Player profiles from the 90´s Mark Wolf (born 1974) – Switzerland Mark Wolf was one of the best Floorball goalkeepers in the world during his career starting in the early 90’s. He was technically a very good goalie and developed and improved the goalkeeper techniques during his career. Wolf played in the first ever European Championships in 1994, where Switzerland took the bronze. He is also one of the few players who have won the national championship title in two countries as he has won eight national championships with the Swiss team Rot-Weiss Chur and one with the Swedish team Pixbo. In the World Championships in 1998 the Swiss goalie was the hero of the semifinal match against Finland as he took his team sensationally to the final. Wolf was then elected to the 1998 All Star team.
Esa Karjalainen (born 1965) – Sweden
Åsa “Kotten” Karlsson (born 1969) – Sweden
Esa Karjalainen won several Swedish championships with Lockerud before he won two WFC gold medals with Sweden. In addition he played in the first official international match in 1985 against Finland and won the first European Championships in 1994. Karjalainen made a long career in Sweden and after moving to Finland he became the leading defender in the Finnish league. Karjalainen was the first floorball player in the world to play 50 internationals.
Åsa Karlsson is one of the biggest names within the Swedish women’s Floorball. She was elected as the player of the year in Sweden at a young age and won the scoring league in the highest league in 1999. In total she collected seven national championship gold medals and five times she was the most effective player in the play-offs.
He was a dominant defender who also became famous for his sharp wrist shot.He developed the wrist shot with lots of individual training and the accurate long distance shot became the horror of the goalkeepers. European Championships: Gold 1994. Silver 1995 World Championships: Gold 1996, 1998 EuroFloorball Cup: Silver 1999 and 2002 with SSV Swedish Champion: 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991 and 1992 with Lockerud Finnish Champion: 1998 with Viikingit, 2001 and 2004 with SSV Player of the year in Sweden in 1989 Played totally 73 matches with 39 points Clubs: SSV, Viikingit, Lockerud
Wolf ended his player career in 2006, but has been actively involved in Floorball coaching and in producing Floorball training material. Currently he is a member of the development committee of the Swiss Floorball Association. World Championships: Silver 1998. Bronze 2000, 2002, 2006 World Championships All Star goalkeeper 1998 European Championships: Bronze 1994, 1995 EuroFloorball Cup: Bronze 1996 with UHC Rot Weiss Chur Swiss Champion: 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2003 with UHC Rot Weiss Chur. Swedish champion: 2001 with Pixbo Wallenstam In 101 internationals, he managed to collect three assists as a goalie Clubs: UHC Rot-Weiss Chur, Nerike Innebandy (SWE), Pixbo Wallenstam (SWE), GC Unihockey
As a player Karlsson won the WFC gold in 1997. The legendary player later changed to coaching and won the WFC 2003 as assistant coach of Sweden’s women’s national team. She has also coached Lockerud in the Swedish women’s league. Europan Championships: Gold 1995 World Championships: Gold 1997, 2003 (as coach). Bronze 1999, 2005 (as coach) World Championships All Star center and MVP 1997 EuroFloorball Cup: Gold 1997, 1998 and 1999 with Högdalen Swedish Champion: 1987, 1988 and 1991 with Lockerud, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999 with Högdalen Player of the year in Sweden in 1993 Scored 72 points in 40 internationals in the Swedish national team Clubs: Lockerud, Högdalen, Hagsätra
THIS IS FLOORBALL 24
THIS IS FLOORBALL 25