Finland will face Norway in their first match of the European Championship qualifiers on Friday. The Helmaris were drawn into a tough A-League group, where they will also face Holland and Italy.
Samu Saatsi,
Hinn Hirvonen
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The Finnish women’s national football team starts its European Championship qualification today, Friday. Helmarit will meet Norway first in Oslo. In the group, Finland will later face Italy and the Netherlands.
The women’s EC qualifiers have experienced a big change, which is very similar to the League of Nations. The qualifiers are divided into three different level groups, known as A, B and C leagues. Helmarit will qualify for the European Championship in Switzerland in the summer of 2025 in the qualifying A-league, which includes the 15 strongest countries in Europe.
Earlier last fall, Helmarit won its group of the Women’s League for the first time, moving up from the B-league to the A-league.
Thus, the opponents of the EC qualifiers are the top European countries.
Despite strong opponents, Finland’s chances for the Games have improved with the promotion to a higher level.
From the four qualifying groups in the A-League, the two best teams in each group go directly to the games. The third- and fourth-placed teams, in turn, go to the EC further qualifiers, where the last eight competition teams are decided.
You can see the animation qualification system from the main picture of this story.
Finland against familiar competition visitors
In any case, Helmarit will go into their EC qualifying group as a clear challenger.
Norway, which will be the first opponent, is a regular visitor to the prestigious tournament, as are the other teams in the group, with the exception of Finland.
Last summer’s 2023 World Cup, played in Australia and New Zealand, was however lost to the Norwegians. The group, who were the black horses of the games, narrowly progressed from the starting group thanks to the goal difference. However, Tie got up right away in the quarterfinals against Japan.
The team’s internal problems made headlines already in the first group. Star player Caroline Graham Hansen barked about his role in the national team after being on the bench in the match against Switzerland, later regretting his comments.
After the Games, the head coach Hege Riise left his position and an Englishman was hired to replace him Gemma Grainger. The goal of the English pilot is now to raise the group that has underperformed in three prestigious races in a row back to the top of the world.
Italy and the Netherlands are also not a piece of cake, but regular visitors to prestigious competitions.
The challenge for Helmarii, who won their B-league group in the Nations League, is therefore a big one. Finland has not faced the top European countries for a while.
– When we were in our B-league group, we hoped that we would be able to play a little tougher matches. Now they are ahead. However, each of those three countries is winnable. We want to go into this positively, and we are not going to humiliate ourselves no matter how good the opponents are. I believe that we will get results from these games, one of Finland’s key players Eveliina Summanen stated before the team left for Norway.
Injury woes for a long time
Finland suffered a nasty loss last weekend when the starting line-up defender Elli Pikkujämsä was injured.
The defender, who plays for Racing Louisville in the NWSL series in the United States, injured his knee in the match against the Portland Thorns. Pikkujsä was replaced from the field in the second period.
Helmarie’s head coach Marko Saloranta according to what he said, he had not yet received information from North America about how serious Pikkujämsä’s injury will be in the end.
– They have investigated the knee injury there and there is no definite information about its situation yet. The knee has been photographed and we are waiting for information one day at a time, Saloranta said on Tuesday after Finland’s training at the Olympic Stadium.
Saloranta also didn’t want to assess whether the Finnish champion could miss out on the entire qualifying prize.
– I don’t dare to evaluate that yet. For example, it shouldn’t be an anterior cruciate ligament injury, he elaborated.
In addition to Pikkumämsa, Finland is also missing a goalkeeper from the team due to injuries Anna Tamminen and midfielder Emmi Alanen.
Helmarie’s opening opponent Norway has not survived without setbacks either. The star striker of the team, representing Lyon in the French premier league Ada Hegerberg is on the side. In addition, a 24-year-old representing Arsenal in England Frida Maanum entered the field in the final of the English League Cup against Chelsea in extra time of the match. Maanum’s situation is already stable, but he won’t play against Finland.