The national handball team has learned its opponents for championship qualifying, and the draw has handed it the toughest possible top seed: a two-time medalist from the north that has not lost a qualifying game in eight years.
The team was drawn into Group 4 on Thursday, alongside the top seeds, a fast-improving side from a neighboring country and a small island nation taking part in qualifying for only the second time. The top two teams advance to the finals.
A familiar rival
Coach Andrej Holm said the games against the neighbors will most likely decide the group. The two teams met in a friendly in the spring, which the national team won by a single goal, sparking celebrations that fans still share online.
That win was part of a strong spring run, four victories in five games, which lifted the team into the second seeding pot and spared it an even harder group.
Everyone will talk about the favorites, but the games against our neighbors are the ones that will send us through or send us home.
Andrej Holm, national team coach
Built around Elmbridge
The squad leans heavily on Elmbridge HC, which supplies seven of the regular players, including captain and playmaker Nikolai Brandt. The club’s run to the league title last season gave many younger players their first taste of high-pressure games.
We know each other so well that half our attack happens without a word. That’s our advantage against teams with bigger names.
Nikolai Brandt, national team captain
The federation plans to play all home games in Elmbridge, where the arena holds around 4,500 fans and has sold out for every national team match in the last two years.
The schedule
Qualifying opens late this fall with a home game against the island team, followed four days later by an away trip to the top seeds. The two games against the neighbors come in the spring, when the group will be decided.
Holm will name a provisional squad of 20 next month. Tickets for the first home game go on sale in two weeks, and the federation expects another full house.
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