HJK has signed a two-year contract with 35-year-old Spaniard Ferran Sibila.
HJK, which plays in the Veikkausliiga football league, has hired a new head coach Ferran Sibilan. The Spaniard’s contract is for two years.
Sibila moves to Finland from the coaching team of Sweden’s Malmö FF representative team, but she has no previous experience as a head coach at the adult level.
The 35-year-old Sibila has previously coached in Sweden also at GF Sundsvall and IFK Gothenburg. However, HJK describes that he has been in a “responsible coaching role” in these clubs.
He also spent half a year in the English Championship in Barnsley’s coaching team.
– Although Ferran has worked in his previous clubs with the title of assistant coach, in practice his responsibility has been to plan the team’s style of play and carry out the related exercises in both Sundsvall, Gothenburg and Barnsley, HJK’s sports director Vesa Mäki says someone who has known Sibila for more than a decade.
CEO of HJK Aki Riihilahten according to the club challenged half a dozen candidates. Domestic ones Toni Korkeakunnas was the number one option, but HJK wants to take the CEO one step up.
– We want to get even more out of our resources at home, do a little better on the Euro courts and, in accordance with our strategy, produce even better quality players.
The Helsinki club will not comment further on the matter before the press conference to be held in mid-November. The club justifies the matter by saying that it wants to offer peace of mind for next week’s important Conference League match against Frankfurt.