Lausanne, Switzerland, June 7, 2017 - Finland host Slovakia in Helsinki on Thursday in what is the first head-to-head between the two sides in the history of the FIVB World League. Last time the two teams met was at the 2015 European Championship, with Finland winning in straight sets.
Head-to-Head• Finland and Slovakia will meet for the first time in the World League.
• These teams most recently met in a competitive match on 11 October 2015, when Finland claimed a 3-0 group stage victory over Slovakia at the 2015 European Championships.
• Slovakia last recorded a victory over Finland on 10 May 2012, when they won 3-1 in a Olympic qualifier in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Finland• Finland kicked off their 2017 World League campaign with defeats against Slovenia (3-1), Czech Republic (3-1) and Korea (3-2).
• Finland could lose their opening four matches of a World League campaign for the third time, after 2015 and 2008.
• Finland have already lost as many matches this season as in their whole 2016 World League campaign (3).
• Antti Ropponen scored 50 points in the opening weekend, 13 more than Slovakia's top scorer Matej Patak (37).
Slovakia• Slovakia lost just one set in their opening three World League matches this season, as they beat both Japan and Portugal in straight sets and recorded a 3-1 victory over Australia.
• Slovakia could claim four wins in a single World League edition for the first time. They recorded exactly three wins in each of their previous three participations.
• Matej Patak will celebrate his 27th birthday on the day of the match. Patak scored a team-high 37 points in this year's opening weekend.