HJK got into the center of a surprising uproar when Ferran Sibila, who was appointed head coach, did not meet the license regulations of the Football Association.
At the end of the year, HJK drifted into a special coaching mess, which has now come to an end. HJK informsthat Ossi Virta is HJK’s head coach in the starting season. The coaching trio is completed by the Spaniards Ferran Sibila and Oscar García Rodríguez.
HJK therefore had to change its coaching pattern. Originally, 35-year-old Spaniard Ferran Sibila was named as the head coach. Sibila, who previously worked in Sweden and the English Barnsley, for example, had no head coaching experience at the adult level.
In the fall, however, information became public that Sibila lacks the Uefa Pro license required for a Veikkausliiga head coach. Be the first to report on it Helsingin sanomat newspaper.
– In November, Sibila was named HJK’s head coach for the 2024–2025 season, but since Sibila was unable to complete the Uefa Pro exam as planned, she does not yet have the formal qualification required by the Veikkausliiga license conditions to act as head coach, HJK’s press release states.
– Now HJK has signed a head coaching contract with Ossi Virta, and Virta is responsible for coaching the team as a whole. Sibila is responsible for developing HJK’s gamified process.
According to the release, Virta’s head coach contract is valid until Sibila can start Uefa Pro training.
– The club management has strong faith in the entire current coaching: We have the coaching team we want and three excellent coaches, of which Ossi, who is familiar to the team from last year, leads the coaching, sports director Vesa Mäki comment.
This is how the license mess proceeded
The betting league in league license regulations it is clearly stated that the team must have a head coach with a valid Uefa Pro license. The head coach also meets licensing requirements if he is on a course for which he is licensed.
HJK’s sports director Vesa Mäki told before Christmas that HJK knew that Sibila does not have a Uefa Pro license, but she still came first in HJK’s selection criteria.
HJK’s plan was for Sibila to start the Uefa Pro course in Sweden in the winter of 2024. In the end, however, Sibila was not chosen for the course in Sweden, but the country wanted to invest in those who coach in Sweden.
During Christmas, Mäki also told about HJK’s backup plan. His thoughts were that, if necessary, HJK would appoint two head coaches: Sibilan and Ossi Virra, who has a Uefa Pro degree.
Virta was already responsible for HJK’s offensive play last season Toni Korkeakunnsen being the head coach.
– Almost without exception, it is implemented in several clubs, even if there is one head coach. And in many clubs it’s quite the opposite. Besides the head coach, someone else is responsible for quite a large part. It’s clear that without a diploma, Sibila won’t be a head coach on her own, Mäki explained.
However, the Finnish football association’s license regulations have been refined so that they follow UEFA’s license regulations as closely as possible.
The club license manager of the ball association Mikko Aitkoski revealed to that the league license regulations were specified for the 2023 season. Before that, the Football Association had approved the systems of two head coaches. In light of the new regulations, Pallloliito has not yet had such a precedent that a team would try to appoint a person who lacks a Uefa Pro license as head coach.
Like Sibila, Ossi Virta is 35 years old. He worked in Käpylä Pallo from 2005 to 2015, as a junior coach and later as a junior manager and coaching manager.
After that, Virta managed the SJK Academy for a while, until he transferred to the KTP organization. After KTP, Virta was the head coach of KäPa, who played in Kakkones, before moving to FC Haka Teemu Tainion as an assistant coach.
In the summer of 2023, he was appointed to the HJK representative team as an assistant coach.
Virtra now has the much-needed Uefa Pro license, but head coaching experience at the adult level is practically non-existent.