When the draw for the group stage of the World Cup placed Norway alongside France, Senegal and an intercontinental play-off, Group I automatically became the “group of death”. Nobody wanted to come across the best team in European qualifying. Eight victories in eight matches, more than four goals scored on average per match and a scathing 7-1 aggregate against Italy have made Norway one of the scarecrows in the draw. An unprecedented status for this country more accustomed to shining in winter sports, absent from the World Cups since 1998 and having never progressed beyond the round of 16.
Before the tournament, bookmakers even made Norway the 9th most likely team to lift the trophy, ahead of Belgium, behind the Netherlands. The Senegal coach, Pape Thiaw, even said at the beginning of April that he considered her to be “the best European team at the moment”. “Everyone will be deeply disappointed if Norway are eliminated in the group stage even though we have been drawn into an extremely difficult group.”confirms Norwegian journalist Mats Arntzen to franceinfo: sport.
Faced with the rise of superlatives and praise, StÃ¥le Solbakken, the guide of the national team since 2020, tried to temper things: “You address me as if we were a country that had won the World Cup, but we haven’t played the tournament since the Stone Age. You compare us to Germany, to Spain, I thank you, but hey…”
In Norway, we have this saying that you shouldn’t think you’re exceptional — it’s called “Jante’s Law.†If Norway make it to the round of 16, I think most people will be quite happy. Any result beyond that will have to be be considered a huge success.”
Mats Arntzen, journalist for NRKÃ franceinfo: sport
Himself the protagonist, on the pitch, of the last Norwegian participation in the World Cup, with a success in the group stage against the future Brazilian finalist (2-1), the 58-year-old coach is a patient man. He is reaping the fruits of a tactical reform that he himself initiated several years in advance. Summarizing the Norwegian rise to that of its two stars Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard would be simplistic. Of the early type, the two men were international before the arrival of Solbakken at the head of the selection (Odegaard since 2014, Haaland since 2019). Their presence did not prevent the missed qualifications for the two Euros of 2021 and 2024, as well as for the 2022 World Cup.
Tore André Flo, former legend of the Norwegian attack, sees “the excellent results more like a collective work than an individual recital”. The selection includes a large number of talents confirmed in the best European championships and who have reached maturity (between 25 and 28 years old – like Haaland and Odegaard) at the right time. In the middle, Sander Berge is a keystone in the form of a sure value. In the offensive sector, some hopefuls are following a consistent growth curve like Oscar Bobb (22 years old), Antonio Nusa (21 years old) and Andreas Schjelderup (21 years old).
The profiles of Norwegian internationals have completely changed compared to the years 1990 and 2000. Known for its defensive style and its imposing players, the selection has adapted to modern football with high defense, pressing and creativity in the midfield. No more long balls to the 1m90 attackers, even if Erling Haaland and Alexander Sørloth are not far from two meters. “We broke codes and became better players individuallyreported Erling Haaland en novembre dernier. It’s important to pinch yourself, for the small nation that we are. I feel like this is the start of something big.”.
The transition was not linear and without setbacks. In Norway, Ståle Solbakken experienced several periods of turbulence. When he failed to qualify for Euro-2024, a debate arose and the name of another figure in Norwegian football, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, was mentioned to replace him. “If the question arises, when StÃ¥le (Solbakken) decides not to continue, I would be happy to start a conversation.”the former Manchester United striker even said at the Oslo Business Forum. If he ultimately kept his role, StÃ¥le Solbakken made it known that he would plan on “something else” after the Mondial-2026.
The former international with 58 caps is not the only architect of the growth of Norwegian football. The Norwegian Federation carried out a structural revolution in the mid-2010s. It increased the number of artificial pitches across a country particularly vulnerable to climatic hazards. “When I was young, football was put on hold for almost five months a year because of the weather”insist Tore André Flo au media belge The Future. A lot of money has been invested to develop the practice of football among young people through “Landslagsskolen”, the large Norwegian system for detecting and developing young talents.
Its principle is very structured and functions like a pyramid, which goes from the local club to the A team, with five intermediate levels. Everything is organized by stages, geographical zones, with a common methodology. In total, 20 full-time and 700 part-time coaches are mobilized to identify talents between 12 and 16 years old. The idea is to detect early, train long, select late to keep players in the system.
A model that is the opposite of the hyper-selectivity of European academies. The approach is holistic. The player is considered a special being, and is encouraged to analyze his own matches. “The goal is not to win at 13”but to train players capable of playing at the highest level between 20 and 25 years old.
Under the leadership of former international Lise Klaveness, the Norwegian Football Federation has made transparency a fundamental value. On its website, the body clearly sets out its eight objectives for 2030. The first has already been validated with the qualification of the men’s national selection for the most important tournament in the world. Norway wants to make football an even more inclusive space, make its youth football the best in the world, offer 1,800 quality pitches, strengthen links between the elite and the amateur world, give a more important place to women, quadruple the attendance of women’s matches and build a large national training center. The 2026 World Cup is just one step in a long, ambitious process.
The rise of the national team is not the only fruit of the Federation’s investments. This season, the small club from Bodø/Glimt, located in the Arctic Circle, became the first Norwegian team to reach the round of 16 of the Champions League since Rosenborg in 1997. They too are an illustration of the Norwegian football philosophy. In the second division in 2016, he implemented a long-term plan, focused on a culture of performance without obsession with immediate results and placed emphasis on mental health, by introducing meditation or working on mental preparation with a fighter pilot.
Three Bodo/Glimt players appear in Norway’s highly international roster (Fredrik Bjorkan, Patrick Berg and Jens Petter Hauge). Only 15% of those selected play in Eliteserien (4 out of 26), the Norwegian first division. An area of improvement for the Norwegian Federation. The other is paradoxically the physical deficit of its best players.
“The artificial turf revolution has come at the expense of other player profiles. If we have the impression that Norway is full of fantastic attackers, this is mainly due to the world-class trio of Erling Haaland, Alexander Sørloth and Jørgen Strand Larsen. Behind them, the options are in “As the artificial turf favors a different style of play, there are fewer physical duels. As a result, we are training fewer of the physically dominant attackers and central defenders that once characterized Norwegian football.”analysis Mats Arntzen, Norwegian journalist for NRK.
The latter recognizes that defense is the Achilles heel of the selection. “Orjan Nyland – the 35-year-old starting goalkeeper – has not been a regular starter at Sevilla; he is a decent goalkeeper, but his value remains uncertain at international level. The same could be said of David Møller Wolfe. Even if Kristoffer Ajer and Torbjørn Heggem play for clubs in renowned, there is still a notable gap in level if we compare our defensive line to that which the 8 to 10 best nations in the world can field.develops Mats Arntzen for franceinfo: sport. Enough to offer a beautiful field of expression to the formidable attack of the Blues?
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