Fribourg-Gottéron became the first National League club to fire two coaches in 2024. On May 27, sports director Gerd Zenhäusern chose to part ways with Christian Dubé, propelling assistant Pat Emond in his place, while waiting the planned arrival of Roger Rönnberg, hired as coach from the 2025-2026 season.
This two-step change was a failure on a sporting level. After 31 league matches, the Dragons are in eleventh place, having finished second a year earlier. Faced with these poor results, Gerd Zenhäusern decided to swing the ax a second time and show Pat Emond the door.
How to explain this new change of coach, barely seven months after the previous one? “I felt that the team was no longer moving forward. For every step forward, there was one back just after, explains the sports director. We couldn’t wait any longer with a view to qualifying for the play-offs.”
To replace the Quebecer, Fribourg-Gottéron has set its sights on Lars Leuenberger, free since the end of his experience in Olten, in the Swiss League. The St. Gallen technician has already played the role of firefighter on duty in Bern (2016) and Biel (2021-2022). With success, since he led the Bears to the title of Swiss champion.
These movements have a cost: Friborg will have to pay the salaries of Christian Dubé, Pat Emond and Lars Leuenberger until the end of the season. “This has a significant impact on the budget,” admits Gerd Zenhäusern, “but we always think in terms of performance.” And at the BCF Arena, it’s better to pay three coaches than miss the play-offs.
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