The qualification for European Championship 2024 begins this autumn and the qualifying groups are drawn on Thursday in Zurich. Tomas Westerlund will lead the women’s national handball team towards the EC.
The qualifiers for the Women’s Handball European Championships start this autumn, but a first step towards the European Championships will be taken on Thursday when it becomes clear which teams Finland will face.
Tomas Westerlund, who has worked with the national team for a long time, continues to gain confidence and is now trying to lead his followers to the EC finals, which take place in November-December in Switzerland, Hungary and Austria. His contract covers the entire EM2024 project.
– It feels good and it’s nice to be with the team in the actual qualifying stage, says Westerlund.
31 countries are participating in the draw, which takes place on Thursday, and despite Finland being one of the blueberries in the context, there is some reason for optimism.
– Tomas has done a good job with the team and now we face the following challenge, says the Handball Association’s operations manager Päivi Mitrunen in a press release.
Mitrunen says that the women’s national team has progressed during Westerlund’s era and that the contract extension gives the business continuity, and hopefully also success.
Goal: to play in the EC
Or at least relative success. Finland is in the lowest draw basket and head coach Westerlund realizes the realities.
– Regardless of the draw, the group will be tough. It’s still very fun to play against top nations and I hope we get a really good team from the first basket (for our group).
– It would be nice to offer such a match to our home crowd, says Westerlund.
However, he wishes for some luck with the draw as far as the second and third baskets are concerned.
– The starting point is that all teams from there are better than Finland, but there will be tough matches. I hope the draw would favor us a little.
Having said that, Westerlund wants to emphasize that Finland is seriously striving to advance to the EC. The two best from each qualifying group go to the European Championships, as well as the four best group threes – and that’s where Finland should be.
– We will be underdogs but we have a chance. A victory can already go a long way, says Westerlund.
The EC qualifying groups will be drawn in Zurich on Thursday starting at 18:00 Finnish time. The qualifying matches start in October 2023 and end in April 2024.
