Finnish football coaches in Europe’s top leagues are rare. Now, within a few days, two Finnish goalkeeping coaches have received the best of top environments.
First Jarkko Tuomisto, 47, was selected as the goalkeeper coach of the French national team OGC Nice. The club from Nice finished ninth in the French league last season. The team’s number one goalkeeper is familiar from the Danish national team Kasper Schmeichel.
It was reported on Thursday Jyri Nieminen, 35, from a new stint as goalkeeping coach for reigning Dutch champions Feyenoord. Feyenoord is a huge club on the scale of Europe and will play in the Champions League next season. First keeper Justin Bijlow is a regular member of the Dutch national team.
– It’s all about Europe’s top clubs. Jarkko and Jyri are pioneers in our modern goalkeeper training. Now, on a practical level, we are where they aimed to be, an expert in Palloliitto’s goalkeeper training Eemeli Reponen says.
Reponen sees that Tuomisto and Nieminen will coach the world’s best players in the future, even if the clubs don’t appear to the general public as absolute tops.
– We see first-class clubs in the Champions League all the time, from Manchester City to the top of Spain and Italy. Feyenoord and Nice are the absolute top, but a bit behind the biggest spotlight, Reponen describes.
In the representative teams of clubs of the same size, only Finns have coached in the 21st century sami Hyypiä and Jonathan Johansson. Hyypää coached Leverkusen, Brighton and Zurich after his playing career ended. Former national team striker Johansson worked in the coaching group of the Glasgow Rangers representative team.
In the case of Tuomisto and Nieminen, the path is different. They do not have a significant playing career behind them, but the way has been cleared specifically by focusing on coaching and accumulating knowledge.
– Former players at the top level are more easily beaten by name, so to speak, whether it was the head coach’s or the goalkeeper’s coach’s beatings. Jyri and Jarkko are completely opposite examples, states Reponen.
The Court’s path to Nice has passed through, among others, Ecuador, Qatar, Romania and, most recently, Turkey. Nieminen has previously coached in Estonia, Qatar, South Africa, and most recently at the New York Red Bulls in the United States.
Game careers haven’t had an effect, but bold jumps into unknown environments have accumulated the know-how that has made progress possible.
– In Finland, it has not been understood how much Jarkko and Jyri are valued throughout Europe. They have gone to speak at the biggest conferences on the goalkeeping side and have been able to bring something new to them. It has helped me get to the top of the world.
Being Finnish has not really been a trump card in the soccer coach’s job market. Reponen believes that the prominent roles of Tuomisto and Nieminen will benefit Finnish coaches in Europe in the future. He also praises the duo’s role in the development of Finnish coach training.
– I want to emphasize that they are not products of Finnish training courses, but they have traveled the world themselves, sought information and passed it on to us. Now we’re taking the message forward with our own twist to the coaches here, says Reponen.
Research knowledge plays a big role
One of the graduates of the recent Finnish coaching expertise and education system is 26 years old Ville Hulkonenwho went to Estonia at the beginning of the year to become the goalkeeper coach of the main league club Nömme Kalju’s representative team.
– We are ahead of many top countries in the training of goalkeeper coaches. I am grateful that I have been able to develop myself as a coach on the crest of the wave. I am very satisfied with the way we structure and teach goalkeeping. The organization of training for goalkeeper coaches in Finland is one of the best in the world, says Hulkkonen.
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According to Hulkkonen, who is originally from Pieksämäkä, the key factor in Finnish mv coaches’ training is a strong research base. The role of Tuomisto and Nieminen has been great here. Hulkkonen feels that cultural change in Finland and bringing new ideas into coaching is easier than in big football countries.
According to Hulkkonen’s experience, goalkeeper training is different in Finland than in many other countries. A goalkeeper coach must understand the game as a whole, not just from the goalkeeper’s tip.
– We try to teach a lot through the game and create environments for goalkeepers where problems must be solved within the game.
So what does this mean in practice? At the time of the interview, Hulkkonen is starting to make video clips of the morning exercises. For training, he has studied the play of the future opponent and tried to create game-like situations based on the opponent’s likely attack patterns and the characteristics of individual players.
– The best thing is if you can add field players to goalkeeper training. This way, the goalkeeper has the opportunity to work in an environment that reflects the game, says Hulkkonen.
Hulkkonen, who previously coached JJK’s juniors, says he enjoyed the challenges he faced in Estonia. Operating under the pressure of responsibility for results has taught me a lot, especially since the first season of Nömme Kalju has not gone well in terms of results. The head coach has also changed along the way. It was Juuri Tuomisto and Nieminen who were strongly involved in encouraging Hulkkos to accept the job at Nömme Kalju.
– Working around constant pressure and change and doing the highest quality work every day has been instructive. In the past, there has been a strong narrative in Finland that it is difficult to get abroad. Hopefully the narrative will start to change, Hulkkonen says.
Hulkkonen’s contract with Nömme Kalju still covers next season. After that, the aim is to continue on to a bigger series in the footsteps of his mentors.
– I want to make sure that my everyday work is of the highest possible quality and that my own development continues in the same direction as it has been until now. The big dream, where all the activities are aimed, is to fight for the same wastes that Jarkko and Jyri are fighting for now ten years from now. I want to continue in the same footsteps as a representative of the new generation and build a successful career internationally, Hulkkonen concludes.