9. November 2026
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Netherlands – Finland 33-24 (16-12)

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

The 2026/27 sports report season came with quite a bit of handball coverage so far. On 5th November 2026, it was time for another match, this time in the Men’s EHF Euro 2028 qualification. In the first match of the Group 1 qualifications, the Netherlands hosted Finland. Competing together with Croatia and Lithuania, an initial victory would have definitely given a better position for (ideally) being placed first or second the the group of four after six matches. However, there is also the option of being one of four teams, which additionally qualify for the final tournament by being one of the better third-placed teams. I was looking forward to be back in the Netherlands and back at Sportcentrum Maaspoort in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

This posting comes with a section of 363 major size pictures in the sports galleries.

 

Netherlands – Finland – Match Report

Both teams started nervously into the qualification campaign. The Finnish defense acted stronger initially, though. After seven minutes, the Nordics lead 4-2. However, the hosts managed to the the score again and the score stayed close until the middle of the first half. By two Rutger ten Velde goals in he 19th and 20th minute, they raised the score to 10-7 – the first time one team lead by three goals. Finland had chances to close up, but the hosts were in the game now, pushed by their enthusiastic fans. The gap between the teams stayed in the same range until the last minute of the period, which finally lead to a four-goal lead for the Dutch (16-12).

 

Finland just cannot close the gap

Similar to the first half, the guests had the slightly better start. However, Oranje made use of the buffer they gained in the first thirty minutes. There has always been at least a two goal lead for them. While the score was 19-16 after 40 minutes, Finland struggled more thereafter. Reinier Tapoada scored the goal to his team’s first seven goal lad, 25-18, in the 48th minute. One key factor for that was Matthias Rex Dorgelo. After Bart Ravensbergen was the Dutch goalie in the first half with a good 33.3 total save percentage, he partially felt like a wall in the second period. 42.9 per cent saves were a statistic proof of the Finnish offensive struggle. The match was decided, Taboada scored the final goal of the match, leading to a 33-24 victory.

 

Netherlands – Finland – My View of the Match

In both halfs of the match, the guests had some stronger moments. However, in front of 1,846 spectators and pushed by a strong support, the Netherlands were simply too strong. They survived the more challenging situations without too much harm and thus absolutely deserved the first full score towards the 2028 EHF Euro.

 

Netherlands – Finland – Lineups

Netherlands: 1 Bart Ravensbergen, 12 Matthias Rex Dorgelo – 3 Ivar Stavast, 5 Rutger ten Velde, 6 Niko Blaauw, 15 Lars Kooij, 17 Kaj Geenen, 20 Niels Versteijnen, 21 Martijn Kleijkers, 22 Luc Steins, 24 Driek Manders, 34 Tom Jansen, 37 Kyan van Berlo, 40 Robin Nagtegaal, 77 Dani Baijens, 97 Reinier Tapoada

Finland: 41 Mikael Mäkelä, 30 Lukas Wallinder – 2 Linus Lindberg, 3 Kalle Kankaanpää, 4 Miska Lars Juhani Henriksson, 5 Jonathan Ekman, 8 Topias Laine, 11 Benjamin Helander, 13 Nicolas Reenpää, 22 Santeri Vainionpää, 23 Sebastian Säkkinen, 26 Liam Ranta-aho, 28 Aaron Kronberg, 34 Fredrik Karlsson, 36 Oliver Nordlund, 39 Miguel Nathanael Mbumba

 

Netherlands – Finland – Gallery

In the sports gallery, there is a designated major size picture gallery with 363 pictures of this match at

 

Sports (Netherlands)

Here are all my sports postings related to the Netherlands:

 

Travel Postings about Finland

Here are all my travel postings related to Finland:

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