Sportbladet expert before the women’s league premiere
Guthenberg. Imports spread to the women’s handball league.
The proportion of foreign players has increased tenfold in twelve years.
good or bad?
Carmen Martin She is the biggest foreign star to play in the Swedish Women’s Handball League (“Daiva Darling” Zinkeviciene, the Sävehof goal queen in the early 1990s should be excused from the old Soviet – she was great but not great).
The news that the Spain international superstar – who was one of the all-time best right-backs in the world in 2010 with a total of six nominations in the WC, EC and Champions League All-Star teams – is coming to Sävehof and SHE hit like a bomb just before Christmas .
But at the same time, the 34-year-old is just part of a clear trend in SHE. No, I’m not thinking about big stars coming here Isabel Goldenthe greatest to ever play in the league, and Joanna Bundsen returned to her homeland this year without importing foreign players.
If I count correctly, and I think so, we’ve found 29 foreign players in this year’s edition of SHE, which, by the way, will feature tonight with the imagined Skuru-Höör Summit.
This can be compared with nine years ago and only three twelve years ago.
So we are talking about a tenfold increase (almost) in the number of foreign players in twelve years.
Axnér: It’s weaker than it has been in recent years
Good or bad for SHE and Swedish handball?
I spoke with players, captains and national team captain Thomas Axner about this at the opening meeting on Monday in Gothenburg.
Positive, think more, if not all.
This shows, they say, that it can obviously be attractive to come to Sweden and play in SHE and that it is above all evidence of a certain economy in SHE clubs these days. But of course very few foreign players become full-time professionals. Most of them go to work or maybe study on the side.
A player like Carmen Martin not only brings a bit of star brilliance to SHE, but many believe that Swedish players, not least winger players, should take the opportunity to study Martin and her formidable defensive game up close.
No one sees any imminent danger from foreign players standing in the way of local talent, except perhaps Sävehof last year when the first lineup almost entirely in the SM Finals consisted of imports while there were many giants of self-produced talent waiting in line.
No, rather the imports maintain a certain league quality, even if they aren’t in the same class as Carmen Martin and Mai Kraugpal at Svehof. Because as more and more Swedish players disappear against Denmark, as well as Norwegians, the problem of many SHE players leaving too soon, regrowth from below is not strong enough to keep the league high.
But according to national captain Axnér, the quality is still not fully preserved by imports, which come from the Danish or Norwegian second league, instead mostly on the bench of the top league in our neighboring countries.
– I think it is weaker this season if you compare it to the past two seasons. This is mainly due to the fact that the majority of the starting players have left for the professional leagues and only Sävehof has had the opportunity with the same quality, he says.
Kristianstad has the largest number of foreign players
The reason for the explosion of foreign imports, apart from the improvement of the economy in SHE clubs, is the increase in the export of Swedish players. I can imagine the growing number of dealerships in the market is also contributing. For example, the increase in the number of Icelandic women in SHE must be somewhat proxy-driven.
The majority of imports come from the Nordic countries, led by Denmark (11) and Norway (7), as well as Iceland and Finland. The rest are individual players from countries such as Romania, the Netherlands, Turkey and Germany.
Kristianstad, which has such a small number of players that coach Ulf Scheffert thinks it is difficult to attract Swedish players to the city, has the largest number of foreign players – seven from six different countries. From behind comes Skara and Skoro with four, then Sivhof, Hyde, and Skovdey with three each.
Logie went from seventh to second this summer since they left large parts of their colony in the north.
As mentioned above, it is an ongoing concern at SHE that players are retiring at a relatively young age. When I went through all the teams, it turns out that only 20 percent of the players are over the age of 25 (only 5 percent have reached the age of 30).
As everyone knows, you’re not at your best when you’re twenty. You need more money and often better organization around the team to make players last longer, says Skara’s Magnus Frisk, who is now entering his 29th consecutive season as head coach at SHE.
But this has been a problem for SHE for a long time. A “random sample” in time shows that compared to six years ago, we actually have more players over the age of 25: 44 compared to 33 at the time. Perhaps it has to do with imports, which are often slightly older than average. Above all, the number of 30-year-olds has increased, from 5 then to 13 today.
Not the first view column but the table hint (below).
Unfortunately, I can’t offer any surprises. However, I don’t think Logy, with the uncertainty surrounding Furness and Lerby’s injuries, will finish in the top four, though Goldin. It’s time for ONERD to climb up and take fourth place.
