ELF newcomer Nordic Storm has made the next important personnel decision after General Manager Palle Navntoft Christensen. The experienced John Shoop will take over as head coach and lead Storm into their first season.

„Nordic Storm is an ambitious team representing the Nordic countries. And with good reason, since many talented players have emerged from Scandinavia in recent years and are now playing at the highest level. Now we will create a European powerhouse", says Shoop. He is well aware of his new challenge: "There's a lot of work ahead of us. We want to build something special here, something that players and fans across the Nordic countries can be proud of.”

Storm General Manager Palle Novntoft Christensen is also excited about the notable new addition: “We are incredibly pleased to have John Shoop leading the team. Building a playoff team from scratch is a unique challenge. John Shoop brings a wealth of experience and has achieved impressive results in ELF, NFL and college football. He has taken the best from all these worlds. She has a clear vision of what he wants, and he joins us with solid experience and, not least, a hunger to create a Nordic team that can challenge        the best teams in Europe.”

Shoop is known as a quarterback guru. In his long coaching career, he can already look back on four NFL stations. From 1994 to 2007, he coached the Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Oakland Raiders (now Las Vegas Raiders). He was active as quarterback coach for all teams. He even spent four years as offensive coordinator with the Bears.

He then coached four years as offensive coordinator of the North Carolina Tar Heels in college football and two years with the Purdue Boilmakers. In the European League of Football, he worked as Offensive Quality Control Coach for the Hamburg Sea in 2022. In 2023, he became head coach of the newly founded Munich Ravens. 

Last season, he took over as quarterback coach at Rhein Fire. The team won their second straight championship in a row. Shoop's quarterback Jadrian Clark was named Championship Game MVP.

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