Hyvä duuni! 

01About me

Hello there. I am Ralf Wunderlich,
your friendly football club official and Football coach.

Originally a footballer from Berlin, I work full-time as a football coach in Finland since 2015. I have the UEFA A coaching license, a "Professional Football Management" diploma, masters degrees in philosophy and in psychology, 25+ years experience as a coach and 40+ years as a player.

I also have much experience in other club functions, such as Head of Coaching, club office manager, board member, referee, team leader and pretty much every task that can happen in a football club. On top of that, I'm an instructor for coaching license courses for the Finnish Football Association.

Living in Finland is a nice experience, particularly the beautiful nature. Green forests and blue waters are important to me. My Finnish language skills (acquired autodidactically) are good. While I have been and am constantly employed, feel free to tempt me with a spectacular offer.

This website offers you information about me, helping you make your decision to hire me (or just find out more about me). Let's start with 22* of my football coaching skills (in alphabetical order):

*Why 22? Because according to Gary Lineker, 22 players fight for the ball for 90 minutes, and at the end Germany wins.

02Skillz

Communication

Explaining, showing, telling, asking - when necessary and useful.

Creativity

Boring trainings are boring! Variety, new things, new ideas.

Difficult environment

I help "repairing" clubs and do a lot of "unseen" backend work.

Empathy

You break your leg? I feel your pain.

Football player

40+ years + 1000+ played games = lots of player experience!

Germany & Finland

I know the player path of DFB and SPL and combine the best of both.

Humor & fun

Without humor, life is boring. The more fun, the better the training.

Instructor for SPL

I'm an official instructor for several SPL coaching license courses.

Internet & SoMe

Wordpress, S9Y, HTML and CSS. Social media except TikTok.

JOPOX, MyClub

I know the club management systems JOPOX & MyClub IN/OUT.

Languages

German and English fluent. Finnish good. French un peu.

Love for football

Comes first. No love for football, no future in football.

Mentality

I love football. I live football. I am football. I always give 100%.

Motivation

I motivate my players through my own "hyvä duuni" coaching line.

Philosophy

M.A. Helps me shape my trainings. E.g. Aristotle's phronesis concept.

Psychology

M.A. General, organisational, development, group and social.

Reaction time

"Little robots" have fast legs, slow heads. I trigger faster reactions.

Stamina

Endurance, speed, speed stamina, agility, strength, balancing...

Tactics

Individual, universal, group, team, positional, "matchplan"...

Teambuilding

Football is a team sport. The team is all. "You have to be 11 friends."

Techniques

Dribbling, passing, first touch, shots, feints, crosses, headball...

Video analysis

Longomatch, DaVinci, Premiere, VLC. But I don't enjoy this task.

03My Philosophy: "Footballwise and otherwise. Or: Wise from a certain point of view."

Position 1

If you want to develop good football players, you first have to teach the kids to love football. The love of football comes first. Without this love, no football future. Players who love football, want to train, want to learn, want to play. I develop players who (hopefully) play football for all their life. I love football and I show that to my players all the time. After footballlove comes time and patience. Juniors football is not result-oriented football. Juniors football is learning and developing football!

Position 2

I'm the type of coach that I would like to have had as a junior (and partially, albeit not enough) had. Peter Stöger said during his time at 1. FC Köln in the Bundesliga some years ago: "Football is a game. A game has to make fun." That is so true! No matter whether Bundesliga or Sunday League. If you don't have fun playing football, why do you play? If football causes you stress or bores you, you quit. It's so old-fashioned to think that seriousness ≠ fun. In my opinion: The more fun, the more serious. Keyword: Flow!

Position 3

In Finland (but not just there), there is a big "drop out"-problem. I've watched many trainings from various clubs throughout the whole country during my years here and I'm not surprised. I seldomly witness fun in the trainings. I see young kids who get positional tactics and who tell me "I can't go forward, because I'm a defender." - "Is something happening here where we both stand?" - "No." - "Do you have fun here?" - "No." - "Is it boring?" - "Yes." - "Would you like to go up there where the action happens with the ball?" - "Yes." - "Well, go!" Kid runs up in joy. This conversation actually happened between me and a 9 years old girl.

Position 4

I see teenagers whose coaches yell at them during games as if they would be professional players getting paid a bonus for winning. I see juniors sitting 70 of 80 minutes on the bench, because they are "not good enough". Well, how are players supposed to get better if they rot on the bench? The only thing you learn on the bench is bench life. Benchwarmers don't develop their football skillz. You need to be on the field for that. If you don't develop, you might as well stay at home on the sofa. So they quit. Another drop-out. That makes me sad. And unfortunately it happens again and again and again. Why? It's not rocket science: The more undeveloped your skillz are, the more playing time you need.

Position 5

I studied psychology and philosophy. This reflects in my coaching methods. I don't want to only develop good players, but good human beings. Ethical values are very important to me. And I have to be a role model for the kids, on and off the pitch. I try my best, but I'm not perfect, of course. I'm there for my players, no matter what age. I believe that my players understand that I offer them 100% and my best. That's why they want to give that back to me. To their team. To themselves. We create a symbiotic effect. I love football. You love football. We love football. It's simple, if you think about it. It's a question of mentality. That's not a theoretical matter. You have to live football. Because you want to.

Position 6

Aristotle's concept of phronesis (prudence) guides my decisions. In short: Between two extremes, striving towards the middle between both is the wise thing to do. Football-example: Offensive pressing is risky. Defensive pressing is craven. Midfield pressing is the wise choice in between those two extremes. Training example: Too much fitness training causes a lack of technical skills. Too much technical training causes a lack of physical skills. Let's train a bit of both, according to the team's need in that particular time and space.

Position 7

Football happens on the field. Coaching isn't just a question of theory. It's a practical matter. I don't only think about football theoretically. I think about it practically. I think about the game. Like a player. Because players play the games, not coaches. No players, no game. Fact! I have a lot of playing experience and know how players think and function, what they need. Been there, done that. That's something you can never learn in theoretical courses and seminars.

Position 8

Experience is important. You need to know and understand what happens on the field, why it happens, and what effect it has on the players. For example, when you lead 2-0, and the opponent scores a goal. What do you do? Take out your tactical board? Nah, man. That's now a psychological issue. If I'd be your player and you'd give me a tactical speech in that situation, I wouldn't listen. I need to find solutions myself on the field. And it's the coaches task to provide their players with as many possible solutions to as many scenarios as possible.

Position 9

As a coach, I value sportsmanship and fair play. I support the #kannustamua campaign from the Finnish Football Association and I am convinced that top level football automatically evolves when there is a sufficiently large base at the grassroots level. Thus that level needs to get more focus and attention. All players who want, need to get a chance and deserve your support. It's easy to only work with already developed players or natural talents. The challenge is to work with players who still need to learn and improve a lot. Never give up on a player. Quantity is needed to achieve quality.

Position 10

I like to work with adults. It's fun and interesting to work on a team tactical level and having players who understand what you're talking about. On the other hand, I also find it very fulfilling to work with young kids and teach them how to become a footballer. My personal interest shifted during the last years from mens to womens football. I'm critical of the recent developments in mens professional football internationally, especially regarding the amount of money and - even more - where it comes from. Womens football reminds me more of the football style with which I fell in love with in the first place. Women play good football.

Position 11

To end this short journey into my philosophical football mindset, I want to pick up something I mentioned in chapter 7 already. But I want to let someone else finnish my thoughts: The legendary German footballer Alfred Preißler once said: "All theory in life is grey - what matters is on the pitch." That's how it is. And as hinted at in position 10, at the end it's all about one thing: good football and what that could mean. I can only speak from a certain point of view like Obi-Wan Kenobi. And so I did. May the Football be with you.

04Media

Im Kopf des Trainers Podcast

25.12.2021

Büntetö

05.12.2021

Transfermarkt

29.04.2021

11 Freunde

April 2021

BBC

19.12.2020

Lapin Kansa

31.08.2020

Keski-Pohjanmaa

23.08.2018

Ralf selittää jalkapalloa

10.05.2018

Karjalainen

2015

No Dice Magazine

2013

05Education

Finnish Football Association (SPL)

2020-2022

Instructor for E-, D- and UEFA C-license courses

Finnish Football Association (SPL)

2019

UEFA A coaching license

German Football Association (DFB)

2013

UEFA B coaching license

IST Study Institute

2013

Professional Football Management diploma

University of Potsdam

2004-2011

Master degrees in psychology, philosophy and media studies

Management Circle

2001-2002

Diplomas "Internet Editor", "Internet Programmer", "Portal Manager"

Chamber of Commerce and Industry

1998-2001

Training as Merchant for Office Communication (professional school)

Herder-Oberschule (Gymnasium) Berlin-Charlottenburg

1989-1996

High-school diploma

06Work (footballwise and otherwise)

FC Pohjois-Haagan Urheilijat (Helsinki)

2022-present

Job: Club coach. Other tasks: camps, children events, coaching courses, talent school, morning trainings. Teams: D-boys (2010-11, 4 teams), E-boys (2013, 4 teams), little girls (2018-19), hobby women.

FC Santa Claus Juniorit (Rovaniemi)

2020-2022

Job: Head of Coaching. Other tasks: headcoach, coach, talent school, morning trainings, instructor. Teams: B-girls (2005-07), C-girls (2008-09), 8v8 women, men's representation team, hobby men. Sidenote: I founded the first adult teams (men and women) in the history of the club.

FC Ylivieska

2017-2020

Job: Head of Coaching, Head of Office. Other tasks: headcoach, coach, talent school, morning trainings. Teams: C-girls (2004-06), D-girls (2007-08), C-boys (2005), third men's team. Sidenote: I founded the third mens' team as a special team to use in the UEFA A license course as my "show group". It was a combination of youngsters and experienced senior players. We had to start in the lowest league, but immediately promoted.

SC Riverball (Joensuu)

2016-2017

Job: Head coach. Team: Men's team in the Finnish Kolmonen league. Sidenote: I'm the only coach in history who won a Joensuu-derby against Jippo. You can watch our practised throw-in-trick winning goal on YouTube.

University of Eastern Finland (Joensuu)

2017

Job: Instructor. Task: Student sports association's weekly football group.

Ystävällinen Jalkapalloklubi (Joensuu)

2017

Voluntary: Playing coach. Team: mixed team in the local 6v6 hobby league.

Joensuun seudun monikulttuurisuusyhdistys ry

2015-2017

Side job: Coach, social worker, consultant and Erasmus+ instructor. Task: Football coaching for refugees and immigrants, futsal workshop. Teams: various groups in the local 6v6 hobby league.

AFC Keltik (Joensuu)

2015*-2017

Voluntary: Playing coach, vice president (since about 2011). Team: Men's team in the Finnish Vitonen league. Sidenote: In 2022, I was awarded "Keltik-legend" status at their 20th anniversary gala. [* I was a player for Keltik since 2007, starting during my student exchange year and then almost every year during my summer holidays, until I eventually moved there in 2015.]

FC Hertta (Joensuu)

2015-2016

Job: Head coach. Teams: Women's representation team in the Finnish Kakkonen league, D-girls (2003, 2 teams). Sidenote: The girls first team won the Eastern Finland league and the cup in 2016.

SG Eichkamp-Rupenhorn 1973 (Berlin)

2014-2015

Side job: Head coach, playing coach. Teams: Men's representation team (Kreisliga A), 32+ seniors' team (11v11). Sidenote: I left 2/3 through the season due to my new job in Finland.

recordsale & musicberlin GmbH

2014-2015

Job: Record seller and customer service. When I started with SG E-R (see above), I was looking for another job to accompany the gig. I found one of the world's biggest online shops for second hand vinyl records to work for. It was a very interesting environment and I would have continued with them - if I wouldn't have gotten the once-in-a-lifetime chance to move to Finland to work as a full-time football coach.

1. FFV Spandau (Berlin)

2010-2014

Voluntary: Playing coach, then head coach. Teams: Men's representation team (Kreisliga B, C), D-girls. Sidenote: We achieved the first promotion in the club's history under my command.

AOK Nordost (Teltow)

2010-2012

Job: Private customer sales and strategical planner at a health insurance company. Sidenote: After my "unpaid holidays" for studying that I had arranged with the AOK Berlin (see below) were over, I went back to work. Unfortunately, the AOK Berlin went bankrupt and was taken over by the AOK Nordost just when I returned. They had to take me back due to my contract, but they didn't want me back (including my playing coach gig with the BSG AOK Berlin, see below). After two years I signed a "termination agreement".

University of Potsdam

2008-2009

Job: Student assistant for the ”Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation”. The CEIP helped students who wanted to start their own companies. We attended events, workshops and tradefairs. Sidenote: It was supposed to be a one-semester-job, but the boss was so satisfied with the teamwork of me and my co-worker Dana, a football player from the Holstein Kiel's women's team, that we got a second semester before the funding ran out.

Radio Oi fm (Joensuu)

2007

Job: Trainee and radio show host. Part of my studies was a training at a media company. During my exchange studies in Joensuu I stumbled on the newly found radio station Oi fm. I did my volunteering with them. That included two own radio shows. Sidenote: I continued to deliver monthly radio shows for them pre-recorded from home until 2010, because my program had such good ratings, even for the weekly re-runs. Unfortunately, Oi fm closed its channel for good on 4th January 2015.

BSG AOK Berlin

2000-2010

Job: See AOK Berlin. Voluntary: playing coach, Secretary to the Board, teamleader, caretaker. Team: Men's team in the (formerly highly respected, now unfortuately deceased) Companies League. Sidenote: This task was connected to my main job at the AOK (see below).

AOK Berlin

2000-2004*

Job: Internet Supervisor, Intranet Editor and marketing assistant. During my 1998-2001 education (see above), the practical work parts happened at the AOK Berlin. I didn't intend to work for them after the training ended, but in 2000, their Head of the Student Department noticed me playing and coaching my own university league team. He asked me under what circumstances I could imagine joining his team and employer. I told him some ideas. A bit later, a new job was created for me. I thus became an official AOK employee and BSG AOK player and coach. Sidenote: In 2004, the company got into financial troubles and was looking for "creative solutions" to save on salaries. My department needed to "get rid" of two full-time salaries, and I was the youngest one, without a family. I thus signed an "unpaid holidays" contract to go to the university for some years, and then return even more qualified some day. How this story ended can be read above under "AOK Nordost".

Absoluter Angstgegner (Berlin)

1998-2000

Voluntary: Chairman, playing coach, referee, caretaker. Team: My own founded team in Berlin's University League. Sidenote: After 2000, we continued as X-men. You can find info in the "Statistics" section below.

Jugend- und Freizeitheim Haus Uhlenbusch (Hanstedt i.d. Nordheide)

1996-1997

Job: Community service (the alternative in Germany, if you didn't want to go to the army). This was a great time. Me and a friend worked on-site in North Germany at a youth hostel and education center in the middle of the forest. We took care of the premises, helped in the kitchen, and with cleaning. Due to my drivers license, my main task was to go groceries shopping, drive customers around and in the summer even a tractor. Sidenote: When I re-visited the place in 2009, there were only ruins left. In 2014, the municipality tore down all remaining buildings. It's now just forest and meadows.

07Statistics

Unfortunately, I cannot provide exact statistics for both, my playing and coaching career. Nowadays, everything is tracked online, but most of my active time happened before that. I have some personal statistics, but my own archive is incomplete like the one in the Jedi Temple.

Finland: Coach2015-2022

over 400 games in East, West, North and South Finland

Finland: Player2007-2022

over 250 games in East, West, North and South Finland

Finland: Goals2007-2022

22 in East, West, North and South Finland

Finland: Cards2007-2022

12 yellow cards, 1 red card (in 2009)

Germany: Coach1998-2015

about 280 games in Berlin

Germany: Player1996-2015

about 600 - official - adult games in Berlin

Germany: Goals1996-2015

about 80 in Berlin

Germany: Cards1996-2015

(about) 14 yellow cards, 1 red card (in 2004?)

FC POHU/SiPa2023

6 football games, 2 assists; 7 futsal games, 1 goal

FC POHU/Old men2023

3 games for 40+ team, 4 games for 45+ team

FC Santa Claus 7v72022

about 7 games as goalkeeper

FC Santa Claus2021

11 games, 1 goal

Sodankylän Pallo2020

14 games (in Kolmonen), 1 yellow, almost a goal ;)

Sievi FS/II2017-2020

15 futsal games (7 as goalkeeper), 3 goals

FC Ylivieska/III2019

15 games, 3 goals, 2 yellow

FC Ylivieska/II2018-2019

2018: 15 games, 1 goal; 2019: 4 games as goalkeeper

Niemisen Urheilijat2017

9 games, 1 goal, 2 yellow

SC Riverball2017

1 minute in 1 game in Kolmonen ;)

YJK Joensuu2017

8 games, couple of goals for my 6v6 mixed team

JoMoni2015-2017

many games and goals for their three 6v6 teams

AFC Keltik2007-2017

86 games, 8 goals, 6 assists, 7 yellow, 1 red; futsal: ?, 1 goal

SG Eichkamp-Rupenhorn2014-2015

a couple of games

SG Eichkamp-Rupenhorn 32+2014-2015

a couple of games, at least 1 yellow

BSG AOK Berlin/II2012-2013

a couple of games, at least 1 goal

1. FFV Spandau2010-2014

[2012/13 missing] 51 games, 2 goals, 6 assists, 4 yellow

BSG AOK Berlin2000-2010

[2000-2004 missing] 97 games, 18 goals, 25 assists, 9 yellow, 1 red

X-Men Soccer2000-2006

[2006 missing] 90 games, 12 goals, 5 assists

Angstgegner1998-2000

98/99: 32 games, 5 goals; 99/00: ? games, 16 goals

Eiskeller1997-1998

[no statistics for Traktor Eiskeller available]

Kontergrätsche1996-1997

[no statistics for Torpedo Kontergrätsche available]

"Guest player"1996-2006

100+ "unofficial" games for various university league teams

SCC, Tebe, BSC1983-1996

lots of football, badminton, hockey and table tennis games

09Testimonials

10Hyvä duuni

"Hyvä duuni" means "Good job" in English.

 

I've become known for using this term in Finland and it became kind of my trademark for which people remember me throughout the country.

 

The FC Ylivieska D-girls even made me a t-shirt with the slogan printed on it as a gift for me.

I've reworked and renamed my own coaching line and approach to teaching football to junior players according to this name.

 

My "Hyvä duuni" concept is available for booking / hiring, either applied by me directly or I can teach it to your coaches.

 

Contact me, if this text sparked your interest and you want to know more.

11Contact

Please be nice and civil when contacting me. Contact is preferred through e-mail.

 

I don't answer calls by unknown numbers. Text me first as introduction.

 

The number is my work phone. I don't have a private number anymore.

 

The address is the office of my current club. My private address is private.

  • Address

    Ralf Wunderlich @ FC POHU, Laurinniitynpolku 2, 00440 Helsinki, Finland

  • Phone

    + 3 5 8 5 0 3 6 0 6 7 8 2

  • E-mail

    contact@ralfwunderlich.com