World Championship qualifiers start in Valmiera and Kocēni, Latvia against Ukraine
Today in Valmiera and Kocēni, national teams from 15 countries will start fighting for tickets to the final tournament of the World Championship, which will take place in Switzerland in November. The Latvian men’s national team will meet with the Ukrainian national team for the first time in history at the Valmiera Olympic Center at 7.30 pm.
The Ukrainian men’s floorball team played its first official game only eight years ago – in 2014. So far, the Ukrainians have taken part in ten games, winning two victories – in 2019 they defeated the Belarusians 15: 3 in the friendly match, but in 2020 they defeated the British national team in the qualifying game 8: 7. The national team of Ukraine suffered the worst loss in 2014, when it admitted Finnish superiority in the World Championship qualifying tournament with 0:38.
The Valmiera Olympic Center will play in the EUR 1 subgroup, where the floorball players of Denmark, Iceland and Ukraine will compete with the Latvians for the tickets to the final tournament of the World Championship, while the national teams of Finland, Estonia, the Netherlands and Great Britain will play in the EUR 2 subgroup. For the first time in the World Cup qualifiers, there is a new format – 3×15 minutes, but the team was allowed to include only 17 floorball players instead of the previous 20 players.
EUR 1 team match calendar: https://floorball.sport/mens-wfcq-2022-eur1-latvia/
EUR 2 team match calendar: https://floorball.sport/mens-wfcq-2022-eur2-latvia/
The head coach of the Latvian national team Arto Rīhimeki has included two goalkeepers, six defenders and nine attackers. Twelve floorball players play in the local championship every day, while five represent foreign clubs in Finland and Switzerland.
Composition of the Latvian national team:
|
Nr.p.k. |
Name and surname |
P. |
A team |
|
1. |
Marcus Flow |
V |
Lekrings |
|
2. |
Morics Krūmiņš |
A |
Nokian KrP (Finland) |
|
3. |
Oskars Tūtāns |
A |
Lielvārde / FatPipe |
|
4. |
Daniels Jānis Anis |
U |
UHC Uster (Switzerland) |
|
5. |
Jānis Ragovskis |
A |
Koovee (Finland) |
|
6. |
Armands Savins |
A |
Lielvārde / FatPipe |
|
7. |
Krišjānis Tiltiņš |
U |
Lekrings |
|
8. |
Klavs Jansons |
U |
Kekava |
|
9. |
Tom Stone Field |
U |
FK Curonian Spit |
|
10. |
Artis Raitums |
U |
Talsu NSS / Krauzers |
|
11. |
Pēteris Trekše |
U |
TPS (Finland) |
| 12. | Andris Rajeckis | U | Lekrings |
| 13. | Edgars Puriņš | U | Lekrings |
| 14. | Artūrs Jurševskis | A | Lekrings |
|
15. |
Gustavs Griezitis |
A |
FK Curonian Spit |
| 16. | Rolands Kovalevskis | U | Koovee (Finland) |
| 17. | Jānis Salcevičs | V | Ogres Vilki |
Head coach: Arto Rihimeki
Coaches: Topic Variss, Ingus Laivins
Calendar of Latvian national team games at Valmiera Olympic Center:
May 25, 19:30, Latvia – Ukraine
May 26, 19:30, Denmark – Latvia
May 27, 19:30, Iceland – Latvia
May 28, a game about a place
Day tickets to the EUR 1 tournament in Valmiera can only be purchased online – www.bezrindas.lv. Admission to the EUR 2 tournament games in Kocēni will be free.
