Johan Schönbeck will be the next Head Coach of the Swiss men’s national team.
The Swede Johan Schönbeck will take over the Swiss men’s national team for four years from 1 May, 2023. The 51-year-old has already been a successful coach in the highest Swiss league for several years and also established the SSL team Växjö Vipers as a top Swedish team in recent years.
David Jansson’s successor is now settled: Johan Schönbeck knows international floorball very well and has a long list of clubs and experiences on his coaching CV. Johan was a coach in Switzerland for six years (2003-2005 UH Zäziwil-Gauchern, 2006-2008 Unihockey Tigers Langnau, 2013-2015 SV Wiler-Ersigen), was for two years the national coach of Denmark and is currently the head coach of the Swedish SSL team Växjö Vipers since 2019.
“Johan puts a lot of emphasis on tactical discipline, senses what a team needs and can react accordingly. He is demanding and has clear ideas in terms of willingness to perform,” says Matthias Hofbauer, Head of National Teams Men at swiss unihockey. One of Schönbeck’s strengths is match coaching: “He coaches very actively and courageously during the match – attributes that we also demand from our players.” His coaching style has also brought him a number of successes: he won the Cup with the Tigers Langnau in 2007, the Swiss championship with SV Wiler-Ersigen in 2014 and 2015, and the Cup with Växjö in 2021. He was also awarded coach of the year at the highest level both in Switzerland (2007 & 2014) and last season in Sweden.
“It really excites me to work with a top nation,” Schönbeck says about his new challenge. His first two years in Emmental almost 20 years ago were groundbreaking for his coaching career. But the current situation of the Swiss national team also excites him: “We have to accept where we are at the moment as fourth in the world rankings and build on that. The staff, the players and the federation have to work hard and there has to be close cooperation with the national U teams and clubs. If everyone works together, we can achieve a lot.” He will continue to live in Sweden with his family. Of course, he will travel to Switzerland often to be present in the halls, meet the players and L-UPL coaches and also be present at coach and national team education sessions on site. “When we talk about leadership and team building, it’s very much about relationships and those definitely need to be fostered.”
Matthias Hofbauer hints at the direction the new national coach will take: “We have to take care of the basics, the foundation has to get better. We are currently the clear number four in men’s unihockey.” According to Hofbauer, the last two World Championships has revealed deficits with and without the ball. “The game with the ball clearly worries me more. In terms of team tactics, we haven’t seen anything surprising from the competition. The situation is different in the individual area. Recognising promising game situations in time, doing the right thing with intensity, skill and precision – compared to the other top nations, we are lagging behind everywhere. If we want to be at the top, we have to increase the culture of competitive sports in the national teams. We need as many players as possible who prioritise floorball as number 1.”
In order to achieve an increase in quality in the various areas, the Swiss federation is already working on a new strategy for competitive sport. A first intensive exchange with selected experts of the Swiss floorball scene took place at the end of November. “We are lagging the most behind in training young people between 15 and 20 years of age. However, we also have to think about what is being neglected between the ages of 10 and 14. In order to increase our efforts in the youth sector, we need the clubs and the associations to support us,” says Hofbauer.
Information acquired from Swiss Unihockey
