFC) gold throne again. The last time the Sweden won the Men’s WFC was in 2014, and the last two finals have ended in a loss. The next WFC will be played in Helsinki 3-11 December 2021.
– Should we take back the gold, that’s where we should do it. It feels very inspiring to start working with a squad. We can choose from a lot of talent and many world class players, says Brottman.
– We have received the task to work long-term, but that does not diminish our short-term winning mentality. There is full focus on the championships already now and we will find the right individuals to get together a team as strong as possible. We will require a great hunger to play in the national team, says Nordén.
Joakim Lindström, Swedish Floorball Federation’s national team manager, is satisfied with both recruitments.
– It is a very competent and passionate duo that will lead Swedish Floorball in the coming years, he says and continues:
– Thomas is the men’s national team’s face when it comes to relations with clubs, the media and other stakeholders around the national team. But above all, we see that Thomas’ well-documented ability to build winning teams, as well as develop younger players, to be central in the coming years.
– We got to know Niklas even more during his time working in the association. He is an extremely passionate and ambitious leader who, in addition to contributing with energy, is a very skilled analyst who does not leave anything to chance. He has been part of the national team activities’ sports group during the year, which means that he is well acquainted with the long-term model that we will gradually implement. It will be exciting to follow Thomas and Niklas long-term and the joint work in practice; that the national team follows and develops the principles that will strengthen our international position, also when it comes to the game and the co-operation between national team and elite development.
The rest of the men’s national team staff will be appointed and presented later.
Thomas Brottman’s employment will begin on May 1, 2021. Niklas Nordén will lead the work from now until Brottman joins after the current season. The agreements are made to cover the WFC 2024.
On Friday, the Swedish Floorball Federation announced that Mikael Hill’s contract as national team head coach will not be extended.
Source: Swedish Floorball Federation
