The drawing of the European Golden League-2023 among national women's teams has reached the finish line. Only the finals are ahead, where the national teams of Ukraine and Sweden will meet each other. The winners will be determined based on the results of two matches, the first of which will take place on July 6 at 18:00 Kyiv time.
European Golden League-2023. Women. The first game of the finals
Pyatra-Neamts (Polyvalent Hall). Romania
July 6. 18:00
Ukraine — Sweden
The road to the finals
Ukraine:
In the first stage of the competition, Ukraine, along with Hungary and France, got into Group C. Having won three victories in four matches, the blue-yellow team reached the semi-finals from first place. The only failure they suffered was from the French team in the last round. But that game no longer had any tournament significance.
Ivan Petkov's wards competed with representatives of the Czech Republic for a ticket directly to the finals. In a two-match confrontation, our athletes, thanks to their willpower and indomitable spirit, did not leave any chance for a triumph to the opponent (3-0 and 3-1).
Sweden:
Sweden qualified for the semi-finals as the best team among the second places. In the group stage, they had the same number of victories as Belgium (three each). However, the latter was ahead of the opponents by one point.
It was because, in one of the matches against the outsiders of the group, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Swedes won only on a tie-break, due to which they received two points. It is interesting that the Bosnians scored one point which became the only one in this year's draw of the tournament. As a result, they were relegated to the lower division — the European Silver League.
Ironically, Sweden and Belgium also met in the semi-finals. The first game in Lund turned out to be quite fierce: the Belgians led 0-1 and 1-2, but still did not hold the advantage. Surprisingly, the return match in the city of Ruselare was even easier for the Swedes, because they won a "3:0" victory.
History of the meetings
In total, the national teams played against each other five times. All confrontations took place in the period from 2019 to 2021: as part of the European Golden League-2019, the blue-yellow team triumphed twice with the same score of 3-0; at the qualifying stage of Euro-2021, the Swedes took revenge — 0-3, 2-3; instead, already in the main draw of the continental championship, our girls once again defeated their opponents - 3-0. That is, at the moment in matches, the advantage is on the side of the Ukrainians.
Ranking of teams
The National team of Ukraine ranks 21st (155 points) in the world ranking and 12th in the European ranking. Sweden ranks 26th in the world ranking (132 points), and 15th in the European ranking.
The composition of the national team of Ukraine
middle blockers: Svitlana Dorsman (c), Anastasiia Maievska, Uliana Kotar, Kseniia Puhach;
setters: Daria Sharhorodska, Viktoriia Oliinyk;
the opposites: Anastasiia Kraiduba, Viktoriia Danchak, Marharyta Heiko:
outside hitters: Oleksandra Milenko, Yuliia Dymar, Yevheniia Khober;
liberos: Krystyna Niemtseva, Alika Lutsenko;
head coach: Ivan Petkov.
The composition of the national team of Sweden
middle blockers: Jonna Wasserfaller (c), Elsa Arrestad, Linda Andersson, Julia Nilsson;
setters: Hilda Gustafsson, Vilma Yulevik;
the opposites: Isabel Haak, Elin Larson, Paulina Lindberg;
outside hitters: Aleksandra Lazich, Hanna Helvig, Anna Haak;
liberos: Filipa Brink, Emmy Andersson;
head coach: Lauri Hakala.
Attack leaders
The star of the national team of Sweden and the Italian club "Conegliano" Isabelle Haak is currently the best scorer of the European Golden League-2023. In six matches (group stage and semi-finals), she scored 194 points for her team. On average, this is 7.76 points per set.
The players of the national team of Ukraine also entered the top five of the rating: Anastasiia Kraiduba (116, 5.27) is on the third step, and Oleksandra Milenko (99, 4.3) is on the fifth.
Schedule of matches
Piatra Neamt (Sala Polivalenta), Romania
July 6
18:00 Ukraine — Sweden
Lund (Sparbanken Skåne Arena), Sweden
July 9
17:00 Sweden — Ukraine
We would like to remind you that after reaching the finals of the European League, both teams received a quota for the Challenger Cup - a qualifying tournament for the prestigious Nations League-2024.
Watch matches between the national teams of Ukraine and Sweden on the YouTube channel DIVISPORT.
