Pekka Salminen, piloting the Finnish national team, presents a clear vision of how to raise the level of the national team

The Finnish women’s national basketball team has not become the same regular visitor to prestigious competitions as the men’s national team.

There has been a basketball frenzy in Finland due to the success of the men’s national team, but the women’s national team has remained weak. The women are currently jumbo in their EC qualifying group before the last two games of this year.

What needs to be done in order for the women’s national team to be a regular visitor to the European Championships?

Head coach of the women’s national basketball team Pekka Salminen hopes, first of all, that the women’s side gets a club team participating in the European Games.

– Our best players would be able to play, practice and combine their studies there. From here, you could easily even get the team to the Euroleague, Salminen envisions.

The problem is the United States

Young female basketball players often go abroad at an early stage, often to the United States, where they are able to combine university studies and high-level basketball. This is not possible in Finland.

In terms of national team games, the United States has become a puzzle.

– Structurally, the biggest problem in women’s basketball is that the athlete is unable to come to national matches from the United States.

In the European Championship qualifiers, the Finnish team includes the talents of the Korisliiga Elina Aarnisalo (17), Kati Ollilainen (19) and Elsa Lemmilä (17). Their path also leads to university leagues in the United States. Ollilainen is known to end up in Wyoming.

Aarnisalo, the third most effective player in the basketball league, sees that two things separate national matches and domestic league matches.

– The biggest differences between Korisliiga matches and country matches are physicality and tempo. If better players were brought into the league, then the changes would happen through that.

A club team built around national team players could serve as an alternative to American universities. The team would be supported by 2–3 Finnish national team players and a few high-quality foreign reinforcements.

A club team built around national team players would also benefit the national team, which has quite a few events throughout the year. This year, the women’s national team will have only eight games: six preparatory and two European Championship qualifying matches. The corresponding figure for the men’s national team is 20, of which five are preparatory, eight World Cup qualifiers and seven European Championship qualifiers.

The Finnish women’s national basketball team plays its last two EC qualifying matches of the year this week. It will face France away on November 24 and Lithuania on November 27 in Helsinki.