Volda out of the cup after a huge mistake

– It’s a bit comical when you look at the result, says Godøy player Maria Ulla and laughs. The team she plays for suffered a huge loss when they met Volda in the Norwegian handball championship this week. The result was precisely 45-6. But in retrospect it turned out that Volda fielded a player who had not yet been cleared to play matches for the club. This causes the result to be cancelled. The first division team Volda, which recently moved down from the Eliteserien, is thus out of the cup. At the same time, Godøy, which was recently promoted to the second division, is further on. – It’s a bit of fun too – I actually got a bit of a shock, but it’s also a bit of fun, even if it was Volda who should have gone on, says Ulla. Igor Koprivica, who is the coach for Godøy, also got a shock when he learned that they had progressed. – It’s great fun to progress, because if we win and hopefully get another home game, we can fill the hall, says the Godøy coach and continued modestly: – But we have no ambitions to win the Norwegian championship in handball. Godøy progressed in the cup, even though they lost the match with 39 goals. Photo: Privat Koprivica is actually the coach for Spjelkavik’s men’s team, but was brought in to Godøy when they were recently promoted to the second division. It gave the team a tough entry into the cup. – I can’t name my players and they don’t know me. We haven’t trained for anything, and then we meet a team that is professional and far above our level. The coach emphasizes that they feel sorry for Volda, and thinks they were the ones who deserved to go on. But despite the differences in level and the huge loss, it is Godøy who are through to the next round. Admits mistake Arild Bakke, who is chairman of Volda handball, says that they should have discovered that the player was not cleared to play matches. – Here a formal error has been made on the club’s part. Arild Bakke, chairman of Volda Handball, says they should have caught the mistake before the match. Photo: Arne Flatin / news He says that they got several new players into the squad in June, and that they have not discovered that there was one player who was not cleared to play matches. – I don’t think I have experienced this in the 20 years I have worked with this. It is the first time it has happened. The chairman adds that the mistake is particularly sad for the players. – What’s happening now? – Now nothing else happens other than that we are out of the NM, and we have to learn from that, of course. And sharpen our routines in this area. Beyond that, our main goal is to fight at the top of the first division. Published 22.08.2024, at 19.37 Updated 22.08.2024, at 20.05



ttn-69