Toni Söderholm: wife, girlfriend, children, family?
We know that about the coach of the German national ice hockey team
Created: 04/14/2022Updated: 04/14/2022 12:14 p.m
Toni Söderholm © IMAGO / ActionPictures
Toni Söderholm was one of the best defenders in the Finnish national ice hockey team.
At the beginning of 2019 he took up his post as coach of the German team.
Kauniainen in Finland - Toni Söderholm became coach of the German national ice hockey team in early 2019.
He became the successor to Marco Sturm, who sensationally won silver with the German team as national coach at the 2018 Olympics.
The Ice Hockey World Championship 2022 is Söderholm's fourth tournament as national coach.
Before that, he looked after the German team at the 2019 and 2021 Ice Hockey World Championships and at the 2022 Olympics. The Finn doesn't reveal too much about his private life.
It is only known that he has several children and at least his oldest daughter is of school age.
He lives with his family in Espoo, the second largest city in Finland.
Söderholm was born on April 14, 1978 in Kauniainen, the smallest town in Finland, near the capital Helsinki.
As a child he turned to ice hockey and joined the club Helsingfors IFK.
He was active there until 1995 and then went to the USA.
He attended Trinity College School and continued his career as a hockey player in their team.
In 1997 he returned to Helsingfors IFK before studying at the University of Massachusetts Amherst from 1998 to 2002.
Coach Toni Söderholm: His career as a player
After returning from the USA in 2002, Toni Söderholm played for the first time in the professional team of Helsingfors IFK.
In 2003 he won the Jarmo Wasama Commemorative Trophy as the best newcomer in the Finnish league.
A year later, he was awarded the Pekka Rautakallio Trophy for the top defenseman and was also named to the league's all-star team.
In the 2004/2005 season he was captain of the team.
Nevertheless, he moved to SC Bern in Switzerland in the summer of 2005.
In 2007 he became Swiss runner-up with the club and shortly thereafter joined the Swedish club Frölunda HC.
In January 2007, Söderholm returned again to Helsingfors IFK.
A few months later he won the silver medal with the Finnish national team at the 2007 Ice Hockey World Championships. He won his first title in 2011 when he became Finnish champion with Helsingfors IFK.
He was the top hockey player in the playoffs, for which he was awarded the Jari Kurri Trophy.
In the summer of 2015 he spent the last season of his active career at EHC Red Bull Munich, with whom he became German Champion in 2016.
Shortly thereafter, he also started his career as a coach with Munich.
Coach Toni Söderholm: His way to the German national coach
Just a few weeks after the end of his career as an ice hockey player, Toni Söderholm became a member of the coaching team at EHC Red Bull Munich in June 2016.
As a development coach, it was his job to promote the further development of the young players in the team.
In August 2017 he switched to SC Riessersee as head coach, who was playing in the second-class DEL2 at the time.
In the 2017/2018 season he reached the DEL2 final with the club, which Riessersee lost to the Bietigheim Steelers.
Shortly thereafter, SC Riessersee had to file for bankruptcy, but was allowed to play in the third-rate Oberliga Süd.
Söderholm remained coach at the club and at the same time took over the position of assistant coach of the German U20 national team.
In January 2019, the Finn became the head coach of the German national ice hockey team.
Before the 2022 Ice Hockey World Championships, he took part in three tournaments with her and achieved the following rankings:
World Cup 2019: third in the preliminary round, out in the quarter-finals, sixth place in the tournament
World Cup 2021: third in the preliminary round, out in the semi-finals, fourth place in the tournament
Olympia 2022: third in the preliminary round, out of the quarterfinal qualification, tenth place in the tournament
By Alexander Kords
