Finland’s volleyball women have a tight spot in the European Championship qualifiers, because with two matches behind them, the team has only one point.
In advance, it was expected that Finland would have at least three points at this stage. However, Finland narrowly lost its opening match in Turku to Switzerland 2–3. In the match played in Schwerin on Thursday, Germany was just as strong as expected and won 3–0.
Finland’s best point woman Suvi Kokkonen (11/+1) regretted his team’s poor passing game.
– We got 20 points in the first two periods, but after that we couldn’t break their reception at all. In certain situations, we challenged well, but we didn’t get them out of the net enough, Kokkonen reflected.
Sports expert Riikka Lehtonen in my opinion, Finland had challenges both in reception, in midfield as well as in block play. Instead, Germany found attacking solutions throughout the game.
– Germany managed to find those places better and score points from them. Finland’s game is not quite enough in attack. Germany showed how much of a difference there is between Finland and Germany, Lehtonen, who followed the match in the commentary booth, summed it up.
The head coach of the Finnish team stated the same Nicholas Buser In the volleyball association’s bulletin.
– What we saw was reality. The difference between the world’s top 12 team and us is like this at the moment. We got clear ideas of what we need to do. It takes time. You still need to invest in player development.
Good elements are not enough
Both Kokkonen and Lehtonen regretted the loss in Switzerland, where Finland lost its grip at the crucial moment.
– Switzerland just happened to be a player Maja Storckwhich was overwhelming to hold, Lehtonen said.
Storck scored no less than 36 points against Finland. According to Lehtonen, Finland does not have a player like Storck, who can single-handedly turn matches around.
That’s why all the players on the field should succeed in order for Finland to win. Like passari Kaisa Alanko stated before the Germany match: it is not enough for one player to succeed.
– However, there were good elements in the Switzerland game, and those same elements were also seen against Germany. However, that is not enough at the moment, Lehtonen stated.
There is always a chance of one game
In the EC qualification, seven different groups are played. There are three teams in each group. The group winners and the five best group runners-up go to the final tournament.
Finland is currently in last place in Group A, so it needs full points from the remaining two matches to reach the Games. However, the next matches will not be played until one year from now, in August.
Suvi Kokkonen is not a supporter of this system.
– A year from now, the situation may be completely different, and I’m fine with that, but I would have preferred to have played all the games this summer. I understand that many teams had players from the beginning of the summer still playing in other leagues, and so was our team. It’s a shame that we now have to wait until next year.
According to Kokkonen, the Finnish team just needs to believe in what they are doing and implement different techniques and tactics next year.
– Switzerland must win, and next year we want all possible points we can get from Germany. It has to be done if we want to get to the Games.
Lehtonen believes that Finland will be fighting with Switzerland even after a year. On the other hand, in his opinion, Germany is the toughest team in the entire qualifiers, and miracles probably won’t happen in a year.
– Of course, there is always the possibility of one game, if it happens to be a dream day. Such things have happened before, Lehtonen reminded.
Finland has played in three previous EC tournaments (2019, 2021 and 2023), but now the streak is threatening to end.
24 countries will play in the European Volleyball Championship in the summer of 2026. There are 12 places up for grabs in the qualifiers.
The other 12 places have already been allocated, as they go to the eight best of the previous European Championships and the organizers. The EC final tournament is divided between Sweden, the Czech Republic, Azerbaijan and Turkey. Based on the previous games, Serbia, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, France, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Slovakia got a place.