Handball in the Atlantic Ocean

In the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, between Scotland and Iceland, is a group of islands know as Faroe Islands found. Barely 50 000 people live on the eighteen islands that the Faroe Islands consist of, but handball is a popular sport and the team Neistin returns to Partille Cup year after year.

This year they brought eleven teams, five girls’ teams and six boys’ teams. The trope from the Faroe Islands consists of 185 players, coaches and parents in total. The team has had varied results, but Neistins Girls 14 has made an exceptional achievement with six straight victories, over teams from Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Nigeria, which made them group champions.

The Swedish team Skånela was their first opponents on their way to the final, as they met them in the 1/16-final.That is at least what the players hope for when we talk to them after the victory against Skånela with 16-5 (10-3), which made them ready for the 1/8-final. Last year they reached the quarter-final in Girl 13, and this year the hope to be even better.

At the Faroe Islands is handball the prime sport for girls and the sport has many performers. Even though the Faroe Islands doesn’t have a big population they have 10-12 teams in the Girls 14 group. They play in a series there were they meet all teams three times, but there isn’t any big difference on the teams. In Partille Cup they play against tougher competition, and now it is good to be lucky with the draw to go far in the tournament, says the coach.

It is allowed to play with football shoes on the fields in Partille Cup, to gain better footing. All the twelve girls in Neistin have football shoes on and the explanation to that is easy. They all play football as well, but in another club, Neistin is an only handball club.

All girls in the team live in the community outside the capital Torshamn which is situated on the main island Streymoy, the island where almost half of the inhabitants live.