The ninth consecutive men’s EC volleyball place is a much tougher thing for a country like Finland than many people realize, writes Jari Perkiö.
National volleyball team the pilot Joel Banks deserves a lot of credit for the EC qualification, which culminated in a handsome victory over Latvia. It guaranteed Finland, who won all their games, their ninth consecutive final tournament spot.
The British coach found hot players in a balanced group and used them wisely as needed.
The crown came on Wednesday night in Kupitta’s ball sports hall, when Banks pitched in the opening seven Niko Suihkonen and Tommi Siirilän – and thus got a great energy spike for the climax of the summer.
Seizing their opportunity, the two thanked Koutsi beautifully for the trust.
Banks has no ballast from former sea routes. He rates the players purely according to the current mood and deserves a deep bow for this.
The intense qualifying round was preceded by a successful preparation period, similar to last year’s EC project. The national team showed up at the culmination of the summer in excellent condition from the caches of Kuortane.
The Finnish team celebrated their place in the European Championships in Turku after the victory over Latvia.
Last years, it has seemed on several occasions that the EC place is treated far too casually. As if it’s a given.
It’s everything else.
It’s good to remember that volleyball is a very big sport in Europe and also worldwide. The next category after football.
Therefore, the ninth consecutive EC place is a much tougher thing for a country like Finland than many people realize.
Especially when Banks has completed the generational change that started in the mid-2010s. Siirilä is the only one left from the 2014 World Cup team – and he too felt Poland’s drug mostly from the side of the stands.
Only ten countries have made it to every EC final tournament since the EC tournament in Moscow (2007), which brought Finland a breakthrough.
Finland is joined by Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia and Slovakia – and now Russia’s streak ends, according to all sense.
In the name of honesty, we must also remember the change in the EM format.
Final tournament teams the number was increased from twelve to sixteen just for the 2007 Games.
If this had not been done, Finland would not have reached the EC climax at all. Now one of the hardest achievements in the history of Finnish ball-playing was coming from Moscow – fourth place.
The next expansion came to the 2019 European Championships, when the number of final tournament teams was increased to 24. Without the change, Suomen’s sky would definitely have ended in the qualifiers.
In the same breath, it should be noted that similar extensions have been made in two other big ball sports – football and basketball.
Under Joel Banks, Finland performed excellently in the first group of the 2021 European Championships in Tampere.
When Banks took command of the national team in the spring of 2019, he found himself in a very ungrateful situation.
The general public still lived under the spell of the early 2010s, but there were only remnants of that glory. Many core players from their great years had already left their representative duties – and there were still wholesale refusals.
When Banks only had a few weeks left to prepare the group, the start was catastrophic in light of the results. Finland suffered no less than 18 consecutive defeats, fell hard from the Golden League and remained a jumbo in China’s Olympic qualification.
At that point, knives began to be sharpened all over Finland. The domestic coaches in particular were upset by the choice of the Briton and sought support from the poor results.
In fact, the starting situation would have been hopeless for anyone. There is not a single coach in the world who would have taken Finland to the Olympic Games.
Banks has proven his skills on many occasions since then and received well-deserved praise, especially from the EC tournaments. Finland performed well both in 2019 in Ljubljana and in 2021 in Tampere.
British pilot has brought in new responsibility bearers and deserves sincere recognition for this. The process has not been really easy. The number of Finnish top talents is very limited.
While Korona has significantly slowed down the work, Banks has been required to be exceptionally patient in a task that requires a lot of patience.
TV commentator Mikko Esko has stated several times that new players are now building a new story.
The coming years will show how far this story will go. We don’t have Esko who have become the world’s elite now, Olli Kunnaria and not Mikko from Oivabut we have a lot of young and hungry followers.
They must be given a fair chance. Without any limits.
Read more: The Finnish men’s national volleyball team secured its place in next year’s European Championships
Next The EC final tournament will be held in autumn 2023 in Bulgaria, Italy, North Macedonia and Israel. Israel replaces the original host country, Ukraine.
Contest hosts and the eight best countries of the previous EC tournament (Italy, Slovenia, Poland, Serbia, Holland, Germany, Russia and the Czech Republic) get a direct place.
Of these Italy is already the EC host and Russia is in an international boycott. The fate of Russia will still be discussed in the fall at the meeting of the European Volleyball Federation. These will be replaced by ninth-ranked France and the originally chosen host Ukraine.
The rest 12 places go to the winners of the seven qualifying groups and the five best runners-up. The number of runners-up will shrink to four if Russia is released from the collar.
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