Jonne Kunnas will start working as Linköping’s second coach in January. He also continues in the coaching team of the Finnish women’s national football team.
Soccer coach Jonne Kunnas was appointed on Tuesday to a rare job in Finnish terms. Kunnas will start her work in January in the coaching team of Linköping, one of the top clubs in the Swedish women’s football league Damallsvenskan. The contract is for two years and includes an option for the third year.
Kunnas tells Urheilu by phone that the opportunity opened due to many factors.
– There are people who know me, and they have suggested me to Linköping, who were looking for a second coach. They then got in touch. This year I have also visited many different environments myself, and through that I have gotten to know people, Kunnas says.
Kunnas has been part of the Helmareite coaching team since July 2022. He will continue in the national team’s coaching team next year as well. In 2020-2022, Kunnas served as HJK’s head coach and before that for two years as the team’s assistant coach.
Kunnas describes the interview process for the Swedish club as strict and multi-phased. However, Kunnas impressed with his skills, and eventually the Swedish club offered him a contract.
He will start the work from the position of the second coach of Hammarby, who won the Swedish championship, who has moved to the head coach of Linköping By Rafael Roldán Bermúdez with. The two did not know each other from before.
– We have talked a lot about football and life and we are on the same map, Kunnas assures.
The Swedish club has good experiences with Finns: even wearing the captain’s armband Olga Ahtinen was awarded Damallsvenskan’s most valuable player at the end of the 2022 season. In the middle of last season, however, he moved to Tottenham.
Former head coach of Helmarei Andree Jeglertz your pilot, on the other hand, follows until last summer, when he jumped to become the pilot of the Danish women’s national team. successor of Jeglertz, Anders Jacobson the head coaching season, on the other hand, was short, as he spent only half a season in Pesti.
However, Linköping finished third and secured their place in the Champions League qualifiers.
Goals abroad
Kunnas believes that the club’s good experiences with Finns helped him as well.
– Finnish football expertise is perhaps not valued as highly as it deserved all over the world. I hope that in the future I will also be able to help others to follow the same path, Kunnas talks.
The goals of the 31-year-old Finnish coach are indeed high.
– In the near future, the most important thing is that Linköping succeeds and the players move forward. My big dream has always been to get into a league a little bigger than Finland and work in a professional environment, Kunnas begins.
– In the longer term, I hope I will be able to do things well enough to be able to build an international coaching career. This is a good step towards big leagues on international fields, or actually this is already it.
Also useful in Helmarei
The municipality will continue in the 2024 season as well Marko Saloranta in the coaching team in the women’s national team. He believes that Linköping-pesti is capable of helping in monitoring the national team players as well.
– In Sweden, you can see different players of ours every week and maybe get more detailed information about their surroundings. There is absolutely no harm in that.