My Life and Coaching Story: Featured in Swedish Media

In November 2019, Swedish-language Finnish broadcaster Yle published an in-depth feature article and mini-documentary about my life journey, from growing up during the Bosnian War to building an international handball goalkeeper coaching career from Finland.

The feature, part of their “Sportliv” series, explores how my childhood experiences shaped my coaching philosophy and how I went from being told “you can’t make a living from handball in Finland” to working with national teams and coaches across more than 30 countries.

Photos by Mikael Oivo / YLE

The article and documentary dive deep into several aspects of my story:

Childhood during the Bosnian War: I was 9 years old when the war broke out in 1992. The feature explores how growing up amid conflict, without electricity, running water, or knowing if my family would survive, shaped my perspective on life and coaching.

From player to coach: My journey from becoming one of Bosnia’s top junior goalkeepers, winning the Croatian league with Lokomotiva Zagreb in Croatia, to eventually walking away from my professional playing career at its peak.

Finding home in Finland: How a three-week visit during midsummer in 2011 turned into a permanent move, and how ÅIFK in Turku became my “welcoming family on the other side of the world.”

Building an international coaching career: How I started by sharing free goalkeeper training materials online, organized my first international goalkeeper camp in Denmark in 2015, and gradually built a network that now spans numerous countries.

One moment from the interview that resonates with my coaching approach:

“When I meet young goalkeepers for the first time, I ask them what the most important quality for a goalkeeper is. I love how their brains work. The answers are usually things like ‘saving the ball, being fast, positioning correctly, being strong’ and so on. The right answer is: a smile.”

I want every goalkeeper I work with to feel safe, to have joy in what they are doing, to feel free to explore, and to feel free to make mistakes. Without mistakes, we can’t learn anything new.

The original article is published in Swedish. If you speak Swedish, or want to use a translation tool, you can read the full feature here:

The mini-documentary “Sportliv” is also available on Yle Arenan.

If you are curious to learn more about my coaching methodology and how I apply these life lessons to goalkeeper training, here are some places to explore: