FIN - Domingo Diaz takes over women’s national team

HELSINKI (National team) - Women’s National Team of Finland will be guided by Domingo Diaz of Spain in the upcoming European Championship Qualifiers. Contract between Finnish Basketball Association and “Mingo” Diaz also covers Qualifiers of 2008. Diaz was the head coach of Spain, which achieved bronze in European Championships 2005 and 8th place in World Championships 2006.

Resume of Mr. Diaz includes 22 consecutive seasons in the Spanish league with 13 seasons in FIBA competitions. He has won Spanish championships once and Spanish cup three times. Diaz guided Gran Canarias to victory of Ronchetti cup 2001. Year later they were runner-ups as they were in FIBA EuroCup 2003.

"I love to coach and I also love challenges. That’s why I took the job. Coaching Finland will be an interesting project. The goal of Finland is to be consistently in Top-16 of Europe in the upcoming years. I believe I can help the team to achieve that", told coach Diaz.

"First goal is to avoid relegation from Division A. But I am an ambitious coach. I want to help players to develop their skills and competitiveness. Hopefully that will help the team to reach Top-16", added Diaz.

Finland is facing Poland and Slovenia in the Additional Qualifying Round. Qualifiers will be kicked off on August 29, when Finland hosts Poland.

Both senior national teams of Finland are now coached by widely recognized names. Head coach of Finnish men’s national team is Henrik Dettmann, who coached the national team of Germany from 1997 to 2004. Under Dettmann Germany stormed to bronze medals in the World Championships 2002 and finished fourth in the European Championships 2001.

Finnish Basketball Association