Christian Schweichler has been the goalkeeper coach of the Lebanese national team since April 2012. The 33-year-old previously worked with Michael Krüger (formerly Eintracht Braunschweig) in Sudan. Schweichler spoke to Sven Bauer about his work and life in Lebanon, gives deep insights into professional goalkeeper training and reveals what the Dutch have over the Germans when it comes to goalkeeper training.
Transfermarkt.de : Mr. Schweichler, you’ve been Lebanon’s goalkeeper coach since mid-April 2012. How did that happen?
Christian Schweichler : The Lebanese national team celebrated their greatest success last year under the leadership of coach Theo Bücker and is in the final Asian qualifying round for the 2014 World Cup. The association wants to use this success in the long term and become more professional at all levels. This includes in particular the goalkeeper area. A goalkeeper coach with international experience was sought, who not only coaches the goalkeepers of the national team, but also has experience in setting up a goalkeeper academy and has teaching experience. In this search, Michael Krüger, with whom I worked in Africa, recommended me. Michael Krüger and Theo Bücker have known each other as international trainers for years and exchange ideas regularly.
Transfermarkt.de : What attracted you to the task and what are your goals in Lebanon?
Christian Schweichler : Coaching a national team is always appealing. You don’t get an offer like this every day. The combination of training work with the team and conceptual work for the association is also attractive. My personal goals also lie in these two focal points. With the national team, I obviously want to complete the qualifying round as positively as possible. In addition, I am striving to create structures with the goalkeeper academy that will raise goalkeeping to a higher level in the long term.
Transfermarkt.de : You form a team with the internationally very experienced coaches Theo Bücker and Peter Meindertsma. How does the cooperation work and how is your work rated by the team, but also by the association and the fans?
Christian Schweichler : The cooperation is going extremely well. I think the Dutch game culture that Peter Meindertsma brings, the German goalkeeping game that I stand for and Theo Bücker’s enormous experience and recognition in Arab football are good bases for a successful cooperation. Theo Bücker is also a real personality on and off the field, something that every young coach can learn from. Team and fans respect and support our work. They are enjoying the latest successes and now want to take the next step. However, it is now also important to reconcile the expectations that have been aroused and the necessary changes, and to continue working with patience and seriousness. Creating the framework for this will be the task of the association.
Transfermarkt.de : Do you now spend more time in Lebanon than in Germany?
Christian Schweichler : My main place of residence is Lebanon. The scope and intensity of my work would not allow for any other option. Training and games take place in the capital Beirut. I live in a quiet suburb where I enjoy mountain and sea views and many other amenities in my free time.
Transfermarkt.de : How do you rate the level of the team and the goalkeepers?
Christian Schweichler : With Abbas Hassan, there is a goalkeeper in the squad who received his training in Europe and has already played U21 international matches for Sweden. He is a fixture at his club in Sweden’s highest league and has everything that makes a good goalkeeper. Due to their age structure, the rest of the Lebanese goalkeepers are due for a generational change. There are individual hopeful talents who now have to be brought up to the desired level of performance.
Transfermarkt.de : Are there any players that you think could prevail in Germany? If so, who and in which league?
Christian Schweichler : Roda Antar and Youssef Mohamad are two successful former Bundesliga players in the squad. There are also players who are on the ball for their clubs in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. They are role models for the young players, some of whom would certainly be able to assert themselves in the top leagues in Germany. Due to the successes of the national team, the players are now naturally drawing attention to themselves.
Transfermarkt.de : You played with Lebanon until the fourth qualifying round of the AFC federation. How satisfied are you with the result?
Christian Schweichler : Reaching the final qualifying round is a great success for the team and the entire country. However, we cannot be satisfied with the standings and points in this last qualifying round. There was more possible in the first three games than the point we had won so far. Individual mistakes and a lack of experience have so far prevented our young team from doing better. However, every game is a learning process for the team and brings them forward. I am sure that we will collect more points.
Transfermarkt.de : What is your conclusion after the first few months? What is going well, where is there still potential for improvement?
Christian Schweichler : The team is making continuous progress in training and games. Each individual has to understand and internalize that at this international level often only nuances decide between victory and defeat. If you want to reach the final round of a World Cup, you have to subordinate everything to your sport. This applies on and especially off the pitch. There is certainly still room for improvement here.
Transfermarkt.de : Let’s talk briefly about the political situation. How does this currently look in Lebanon?
Christian Schweichler : The situation in Lebanon is stable. Should anything change in this situation, I will be informed promptly and promptly by the association and the German embassy.
Transfermarkt.de : Before you got involved, you were active with Michael Krüger in Sudan. How did that happen?
Christian Schweichler : I was contacted by Michael Krüger’s agent. I was lucky enough to have a licensed and reputable partner at my side in Udo Schräder and his agency StarKick, whom I could fully trust, especially with such a commitment abroad.
Transfermarkt.de : With Al Merreikh Omdurman you qualified for the African Champions League and won the national cup. How did your engagement go? Were you able to push the development of goalkeepers forward?
Christian Schweichler : Unfortunately, goalkeeper training in Africa still leaves a lot to be desired. The ideal execution of goalkeeper-specific basic techniques as well as a tactically optimally aligned positional play, especially when dominating the penalty area, poses major problems for many goalkeepers. However, regular, individual goalkeeper training at a high quality level can lead to a positive development even in a short time. I think the goalkeepers’ achievements and performances confirm that.
Transfermarkt.de : How can you imagine football in Sudan, where and how often did you train?
Christian Schweichler : African football has its own fascination. It’s not different in Sudan. People live with and for their clubs. The two top clubs Al Merreikh and Al Hilal are professionally managed and also internationally successful. One or two training sessions per day are the norm. However, due to the high temperatures of up to 45 degrees, these often take place in the stadium in the morning or evening hours.
Transfermarkt.de : You worked in Sudan and now in Lebanon. How does life there differ from Germany?
Christian Schweichler : The people in Lebanon are cosmopolitan and live a Western lifestyle. With its many cultural and gastronomic offers, Beirut in particular is a place that attracts many people from the region. The climate and landscape are further plus points with which the country can shine. For example, I hardly know any other place in the world where you can ski on a mountain and swim in the sea an hour later. Sudan is extremely influenced by the Islam. This runs through all areas of life and is often perceived as restrictive by western visitors. Family is at the heart of every Sudanese who I have come to know as helpful, friendly and humorous.
Transfermarkt.de : How did you and do you deal with the mentality of the people and what insights were you able to gain?
Christian Schweichler : The customs and customs in the Arab world are very special. I am a guest in this world and behave accordingly. Anyone who grew up with the good old German virtues often has to be patient, but learns a lot and occasionally recognizes that other paths also lead to the goal. An important person in my life gave me a quote that is confirmed again and again and to which there is nothing to add: “Where would we be if everyone said where we would be, and no one went to see where we would come if we went.”
Transfermarkt.de : When did you decide to become a goalkeeping coach?
Christian Schweichler : As an active goalkeeper, I was already interested in the design and planning of training sessions. At the beginning of my sports studies, I decided to focus on being a goalkeeper coach.
Transfermarkt.de: Every coach has his own style, his own philosophy. How does yours look?
Christian Schweichler : The special position of the goalkeeper in football makes regular and systematic training indispensable. The basis of successful training is a sporting concept with focal points and guidelines. My personal concept for successful goalkeeper training is based on the current game philosophy (playing goalkeeper) of the German Football Association, the latest sports science findings, personal experience as a goalkeeper and as a goalkeeper coach in junior, senior, amateur and professional football. For me, the development and constant improvement of goalkeeper-specific basic techniques and physical condition are just as much a focus of successful goalkeeper training as targeted tactics training and dealing with the mental demands of goalkeeping. When implementing focal points and guidelines in goalkeeper training, it is of great importance to me to optimally adapt to the individual abilities and needs of the goalkeeper.
Transfermarkt.de : Especially with goalkeepers you are also in demand as a psychologist. How do you take the pressure off the players and their fear of making mistakes?
Christian Schweichler : Every goalkeeper has his own character traits and deals with this topic differently. The first thing to do is to adapt to each goalkeeper individually in order to be able to offer them suitable solutions. In principle, however, it helps to continue to build up the goalkeeper’s self-confidence with many small means. One way is, for example, to always end exercises and training sessions with a positive experience.
Transfermarkt.de : As a goalkeeper coach, you have both the license in the Netherlands and the Lower Rhine Football Association. How can you imagine that, how long and what exactly do you have to do for it?
Christian Schweichler : I completed one of the first courses of this type in Germany. The one-week course, which was well organized and carried out by the association’s sports teachers, consisted of theoretical and practical content and ended with a teaching sample. In my opinion, even more intensive training, such as that aimed for with the new DFB goalkeeping license, is to be welcomed. The goalkeeper coach training at the Dutch Football Association is much more extensive. It consists of a basic course and an advanced course. Both courses consist of courses lasting several weeks, practice and theory units, sitting in on clubs and final examinations. The Dutch goalkeeping school in particular, with its focus on the “playing goalkeeper” gives you the opportunity to be up to date with the so-called “modern goalkeeping game” and to educate yourself further in this regard.
Transfermarkt.de : What do you do to educate yourself?
Christian Schweichler : I think the exchange with goalkeepers, fellow coaches, job shadowing and game analysis is just as helpful here as looking at the specialist media. I also consider the constant review, adaptation and further development of independently developed training content to be important.
Transfermarkt.de : You’ve made a name for yourself internationally, but you haven’t worked in paid football in Germany yet?
Christian Schweichler : I took my first coaching job in professional football when I was 30 years old. This is a very young age for a coach, especially a goalkeeping coach. However, since I had already been working as a goalkeeping coach for ten years, I made a conscious decision to take this step. The fact that this step led me abroad and not to a club in Germany was certainly not planned.
Transfermarkt.de : Could you imagine an engagement in Germany? What perspective should you be offered?
Christian Schweichler : Of course, I could also imagine working in Germany. There have already been initial inquiries in this regard. However, if you play for championships and titles abroad, can prove yourself internationally and get to know the world at the same time, a commitment in Germany should be attractive in order to return.
Transfermarkt.de : What do you do when you’re not on the soccer field?
Christian Schweichler : I still run a sports school for children and young people in Germany, which I founded during my studies. I still take care of the entrepreneurial and administrative aspects myself, as far as time permits. I also like to travel and am an interested observer of the country and its people. With a good book or the notebook and a fast internet connection, I can also stand it on the couch.
Transfermarkt.de : Please tell us about an experience from your football life.
Christian Schweichler : During my first training session in Africa, the trainer pointed out that more spectators than in Germany were following the training session and that everyone was looking forward to the upcoming Champions League game. However, it took some getting used to the fact that 10,000 fans with drums and trumpets would make training only possible in sign language. The number of spectators and the atmosphere during training did not decrease in the following days either. However, my enthusiasm for African football increased with this experience.
