Last autumn, Ekenäs IF secured a place in the FM qualifying series in P17 football. The matches in the new series start on Saturday (28.1). The time to prepare for the season for the new team has been the shortest.
The rest after last year’s season was short for the players and coaches in EIF’s P17 team. The season that gave the historic place in the FM qualifying series came to an end in October and after ten days of rest, training started again.
The players on the team are eagerly waiting for the season to start.
– It probably feels quite exciting. It is new for us to play at this high level and it should be fun, says defender Jonah Svenskberg.
Adrian Sjöblom plays winger in EIF’s P17 team. He is waiting for the series to start.
Image: Christoffer Westerlund / Yle
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Winger Adrian Sjöblom agrees.
– I have been looking forward to this ever since the autumn season ended. It has been a bit nerve-wracking, but it will be fun to see how it goes, says Sjöblom.
Big change to start right away
Coach Johan Estlander says that it has been a big adjustment for both the players and the coaches to start the football season already at the end of January. Training has been going on since mid-October, without any real breaks.
– It has been challenging, but we have needed all this time to weld the new gang together, says Estlander.
The team that rose to the FM qualifying series last fall cannot play the matches in that series because those players have become too old for the P17 age group (born in 2006 or later).
– We have trained three times a week with a ball and twice in the gym and played five training matches. We have done our best with the training conditions available in the region, says the coach, referring to the fact that the region lacks a full-sized football hall.
On Saturday, the seriousness begins for Ekenäs IF’s P17 football team – “The series is tough but nothing is impossible”
Jonah Svenskberg says the team is ready for the start of the series against Pallokerho Keski-Uusimaa in Kervo on Saturday.
– It feels good that we have played some training matches. We are probably ready, says Svenskberg.
Jonah Svenskberg plays in defense in EIF’s P17 team.
Photo: Christoffer Westerlund / Yle
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Ekenäs IF’s P17 football team has a squad of around 40 players.
– We also had a large squad last year and ahead of this season we thought about whether we can have two teams. It is very important to me that all players get to play, says Estlander.
Cohesion is good in the team
In addition to the team in the FM qualifying series, EIF has a P17 team also in the third.
– From Lojo comes a small busload of players and we also have players from other places than Ekenäs in the squad.
Adrian Sjöblom and Jonah Svenskberg say that the cohesion in the team is good, but that the language causes some problems.
– Some of the Swedish-speaking players in the team have problems with Finnish and we are a bilingual team. Those who come from outside have problems with Swedish, so we have to work a bit with communication within the team, says Sjöblom.
The language is not a problem on the playing field, but certainly off.
– When we were at training camp, we had difficulty talking to each other.
Veeti Holopainen, Väinö Koistila and Jens-Aarne Kero in a training session at Centrumplan in Ekenäs.
Photo: Kjell Svenskberg
soccer, men’s soccer players, soccer players, soccer coaches, junior sports, junior soccer, Ekenäs, Ekenäs IF, Raseborg, Västnyland
Avoiding cliques that depend on the language is difficult, says Estlander, and one way to remedy the problem is for the training sessions to be in English.
– We also try to do things together outside of football to get comfortable with each other, says the coach.
In the FM qualifying series, EIF will face some of Finland’s best football clubs. Espoo club FC Honka, HJK and Käpylän Pallo from Helsinki and TPS from Turku are among the upcoming opponents.
Playing against TPS and HJK will be interesting
Adrian Sjöblom is looking forward to the matches against TPS.
– I have never played against TPS so it should be fun. TPS is a club I like.
Jonah Svenskberg is eagerly awaiting the match against HJK.
– I have thought about that match because HJK is probably the biggest club in Finland.
The FM qualifying series is a tough and tough series.
– I have seen some teams play, they are tough teams. It will be fun, but at the same time we have tough matches coming up. It will be a good challenge and a good opportunity for these guys to develop, says Estlander.
20 teams participate in two groups
20 teams divided into two groups participate in the FM qualifying series. Within the group, a double series is played, i.e. 18 matches. The last round will be played on 17.6. The five best teams continue in the FM series, the sixes qualify for a place there, while the others continue in the autumn in the first. The match program for the EIF is available on the Ball Association’s website.
– It will be incredibly tough in this series, but nothing is impossible, Svenskberg answers the question if EIF’s season after midsummer continues in the FM series.
Coach Johan Estlander says that the team always goes in to win every match, no match is lost in advance.
Coach Johan Estlander is aiming for a future in football. He is the head coach of EIF’s P17 team. The coaching staff also includes Daniel Westerlund and José Rodriguez.
Photo: Kjell Svenskberg
soccer, men’s soccer players, soccer players, soccer coaches, junior sports, junior soccer, Ekenäs, Ekenäs IF, Raseborg, Västnyland
By the way, he is now starting the Football Association’s UEFA A coaching training and has high goals for his coaching career.
– I told my friends last week that hopefully I am now sitting and doing my final accounts at my regular job. I hope that from next year I can only focus on football.
