When Sweden on Friday at 12 o'clock, Swedish time, faces the Netherlands in Bangkok, history will be written.
During the 2020s, there have been two European Championship tournaments, but this is the first time the women's volleyball team plays a World Championship final.
We have taken big steps year by year, but I never thought it would lead to the World Championship. It feels really cool, says Isabelle Haak.
”Notice mental health”
Haak made her A-national team debut at the age of 14. As a 26-year-old, she is one of the world's absolute best players with, for example, three Champions League titles on her merit list.
Last spring, however, she had to slow down – Haak had been affected by exhaustion symptoms due to an extreme playing schedule.
Nowadays, she meets a psychologist regularly and is an ambassador for the Swedish Volleyball Association's initiative on mental health. The project is called ”All the way up”.
It's something I really think is important. It feels good to be a part of it – to notice mental health. It's a lot about prevention and that you can get help before it needs to go over the top. The more people you can reach, the better.
Before the second half of the national team season, Haak has been able to recharge her batteries during a three-week break in July. She has vacationed both in Sardinia and at home in Ängelholm with her Italian boyfriend Jacopo Preti.
”Same lifestyle”
He plays professional basketball in Vicenza in Serie B, which is the third division in Italy. Sharing life with an elite athlete makes it easier, Haak means, who has played for the Italian Conegliano since 2022.
It makes it easier to relate to each other, she says and continues:
You have the same lifestyle. I think you get a different understanding than if you were a ”normal” person with a normal job. You have somewhat strange times. The weekends are absolutely not free, that's when you have a match. Then we are both maybe free on a Monday, which is good.
”Hard to take a medal”
After a training tournament in South Korea with matches against, for example, Japan and France, the national team has now landed in Bangkok. In addition to the Netherlands, the home nation Thailand and Egypt are waiting in the group stage. The two best teams in the group advance to the round of 16.
Of course, it's hard to take a medal in a World Championship, but it feels like we can do a good group stage, says Isabelle Haak.
Born: July 11, 1999.
Height: 195 centimeters.
Position: Right-wing spiker.
Clubs: Engelholm 2012–2015, Béziers (France) 2016–2017, Scandicci (Italy) 2017–2019, Vakifbank (Turkey) 2019–2022, Conegliano (Italy) 2022–.
Main merits: Three Champions League titles (2022, 2024, 2025), three victories in the club World Championship (2021, 2022, 2024), three Italian league titles (2023, 2024, 2025), two Turkish league titles (2021, 2022), two SM-gold (2015, 2016), named the most valuable player in the club World Championship three times and in the Champions League twice, named Europe's best player 2021–2022.
The women's volleyball World Championship is played in Thailand from August 22 to September 7.
Sweden's group A will be decided in Bangkok. Blue and yellow (ranked 26th in the world) will face the Netherlands (8), Thailand (21), and Egypt (53).
A total of 32 nations are participating, divided into eight four-team groups. The two best teams from each group advance to the round of 16.
Sweden's matches:
Friday, August 22: Netherlands (12:00, Swedish time).
Sunday, August 24: Thailand (15:30).
Tuesday, August 26: Egypt (12:00).
Other host cities are Phuket, Chiang Mai, and Nakhon Ratchasima. All knockout matches and medal matches will be played in Bangkok.
