International transfers continues all summer as players change clubs and get ready for the new season ahead. This week we take a look at some more big transfers from across Europe.
Endre bring in international firepower upfront
Endre IF are looking to make a big step up in their fight for the Women’s SSL title in Sweden. The club based on the island of Gotland finished 6th in the regular season last year and were swept in the first round of the playoffs by Täby FC. Firstly is the return of Finnish International and former TPS forward Milla Nordlund, who last played for Endre in the 2018-19 season. Nordlund was one of the best players in the Finnish F-Liiga for several seasons, thus becoming a major part of the Finnish Women’s national team also. She was TPS’s top point scorer before an injury sustained whilst playing for Finland at the WFC 2023 in Singapore prematurely ended her season. Nordlund will be hungry for goals and points coming off her ACL injury. Two young Swiss stars will also make the move to Endre this summer. Following Nordlund is former TPS teammate Seraina Fitzi who has spent the previous 3 seasons with the black and white side from Turku. Alongside Nordlund, Fitzi picked up 3 consecutive Women’s F-Liiga championships with TPS helping turn them into the number 1 side in Women’s Floorball in Finland. Fitzi also made her debut Women’s WFC appearance for Switzerland this past December in Singapore after two previous U19 WFC’s in Uppsala (2020) and Katowice (2022). Teammates in both events for the Swiss women’s U19 team alongside Fitzi was Anja Wyss who is the third international star forward to make their move to Endre IF. Wyss has been super impressive both on the domestic and international stage throughout her career. She leaves Wizards Bern Burgdorf after several years with the side from the Swiss capital. The most recent season ended in disappointment in the first round of the playoffs losing in 5 games to Zollbruck. With these 3 super strong and energetic forwards, Endre IF will certainly be a major team to watch in the SSL this season.
Finnish reinforcements for Thurgau
Head Coach of Floorball Thurgau, Jukka Ruotsalainen who recently won the award in Switzerland for best Men’s team coach, has brought in several players from his homeland of Finland to help the team push even further into the playoffs and towards trophies this upcoming season. The first of this Finnish trio is recent Finnish U19 representative Amos Jäppinen from EräViikingit. Jäppinen just last year was part of the Finnish U19 squad that won Bronze in Frederikshavn, Denmark for the U19 WFC 2023. This past season Jäppinen has been with EräViikingit with only 1 goal in 33 games. Jäppinen will therefore hope a change of scenery can kickstart more consistency, points and progression. Joining Jäappinen is his 2022/23 teammate at Westend Indians, Christian Remes. Remes was part of the 2017 Finnish U19 “Dream Team” squad for the U19 WFC where they won Gold beating Sweden 7-4 in the final. Players such as Justus Kainulainen, Joona Rantala and Eemeli Akola were also a part of that team which was very strong throughout the tournament. Remes heads over to Switzerland after a down year of 7 points in 23 games for Indians, with the previous season (2022/23) being a major highlight where Remes achieved 53 points in 38 matches for Indians. The last of the 3 Finns to head over to Thurgau is Markus Sipronen. Sipronen just at the end of last year got his first taste of the Finnish men’s national team when he was called up for their squad in the Nordic Challenge 2 game series against Sweden. He has been a main part of F-Liiga side Happee the last 2 seasons and over his career so far has 188 points in 164 Finnish top division matches. They will join star man Peter Kotilainen in Thurgau who has proven that class is permanent with a great first season in the top Swiss division which concluded with Thurgau beating number 1 ranked Winterthur in the first round of the playoffs.
Larsson heads north to join star-studded Thorengruppen
Linn Larsson despite having a Swedish sounding name is Swiss born and is already seen as one of the current and future BIG players for the Swiss Women’s national team for many years to come. Larsson heads to Sweden and arguably the best team on the planet in Thorengruppen from Swiss side Kloten-Dietlikon Jets. Larsson made her breakthrough in the top division of Swiss Women’s floorball already at the young age of 15 and has shown over several seasons in junior categories and top Swiss division that she is one of the premier defensive talents in the sport. Thorengruppen are a dominant force at the top level of Women’s floorball with back to back Champions Cup titles, Swedish Women’s championships and Swedish Cup titles all to hand. Now they are even stronger.
Returning back to Sweden, Nilsson leaves Winterthur for Växjö
Swedish forward Jonathan Nilsson heads back home to Sweden and SSL side Växjö Vipers after 2 seasons at HC Rychenberg Winterthur. After a disappointing first round exit to Floorball Thurgau despite finishing 1st in the regular season Winterthur will look to refresh things for next season. Nilsson heads back to Sweden after last playing there with FC Helsingborg in the SSL for 9 seasons. Nilsson has also been a part of two Swedish WFC Qualifications squads in 2018 and 2020 and will look to have a strong start of the SSL season to maybe put himself in contention for the upcoming WFC 2024 in Malmö as part of team Sweden.
More transfers will be covered every Tuesday this summer on Floorball.sport and you can see the full list of confirmed transfers so far here:
