16. March 2025
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Faroe Islands – Netherlands 32-32 (18-14)

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

There are just very few sports events in Europe, which make me travel for one night on a 450 Euro economy class ticket. However, the trip to Torshavn on 13th March 2025 was absolutely worth it. It was not only the first time I was honored to feature the Faroese Handball National Team, the venue was also a very special one. The EHF Euro Qualification match against the Netherlands was also the first time the islanders played in their very new Vid Tjarnir arena – a modern multi-purpose arena for 2,500 people. The venue had been sold out within two minutes. The locals needed a victory to improve their position towards the tournament held in Denmark, Sweden and Norway in early 2026 in Here is my match report.

This posting comes with a section of 290 major size pictures in the sports galleries. 

 

Vid Tjarnir – About The Venue

Vid Tjarnir is the brand-new multi-purpose arena right outside Torshavn. Despite the capacity of the arena is 2,500, the official attendance of the match was 3,050. It was the third event held in the venue North of Torshavn at all, after a national sports event and an opening concert. Not all works in and around the arena have been completed at that day. For example, the road signs to the arena were majorly missing, elevators in the building not yet operating and similar, not very key items.

As roadworks to the arena have not yet been completed, I guess that access to the Faroese national indoor arena will differ slightly in a couple of months. At the time of the match, you access the arena from the roundabout which also brings you from Torshavn into Eysturoyartunnilin. Parking capacity is around 600. As there have been traffic issues before the two events held before, the arena already opened 2:30 hrs before the beginning of the match.

 

Faroe Islands – Netherlands – Match Report

The hosts took early control of the match. Though the Netherlands were the first ones to score in the new arena, the Faroe Islands soon took a slight lead thereafter. From the seventh minute onward, the guests trailed in score until the intermission. However, the distance in goals never got too large. For a wider part of the first half, it was between one and three goals. While it was a rather fair handball match initially, you could more and more feel the tension and nervousness later. That lead to a few 2 minute suspensions. The Faroe Islands, who sold out their arena within some two minutes, were thereby pushed by an amazing crowd. I wondered if there was any Dutch fan in the arena (at least, they got one member of press).

In the last minutes of the first period, the hosts could pull away a bit. Oli Mittun’s goal in the 25th minute was the first time the Faroe Island lead by four goals. Two minutes later, Teis Horn Rasmussen even increased the gap to five goals at 17-12. He also scored the last goal of the first half, a classic buzzer-beater to an intermission score of 18-14.

 

Netherland Fights Back

The guests felt to have re-adjusted well during the fifteen minute break. Especially in defense, they got a much better grip on the Nordic team. Step by step, this allowed them to close up. In the 43rd minute, the Dutch top scorer Rutger ten Velde (12 goals overall) tie the score again after a long time in the lead for the Faroe Islands. In the 48th minute, the Netherlands took the lead again – the first time after the very first minute of the match. The hosts played with an additional field player and committed a turnover. The Dutch goalie Bart Ravensbergen made use of that with a long throw into the empty net.

With some six minutes left, the Netherlands even lead by two goals. On the one hand, the Faroese fans pushed their team. On the other and, you could feel a little bit of respect that this debut might not end up successfully for them. However, the tiny little island country is gifted with some world-class handball players – and they took responsibility again. Hakun West Av Teigum, Elias Ellefsen a Skipagotu and Oli Mittun managed to successfully score and get their team back. Nonetheless, the Netherlands took the lead again with 27 seconds left on the clock. The atmosphere in this final minute was amazing, one of the loudest I have ever experienced. Not too surprisingly, it got even louder when another buzzer-beater lead to a tied score after sixty minutes. Leivur Mortensen scored the final goal of the match, leading to a final 32-32 score.

 

Faroe Islands – Netherlands – My View of the Match

What and outstanding, stunning, catching – and loud – evening on the Faroe Islands. Both teams gave a great battle. Faroe Islands lost control of the match early in the second half, when the guests profited from slight, but effective adjustments to their game. This match in the amazing new arena North of Torshavn feels to be very promising for the re-match, which is just scheduled to take place four days later in the Netherlands.

 

Faroe Islands – Netherlands – Lineups

Faroe Islands: 1 Pauli Jacobsen, 22 Aleksandar Lacok – 4 Bjarni I Selvindi, 6 Leivur Mortensen, 7 Allan Nordberg, 8 Paetur Mikkjalsson, 9 Roi Berg Hansen, 17 Hakun West Av Teigum, 18 Rogvi Dal Christiansen, 24 Hallur Arason, 30 Trondur Mikkelsen, 47 Isak Vedelsbol, 71 Elias Ellefsen a Skipagotu, 78 Oli Mittun, 79 Teis Horn Rasmussen

Netherlands: 1 Bart Ravensbergen, 11 Jorick Pol – 3 Ivar Stavast, 5 Rutger ten Velde, 6 Niko Blaauw, 7 Robin Schoenaker, 10 Armando Besseling, 13 Samir Benghanem, 14 Bobby Schagen, 17 Kaj Geenen, 20 Kaj Versteijnen, 21 Martijn Kleijkers, 23 Jorn Smits, 40 Robin Nagtegaal, 41 Jeromy van der Ban, 77 Dani Baijens

 

Faroe Islands – Netherlands – Gallery

In the sports gallery, there is a designated major size picture gallery with 290 pictures of this match at

 

Faroe Islands

Here are my postings related to the Faroe Islands:

 

Postings about Handball

Here are all my postings related to handball:

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