The Finnish derby ends the year in Women’s Baltic Sea Handball League

December 19, 2023

Women’s Baltic Sea Handball League’s year closes out with a Finnish derby between GrIFK and Dicken. The teams will face off each other in Kauniainen on Wednesday at 20:15.

GrIFK is the reigning Finnish champion after beating Dicken in last season’s final thus ending the Helsinki based team’s two year championship streak. For GrIFK it was the first championship since the 2008-09 season, while Dicken has been dominating the Finnish SM-sarja in the recent years winning six championships in the past eight seasons.

Both teams started their Baltic Sea Handball League campaign strongly. Dicken won all of their three matches of the opening tournament, which was played in Tallinn. GrIFK took two victories while falling to Žalgiris Kaunas from Lithuania in their last match. Same three teams are also on top of the standings after the opening matches with Dicken leading the way.

The teams have met each other twice in this year’s domestic league with both winning their home matches. Their previous encounter was only 1,5 weeks ago, when Dicken narrowly beat GrIFK 29-27 in an exciting match. GrIFK on the other hand won the first match between the teams back in October 25-18. In the domestic standing GrIFK is in second place with Dicken only a point behind. These two teams have produced some entertaining and exciting matches in recent years, and there’s no reason to believe this won’t be the case this time as well.

The match can be viewed live on the Baltic Sea Handball League’s YouTube channel.

Photo credit: Joonas Kuuskla/Baltic Sea Handball League