"It feels incredible. I remember when we qualified for our first European Championship in 2021, when no Swedish women's national team had been there for 38 years. Now we're going to play our fourth in a row. Unreal," says team captain Anna Haak on the association's website.
Sweden was far superior to the home team and won with clear set scores of 25–8, 25–9, 25–15. The match was over in just over an hour of play and national team coach Lorenzo Micelli rotated many players. Sweden thus took six wins in as many matches in the qualifiers and lost only one set.
"You can see how we've grown as a team. It's something we've been working on all these years, trying to raise our minimum level," says Haak.
The victory means that Sweden is ready for the semi-finals of the European League, which will be decided over two matches. Sweden will play the first leg away, with the return leg in Örebro on July 1. Who they will face is not yet clear.
The semi-final spot also secures a ticket to Euro 2028. First, however, there is a Euro this summer, where Sweden is one of four host nations.
