Lauri Kerminen expressed his desire to stay in Russia, which resulted in a decision of the Finnish Volleyball Federation (Suomen Lentopalloliitt) to exclude him from the men’s national team.
The Finland Men’s National Team set off their preparation for the qualifications for the 2023 CEV European Championship. One player has suddenly lost his place on the roster by the decision of the country’s federation. The starting libero Lauri Kerminen, one of the best players Finland has at the moment, was replaced by Niklas Breilin. The reason for this will raise a lot of controversies – Kerminen got excluded due to the fact that he wants to stay in Russia and negotiates the contract extension with Dinamo Moscow.
As a nation, Finland has a strong stance regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine, so much so that it has recently signed up for accession to NATO.
