Kuopio Palloseura, the dominant Finnish champion team in women’s football, will start qualifying for the UWCL, i.e. the Uefa Women’s Champions League, this week.
KuPS traveled to Denmark on Monday. The first big test is ahead on Wednesday, when the four-team qualifying tournament starts, which will be played at the home stadium of Danish champion HB Köge.
HB Köge and KuPS clash in the semi-final match of the tournament, the winner of which advances to the final on Saturday, September 9. Serbian champion club ZFK Spartak Subotica and KI Klaksvik from Faroe Islands meet in the second semi-final game.
Only the winner of the tournament is offered a place in the second round of the Champions League. However, the losing teams in the semifinals will play the bronze medal match. In total, this week, eleven qualifying tournaments will be played in the UWCL, the top teams of which will advance to the 2nd round, where the trio Slavia Praha, Rosengård and Roma have already secured a place.
Last summer, KuPS won the four-team qualifying tournament played in Poland, but in the second qualifying round of the Champions League, they fell dramatically and narrowly to St. Pölten from Austria, who advanced to the UWCL group stage of the top 16 women’s teams.
HB Köge has won the Danish league championships in 2021, 2022 and 2023. It has started the 2023–24 season with a win and a draw.
In the 2nd round of last season’s Champions League, HB Köge defeated Sparta Praha after winning the away leg 1–0 and the home leg 2–0. However, the Danish club, which played in the UCL group stage, experienced only losses to Barcelona, Arsenal and Hoffenheim in the rock-hard group with a combined score of 2–22.
Denmark is also among the world’s top countries in women’s soccer. Denmark has played four times in the World Championships and has achieved one silver medal (2017) and two bronze medals at the European Championships. Denmark was also involved in this summer’s World Cup final tournament, which was played with 32 teams in Australia and New Zealand.
Loss is an unknown concept under Miettinen
Kuopio Palloseura starts the National League’s upper secondary series and the championship hunt from a seven-point runaway distance, when all teams have five games left.
Pauliina Miettinen was named KuPS women’s responsible coach on the last day of May, when Ollipekka Ojala had to stay aside from his duties due to sick leave. In Miettinen’s era, KuPS’ streak of undefeated games has already stretched to 14 matches. The last time KuPS lost to Åland United, the league runner-up, was at the end of May.
– Humility must remain in the work, even though the games have gone well recently. The defense must be done with the strength of the whole team, emphasizes Miettinen.
KuPS still has many players who were already close to reaching the Champions League group stage last year.
– Yes, that experience helps and the fact that the situation does not come up for the first time. There must be enough desire to go even further.
Pauliina Miettinen emphasizes that international matches are completely different from domestic games.
– The pressure situation is completely different. That’s why I don’t think games can always be compared. On the field, you have to dare to do the things that have been practiced. The top must stay together. The common man does not always understand this. It’s a completely different thing to kick in the backyard than to play high-pressure matches, says the KuPS coach.
According to the head coach of KuPS, HB Köge is a good, disciplined, even and straightforward team. In the Danish main league, the tempo of the game is naturally harder than in Finland. The champion club’s favorite formation has usually been 4–4–2.
– You definitely have to get used to the pace of the game, as it is quite slow in the National League. In attack, the opponent plays a little differently. Four players rise to the top line, while two remain in the middle. In Finland, you don’t really see this kind of game grouping, maybe it’s more common in the world, Miettinen says.
– I see that we will come from behind the tree as challengers to their home field. We can surprise them. We have a good team and good opportunities. And we have a few aces up our sleeve, which we haven’t done in the National League.
Ariyo fires balls behind the line
Experienced Finnish-Nigerian striker Pink Ariyo29, returned to the home field after a two-year break after moving from Brugge in Belgium to KuPS about a month ago.
Ariyo now has six matches under his belt in the black and yellow, in which the opponent’s goal net has swayed five times.
– Things are done differently in Belgium and Finland. Here, we play maybe a little more with ball control as a team.
Meeting the Danish champion HB Köge in the away stadium is not terrible.
– We know that we can win these European games. The opponent is a physical team that doesn’t really play with ball control. They play a lot with long balls when the platforms are fast, Ariyo instructs.
– Wins (at home) always give more self-confidence. And on the other hand, last time we got a good wake-up call when we tied with PK-35 from Vantaa. You have to play your own game and be careful not to let it ring in your head, Ariyo knows.
No fewer than four of the six best goal scorers in the National League can be found in Savo’s ranks. Gentjana Rochi has completed 11 perfect hits, Aino Kröger 10, Wilma Forsblom 9 and Anni Hartikainen 8.
– We have a good team and a lot of players who can finish. At least I would say that a strong top is one of our team’s strengths. I believe we can reach the Champions League group stage. However, it requires that we play well and have a bit of luck, Ariyo estimates.
The semi-final match between HB Köge and Kuopio Palloseura will be played on Wednesday, September 6, starting at 20:00.