Florence Schelling, 31, will start her new adventure after Easter when Alex Chatelain will introduce her to the job. For his part, Chatelain will remain with SC Bern as head of the task for sports strategy development and also of the analytics division.
The long-time goalkeeper of the Swiss women national team, who retired as a player in 2018, was last active as head coach of the U18 national women's team. Moreover, Schelling holds a master's degree in business administration.
Marc Lüthi, SC Bern's CEO, revealed to the Berner Zeitung that they could not find a proven team manager on the market who would suit them: "We were looking for a young, fresh, visionary and intelligent person. We looked at what the Swiss market had to offer - and came to the conclusion that there was no proven sports director available who would suit us."
Lüthi then continues explaining how they decided for Schelling: "In the evaluation process, we ended up with Florence Schelling. We came to the conclusion: Florence is the person we are looking for and want. Yes, Florence will be a pioneer, probably worldwide in her new role. But she's young, fresh, she'll bring a new perspective and break up existing structures"
Moreover, Bern also announced that the former responsible for sports strategy development, Lars Leuenberger, will remain as an assistant coach, a role he took on in January after head coach Kari Jalonen was fired. Who will be the next head coach is yet to be determined.
