July 1st marks the official opening of the new season’s transfer window and we already have some MAJOR moves happening in the world of Floorball. Follow along all summer as we breakdown some of the biggest and surprising transfers for the upcoming season. Starting off with some international movers to the SSL for both Men and Women and a glove wearing scoring forward from Finland to Switzerland.
Vaxjö Vipers strengthen with international talent
Vaxjö had a strong 2023/24 season finishing 4th and only 2 points off top of the table Storvreta. However the Vipers were not as fruitful in the playoffs just coming through a tough playoff series against Kalmarsund in 7 games before falling to Storvreta in the semis in 5 games only. Therefore the focus turned to international talent to help strengthen their squad for this upcoming season with two national team players from Slovakia and Finland into their ranks. Michal Dudovic becomes the first male Slovak player ever to play in the SSL by joining Vaxjö and he will add some more firepower upfront after some scintillating performances in the top Swiss division for SV Wiler-Ersigen. Coming off a top 5 points producing performance last season Dudovic helped his Wiler-Ersigen side to another playoff final where they narrowly lost to Zug (6-5). In his 6 years at the highest level of Swiss club floorball Dudovic has been one of the best scorers in the league, improving year on year with his 60 points in 35 games played last season being a highlight. He was also recently named yet again best Male player in Slovakia by the Slovak Floorball Association and will look to help Vaxjö into the SSL final and beyond. Long term Classic player Eemeli Akola makes the first move of his career since the 2014/15 season when he previously moved to Classic from Karhut. Akola is a 6 time Finnish champion with Classic (with a junior title added) and one of the premier lock down defenders in Finland. He has been a mainstay on the Finnish men’s national team since 2022 and is also an U19 World Champion from back in 2017 in which Akola and Finland lifted the Junior World Championship trophy in his current new hometown of Vaxjö. Akola will bring with him a wealth of experience and energy from the defensive side of the game which will be crucial in such a tough league as the SSL.
Pixbo stock up on Swiss talent
Pixbo Innebandy are making a big case for the Women’s SSL title this upcoming season with some BIG incomings already this summer. Joining Swiss national team goalkeeper in Gothenburg this upcoming season will be fellow Swiss national team players Céline Stettler and Isabelle Gerig from the L-UPL. Stettler makes her way to Sweden from Kloten-Dietlikon Jets who have just come off a double trophy winning season with the Swiss Cup and Playoff Title both in their trophy cabinet. Stettler previously played in Finland for PSS for 2 seasons before returning to Switzerland and becoming one of the key players on the Kloten-Dietlikon squad. Joining Stettler in Pixbo will be Isabelle Gerig who already has experience of playing in Sweden’s highest league having played for Endre IF back in the 2021/22 season. She has played most of her career however in Switzerland mainly for the Dietlikon organisation (Before they became the Kloten-Dietlikon Jets) with her most recent 2 season spell at Zug United. Gerig was the top points scorer this past season for Zug with an astounding 75 points in 24 games and has been a key part of the previous 4 World Championship squads with Switzerland and will also look to help Pixbo finally return to the top of Swedish Women’s floorball having been so close for several seasons to only fall at the last hurdle to rivals Thorengruppen.
Köniz Bern reinforces with a gifted & gloved Finn
Cha cha-ing his way from Esport Oilers in Finland to Floorball Köniz Bern is the dangerous forward Rasmus Kainulainen from Finland. After 5 years with the Oilers Kainulainen finally achieved his dream of becoming Finnish champion this past season, being one of the main contributors on the energetic Esport Oilers team. Brother of fellow Finnish international and Oilers teammate Justus Kainulainen. 2024 saw the debut for Rasmus in the Finnish national team with a standout performance at the European WFC qualifiers totaling 24 points in 7 games. Kainulainen makes the move across to Switzerland and looks to help a Köniz Bern side who went from Swiss Cup champions in 2022/23 to a disappointing 2023/24 season where they finished 8th just sneaking into the playoffs before being dispatched in the first round. Kainulainen will add some more ability to their main core of players which includes supremely talented Swiss forward Jan Zaugg.
More transfers will be covered every Monday this summer on Floorball.sport and you can see the full list of confirmed transfers so far here:
