Today starts the women's EC finals, which are played in Slovenia, North Macedonia and Montenegro.
Swedish right-back Nina Koppang has tested positive for covid-19 and will miss tonight's opener against Serbia at 8:30 p.m.
- Nina has been able to train as usual and we currently see it as a symptom-free infection, said national team doctor Örjan Johanesson earlier on Friday.
Goalkeeper Johanna Bundsen admits that Serbia is a tough opening match.
- We met them not too long ago in two games where we won one and lost one.
You never really know where you have Serbia and it will be a tough and important premiere for us, to show what we can perform, says Bundsen to SVT Sport.
Shooting threat in the EC squad
Sweden was pitted against Serbia in the EC qualifiers last spring.
There was a loss in the first match with 21-24 and a victory in the second with 33-25.
- We had problems with their low defense in match one where they really closed down areas for our breakthrough players.
There we felt that we lacked a shooting threat to attract them a little, says national team captain Tomas Axnér.
Axnér believes that the EC squad is better equipped against low defenses and mentions Melissa Petrén, Kristin Thorleifsdóttir and Tyra Axnér – players who can dissolve low defenses with their shooting.
- There are players who make it very difficult for defenses to stand flat, he says.
Ryde: "Got to win that match"
Despite the fact that there was a victory in each of the European Championship qualifiers, Jessica Ryde, one of three goalkeepers in the Swedish European Championship squad, believes that Sweden is the better team.
- It will be very fun and a good start to the championship, to really get tough opposition right away.
As long as Serbia hasn't changed too many players, I think we will still win that match.
Other teams in Sweden's group are Slovenia and Denmark.
The top three teams advance to the main round.