It has been almost 13 years since Frida Eldebrink left Södertälje and the Swedish basketball league.
Since then, she has been a professional in seven different countries and at the same time the strongest shining star in the national team, but there is still a bit left to tick off on her "bucket list".
Playing the Euroleague's "Final four", the final weekend with the four best club teams in Europe, is one of the things.
Eldebrink was injured in the wrist and recently had surgery when her French club Bourges reached there in 2013, but now there is a nice situation.
On Wednesday and Friday, her Girona quarterfinals - both meetings will be decided in a corona bubble away - against the Salamanca club Perfumerías Avenida.
- "Final four" is something you miss and want to experience before you quit.
That would mean a lot, the Euroleague is like the Champions League in football.
It feels like we have a good chance, says Eldebrink to TT.
"Gave a kick"
Girona is second in the Spanish league, the opponents first - but Eldebrink & Co recently won the team's semi-final meeting on the way to Girona's first title ever in the Spanish Cup.
- It really gave a kick to us as a team.
It was nice to get a confirmation of what we can do, we have a fairly experienced team and many have the quality to be the best when it comes to, says Eldebrink.
The blue-yellow guard himself is Girona's best scorer so far in the Euroleague, 13.6 per match.
Eldebrink simply has a pretty enjoyable first season in the Catalan club's red tank top.
- I feel good in the team and the city, it has gone very well.
It's hard to compare, but it's one of my best seasons, maybe top 3. And if we make it to the "Final four" and win the league, it's definitely my best, she says and laughs.
Do not want to whine
The only thing that disturbs life is, unsurprisingly, the corona mode.
Eldebrink does not want to whine, she is grateful that it is possible to play basketball at all.
But Spain has been hit hard, and not least Catalonia, where restrictions have been tough.
- Everything is basically closed in Catalonia, but now it is starting to open up a little more.
It's a completely different life, mouth guard out all the time.
You have got used to it, but in the beginning it was a very big change, says Eldebrink.
- And we have been in very many "bubbles".
We talked about it yesterday, with the national team bubbles, I think there will be eight during the season.
You get very isolated, this week it is the hotel and the hall for a week.
TT: What do you miss the most?
- I miss most of being able to just go out and have dinner, with my teammates.
And of course playing in front of an audience, that's what you miss most about basketball.
"Fun with fans"
Ahead of this week's quarterfinals, the plan is actually for 750 spectators to be admitted to the stands in Salamanca.
- Fun with little fans.
You have become so used to it without, so now it feels almost strange with an audience, says Eldebrink, who this summer will remain in Spain to play the European Championships with Sweden in Valencia.
And then?
Frida Eldebrink expects to keep her career for a few more years.
And if the plan goes awry, it will end where it all began - at home in Södertälje with twin sister Elin and childhood friend Louice Halvarsson, both currently professionals in France.
- It is a dream the three of us have to do it together.
Sometime in the future, but I do not know when, says Eldebrink.
First, she will try to make a dream come true this week.
CLIP: Luleå superior in the Norrland derby (March 15, 2021)
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Luleå superior in the Norrland derby Photo: Bildbyrån