FIBA EuroBasket 2017 will add spice to Finland's centennial year
Finland (FIN) - Finland v Russia, 2015 EuroBasket, Montpellier (France), Group Phase, 7 September 2015
HELSINKI (EuroBasket 2017) - Timing is everything. For was perfect timing.
For starters, the country will be celebrating its centennial. Finland
gained its independence from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist
Republic on 6 December 1917.
Then there is the half-century mark. Fifty years will have
passed since the country previously staged the EuroBasket. In 1967, when
current coach Henrik Dettmann was just nine years of age, Finland
had the competition in Helsinki and Tampere.
Perhaps most of all when it comes to perfect timing, consider all of
the momentum that has been building for Finnish basketball the past
several years. The Susijengi have captured the imagination of an entire
country. This was evident when swathes of Finns packed the arena in
Koper to root for their team at EuroBasket 2013, and again in Bilbao
when 10,000 screaming supporters traveled to Bilbao, Spain to back the
Susijengi at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.The momentum carried over into this year, when Finland enjoyed a
"home-court" advantage in Montpellier for four of their Group Phase
games. Only France's fans outnumbered them on opening night in their
clash, although the Finns would have snapped up more tickets had they
been made available.
"The national team and the basketball family has been committed to a
long-term project for the development of Finnish basketball and Finnish
fans have followed us across Europe, encouraging us to do an even better
job," said the 31-year-old.
Finland coach Henrik Dettmann has been the architect of the
Finnish phenomenon. Organized, hardworking, determined, resilient and
positive, the veteran coach has his pulse on basketball in both Finland
and Europe. He was on hand in Munich on Saturday as part of Finland's
bid contingent.If I had said eight years ago when we still played in [EuroBasket]
Division B that we are going to be an organizer and probably expecting a
full house every game, people would have sent me to hospital," he said.
"This is of course one of the dreams coming true, not only for me but
for all the people. The thing I enjoy the most is that this is not only
going to be a journey for the coaches, the players and the fans, but
now it is going to be a journey for the whole country as they get the
chance to come and see us play live."
Finland will be joined in hosting the Group Phase by Israel and
Romania, who welcome the EuroBasket to their countries for the first
time.
Turkey will host the fourth Group Phase group, as well as the Final Phase.
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