On Wednesday, the Estonian Football Association (EJL) announced that current head coach Thomas Häberli will coach the Estonian men's national team for the last time for in the friendly match against his home country Switzerland, on June 4. Former Flora Tallinn manager Jürgen Henn will then take over the reins starting with the Baltic Cup semi-final against the Faeroe Islands on June 8.

"Many thanks to Thomas for a job well done. After a promising and successful 2021, we had an up and down 2022 and a tricky and challenging 2023. We appreciate Thomas' commitment, professionalism and humanity in both happy and difficult situations. On the positive side, this period undoubtedly includes our historic Baltic Cup win, the breakthrough of a number of new players with very good potential, the creation of a new center for the development of physical fitness and much more," said Aivar Pohlak, president of the Estonian Football Association (EJL).

The contract between Häberli and the EJL was terminated by mutual consent. "A situation where one head coach quits and another starts during a single national team window is undoubtedly rare. However, the situation was unusual in the broader sense and the negotiated solution was accepted by all as both substantive and fair," Pohlak added.

In his 35-game tenure as head coach of the Estonian men's national team, Häberli notched up ten wins and six draws. Before moving to Estonia, he spent twelve years coaching at several top Swiss clubs including Young Boys. During his playing career, Häberli bagged 90 goals in 324 club games, and earned one cap for the Swiss national team.

"I am very grateful to the Estonian Football Association for their trust, as well as to the players and coaches for their cooperation and all the fans for their support. Throughout these years, we have shared all the effort and joy that football brings. I am really happy to have been a part of Estonian football," said Häberli.

Joining Jürgen Henn will be new assistant coaches Joel Indermitte and Arno Pijpers, as well as fitness coach Ilo Rihvk. Mart Poom will continue as goalkeeping coach.

Henn's contract as head coach starts on June 5 and runs until the end of 2027, covering two UEFA Nations League campaigns (2024 and 2026) and the qualifiers for both the 2026 World Cup and 2028 European Championships.

The EJL has the option to terminate Henn's contract at the end of 2026. At the end of 2027, his deal will be automatically extended if Estonia manage to secured qualification for the 2028 European Championship qualifying round or finals.

Henn's first game in the hot seat is on June 8, when Estonian take on the Faeroe Islands at Tallinn's A. Le Coq Arena in the semi-finals of the Baltic Cup.

A victory there would earn the team a place in in the final on June 11, while a defeat means they will  battle it out in the third/fourth place play-off on the same day.

After that, Henn will lead Estonia into their next UEFA Nations League campaign, which starts in September. After winning promotion last time out, Estonia have now been drawn in the same League C sub-group as Slovakia, Sweden and Azerbaijan.

Henn, who was born in Viljandi, joined Flora as a player in 2010. After coaching the reserves, he was appointed head coach of the men's first team in 2018.

Under Henn's guidance, Flora won four Estonian titles, one Evald Tipner Trophy and two Estonian Super Cups. In 2021, Henn became the first coach to lead an Estonian side into the group stages of a European competition, thanks to Flora's success in the UEFA Conference League.

Between 2019 and 2022, Henn was awarded the Coach of the Year Award by the Estonian Football Association four times in a row.

Henn decided to step down as head coach of Flora at the end of last season. A week later it was announced that he would join the Estonian national team setup in 2024.

The last time the Estonian men's national team felt won a match was in January 2023, when they defeated Finland 1-0 during a training camp in Portugal.

In the twelve games since then, they have drawn two and lost ten. Last year, they lost all four of home games in the Euro 2024 qualifiers, with an aggregate score of 0-12. Despite that, they still made it into a qualifying play-off thanks to their performance in the most recent Nations League campaign. However, they were beaten comfortably 5-1 by Poland in Warsaw and failed to make it to this summer's finals.

At the end of March, Aivar Pohlak said the EJL was firmly behind Thomas Häberli continuing in the role.

When it eventually comes to appointing a successor for Häberli, the time has to be right, both for whoever takes over and for the national team itself, Pohlak said at the time.

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