The 180-centimetre-tall, 25-year-old forward Veera Pirttinen will be the eleventh piece for Embutidos Pajariel Bembibre in their eleventh campaign in the Endesa Women’s League. A Finnish international, she hails from Piešťanské Čajky, champion of the Slovak League and runner-up in the European Women’s Basketball League (EWBL).
With just a few hours left to start the preseason, Embutidos Pajariel Bembibre has closed a new incorporation that repeats a very ‘familiar’ nationality in the club. Another Finn, Veera Pirttinen, arrives at Bierzo Alto after becoming champion of the Slovak League and being runner-up in the European Women’s Basketball League (EWBL) with Piešťanské Čajky. Forward, 25 years old and 180 centimeters tall, he has a lot of experience in basketball on the old continent after playing in his country, in Germany, Iceland and last season in the Piešťany team, where he coincided with the new Casademont Zaragoza player Laura Zelnyte.
Born in the Finnish city of Tampere, she made her debut in the highest category of Finnish women’s basketball in the 2012-2013 season with BC Nokia, the team in which she completed her training, and later went through the Catz de Lappeenranta, where she played until 2018 and coincided with Marianne Kalin until the former player of the Bembibrense squad began her stage in the United States University League (NCAA). She then went through the Chemcats Chemnitz, in Germany, and the Snaefell, in Iceland, before returning to the Catz in 2020. Last season she played 30 games for Piešťanské Čajky in Slovakia, highlighting the more than 10 points she averaged in the EWBL. She could not play the Eurocup Women after falling in the previous round against the French Flammes Carolo.
Absolute international, he is a regular in the calls for the Finnish team, with whom he has participated in the qualifying phases for the 2019, 2021 and next 2023 editions of the Eurobasket. International also in the 3×3 discipline, in lower categories he also coincided with Kalin and played in the B Division U16 European Championship held in 2013 in Portugal, in which the Nordic team fell in the consolation final. Likewise, she participated in the continental competitions in the U18 category held in 2014 and 2015 in Romania.
“She is a team player”
Once the signing was confirmed, the coach of Embutidos Pajariel Bembibre, Pepe Vázquez, has been “happy to close the squad and be able to focus solely on the preseason. It has been a market that, in the case of this latest signing, we have had to take with more patience than other years”, explains the Galician coach, aware that “ours has not been the only similar case. We were interested in the best of the possible options –not signing for signing, he clarifies– and we have waited to incorporate a player that we wanted and that adapts to our conditions”, he signs.
Regarding her characteristics, the coach of the red team affirms that the new player of the team from the town of Boeza “stands out, above all, for being a shooter. He has a wide range of shots, especially from the three-point line, both static and coming out of indirect blocks and after dribbling”, analyzes the coach of the Bercian squad, who adds that the new Finnish forward of the Bembibrense formation “is capable of playing direct blocks, she has a good pass and is tactically correct. She is a team player”, emphasizes the Galician coach, who acknowledges that she “perhaps she is not a star who dazzles because of her individual talent. She is going to add in several facets”, he points out.
“She is excited and eager to take on this great challenge”
In addition, Pepe Vázquez assures that he has good references of her: “We are lucky that Marianne [Kalin] and Annina [Äijänen] They know her and both gave me very good personal and sports references. She is a good person, a player who always tries to help the team”, highlights the coach from Santiago de Compostela, aware that the player “is excited and eager to take on this great challenge in a competition as demanding as the Endesa Women’s League. She is young and has ambition”, specifies the Galician coach, who recalls that “she meets the profile of the players we have signed in recent years”.
In tune with her new coach, the Nordic outsider recognizes the importance of meeting several players who have been in Spain and more specifically at Embutidos Pajariel Bembibre. “I know some players who have passed through the club in recent years,” says Pirttinen, happy after the first contact with the club: “They were very welcoming and friendly.” Likewise, she is “very excited to face this challenge. The Endesa Women’s League is very competitive”, highlights the player from Tampere, whose objective is focused on “working hard, taking a step forward as a player and helping the team achieve the best possible result”.
