Famed football coach Joseph had already been convicted of assaulting and molesting five young women.
However, more and more young people are turning to him for additional special training.
Now the man in his forties is being charged with punching and striking another woman in the chest.
Josef is one of dozens of private soccer coaches in the Stockholm area. He belongs to an industry that is growing like an avalanche in big cities above all, where children and young people, in addition to their sessions with the team, also train additionally with an individual coach.
The only thing that separates private training from club sports is that there is no control over criminal history. Anyone who misbehaves will find it difficult to lead a football team, but as an individual coach, you are your own entrepreneur often working on municipal plans and marketing yourself on social media.
Today, about 50 young people are trained
Joseph is very active on Instagram. By his followers he seems to be highly regarded and loved.
The 40-year-old alternates clips of international superstars with self-filmed sequences in which the youngsters circle cones, pass, pass the ball and shoot. He gives tactical advice, but also life advice like “go step by step to the top”.
What the man didn’t mention was that in 2017 he was convicted of assault, unlawful threats, and molestation of five younger women. The verdict stated that he kicked a girl, hit her and pulled her by the hair. He threw wine and spit in her face. He also threatened violence and published nude photos of the victims.
When Sportbladet wrote in 2021 about Josef and his company Soccerfriends — both names are fake — the company had a turnover of just over SEK 400,000, which indicates that it has coached nearly 20 youngsters. Since then, he has expanded his business and today, according to his own information, he takes care of about 50 clients. Judging by Soccerfriend’s Instagram account, many of them come from big clubs like Hammarby and Djurgården.
Now Joseph is convicted of yet another assault.
Punches and attachments in the woman’s chest
The ruling from the Stockholm District Court states that he had been seeing a younger woman for two months when she invited him to an apartment where the mother also lived. There he allegedly punched and elbowed the woman in the chest at night. He also allegedly grabbed her by the neck and threw her onto a bed so violently that she banged her head against a wall.
During the trial, Joseph claimed that he was not present at the time of the assault and that the victim could have made up for the bruise she photographed on her chest. The fact that she reported on him must have been because she wanted a deeper relationship, something he had no time for because the company took so much time.
But the district court sided with the victim. Josef was therefore sentenced to 75 hours of community service and to pay 25,000 crowns in compensation to the victim.
Cannot be blacklisted
But the sixth time he was convicted of a similar crime does not automatically mean that he stops accepting young people.
The Stockholm Football Association is aware of the problem of rogue private coaches, but feels they have no legal option to include or suspend people they deem unsuitable. It is up to the parents to decide which coach they want to hire for their children, so Joseph can continue as long as he is hired.
– The first thing we advise all clubs to do is to always take references from private actors. But one problem with private trainers is that associations don’t have to get behind them. Then you have to reach out to every single parent, which I don’t know how to do, says StFF President Bjorn Ericsson.
When Sportbladet met Josef last year, he fled in his car without answering any questions. Prior to this post, he said that the latest ruling is wrong and that he wants to appeal.
– Nothing is ready yet, says Joseph.