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Norway national football team

Men's association football team From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Norway national football team
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The Norway national football team (Norwegian: Norges herrelandslag i fotball, or informally Landslaget) represents Norway in men's international football, and is controlled by the Norwegian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Norway. Norway's home ground is Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo and their head coach is Ståle Solbakken. Norway has participated three times in the FIFA World Cup (1938, 1994, 1998), and once in the UEFA European Championship (2000).

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Norway is one of only four national teams with a winning record against Brazil, and the only team together with Senegal to never have lost against them, with two wins and two draws in three friendly matches (in 1988, 1997 and 2006) and a 1998 World Cup group stage match.[3]

After Euro 2000, the national team have been eliminated in 12 consecutive qualifications to a major international tournament (UEFA Euro and FIFA World Cup) as of December 2024.[4][5][6]

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History

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Norway's performances in international football have usually been weaker than those of their Scandinavian neighbours Sweden and Denmark, but they did have a golden age in the late 1930s. An Olympic team achieved third place in the 1936 Olympics, after beating the host Germany earlier in the tournament. Norway also qualified for the 1938 FIFA World Cup, where they lost 2–1 after extra time against eventual champions Italy. This was Norway's last World Cup appearance in 56 years.

In the post-war years, up to and including the 1980s, Norway was usually considered one of the weaker teams in Europe. They never qualified for a World Cup or European Championship in this period, and usually finished near the bottom of their qualifying groups. Nevertheless, Norway had a reputation for producing the occasional shock result, such as the 3–0 win against Yugoslavia in 1965, the 1–0 away win against France in 1968, and the 2–1 victory against England in 1981 that prompted radio commentator Bjørge Lillelien's famous "Your boys took a hell of a beating" rant.[7]

Norway had their most successful period from 1990 to 1998 under the legendary coach Egil "Drillo" Olsen. At its height in the mid-90s the team was ranked No. 2. Olsen started his training career with Norway with a 6–1 home victory against Cameroon on 31 October 1990 and ended it on 27 June 1998 after a 0–1 defeat against Italy in the second stage of the 1998 World Cup.

In qualifying for the 1994 World Cup, Norway topped their group, finishing above both the European Championship winning and three-time World Cup finalists the Netherlands, and also above former World Cup winners England, beating both teams in the process.

In the 1994 World Cup in the United States, Norway was knocked out at the group stage after a win against Mexico, a defeat against Italy and a draw against the Republic of Ireland. Norway failed to qualify for second round qualification on goals scored as all 4 teams in the group finished with 4 points and identical goal difference. In the 1998 World Cup in France, Norway was once again eliminated by Italy in the first round of the knockout stage after finishing second in their group, having drawn against Morocco and Scotland and won 2–1 against Brazil.

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The national football team of Norway in 2015

Former under-21 coach Nils Johan Semb replaced Olsen after the planned retirement of the latter. Under Semb's guidance, Norway qualified for Euro 2000, which remains their last major tournament appearance to date. Semb resigned at the end of an unsuccessful qualifying campaign in 2003 and was replaced by Åge Hareide. Under Hareide, Norway came close to reaching both the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2008, but ultimately fell short on both occasions. Then, in 2008, it all fell apart as Norway failed to win a single game the entire calendar year. Hareide resigned at the end of 2008. His replacement, initially on a temporary basis, was the returning Egil Olsen, who began his second spell in charge with an away win against Germany, and subsequently signed a three-year contract. Olsen resigned in September 2013[8] after Norway lost at home to Switzerland and had limited chances to qualify for the 2014 World Cup with one game to spare. He was replaced with Per-Mathias Høgmo. Olsen later claimed he was sacked.[9]

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Team image

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Crest

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Original badge of the Norwegian national team

Norway used the national flag on a white circle as their badge from the 1920s onwards. In May 2008 the NFF unveiled a new crest, a Viking-style Dragon wrapped around the NFF logo. After massive public pressure the crest was dropped.[10] Between the 1980s and the 1990s, Norway used the NFF logo in the opposite breast of the shirt together with the national flag on a white circle. On 12 December 2014, a new crest was presented. The crest primarily features the national flag, in addition, there are two lions taken from the Coat of arms of Norway on the top. The lions are facing each other while holding a blue miniature of the NFF logo, and between the lions and above the NFF logo, it says "NORGE" (Norway) in blue letters.[11]

Kit suppliers

Between 1996 and 2014, Norway's kits were supplied by Umbro. They took over from Adidas who supplied Norway's kit between 1992 and 1996.

On 10 September 2014, the NFF and Nike announced a new partnership that made the sportswear provider the official Norwegian team kit supplier from 1 January 2015.[12]

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Results and fixtures

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The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

  Win   Draw   Loss   Fixture

2024

5 June 2024 Friendly Norway  3–0  Kosovo Oslo, Norway
  • Haaland 15', 70', 75'
Report Stadium: Ullevaal Stadion
Referee: Mikkel Redder (Denmark)
8 June 2024 Friendly Denmark  3–1  Norway Brøndby, Denmark
19:30 UTC+2 Report
Stadium: Brøndby Stadium
Attendance: 23,390
Referee: Stéphanie Frappart (France)
6 September 2024 2024–25 Nations League Kazakhstan  0–0  Norway Almaty, Kazakhstan
20:00 UTC+6 Report Stadium: Almaty Central Stadium
Attendance: 23,173
Referee: Allard Lindhout (Netherlands)
9 September 2024 2024–25 Nations League Norway  2–1  Austria Oslo, Norway
20:45 UTC+2
Report Stadium: Ullevaal Stadion
Attendance: 23,171
Referee: Nikola Dabanović (Montenegro)
10 October 2024 2024–25 Nations League Norway  3–0  Slovenia Oslo, Norway
20:45 UTC+2
Report Stadium: Ullevaal Stadion
Attendance: 23,341
Referee: Manfredas Lukjančukas (Lithuania)
13 October 2024 2024–25 Nations League Austria  5–1  Norway Linz, Austria
20:45 UTC+2
Report Stadium: Raiffeisen Arena
Attendance: 16,500
Referee: Tamás Bognár (Hungary)
14 November 2024 2024–25 Nations League Slovenia  1–4  Norway Ljubljana, Slovenia
20:45 UTC+1
Report
Stadium: Stožice Stadium
Attendance: 15,308
Referee: Michael Oliver (England)
17 November 2024 2024–25 Nations League Norway  5–0  Kazakhstan Oslo, Norway
18:00 UTC+1
Report Stadium: Ullevaal Stadion
Attendance: 23,458
Referee: Jasper Vergoote (Belgium)

2025

22 March 2025 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification Moldova  0–5  Norway Chișinău, Moldova
19:00 UTC+2 Report Stadium: Zimbru Stadium
Attendance: 9,342
Referee: Matej Jug (Slovenia)
25 March 2025 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification Israel  2–4  Norway Debrecen, Hungary
20:45 UTC+2
Report Stadium: Nagyerdei Stadion
Attendance: 1,200
Referee: Chris Kavanagh (England)
4 September 2025 Friendly Norway  v  Finland Oslo, Norway
Stadium: Ullevaal Stadion
8 September 2025 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification Norway  v  Moldova Norway
20:45 UTC+2 Report
11 October 2025 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification Norway  v  Israel Norway
18:00 UTC+2 Report
14 October 2025 Friendly Norway  v  New Zealand Oslo, Norway
Report Stadium: Ullevaal Stadion
13 November 2025 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification Norway  v  Estonia Norway
18:00 UTC+1 Report
16 November 2025 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification Italy  v  Norway Italy
20:45 UTC+1 Report
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Coaching staff

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Ståle Solbakken is currently the manager of Norway
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Coaching history

As of 26 March 2025[13][14]

The following is a list of all managers of the national team. Prior to 1953, the team was selected by a selection committee, which also continued to select the team until 1969.

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Players

Current squad

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Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up for the Norway squad within the last twelve months.

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Player records

As of 25 March 2025.[17]
Players in bold are still active with Norway.

Most appearances

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John Arne Riise is Norway's most capped player with 110 appearances.
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Top goalscorers

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Erling Haaland is Norway's all-time top goalscorer with 40 goals.
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Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

More information FIFA World Cup record, Qualification record ...

UEFA European Championship

More information UEFA European Championship record, Qualifying record ...

UEFA Nations League

More information UEFA Nations League record, Season ...

Olympic Games

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All-time team record

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The following table shows Norway's all-time international record, correct as of 25 March 2025.[18]

Key
  More wins than losses
  As many wins as losses
  Fewer wins than losses
More information Opponents, Played ...
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Honours

Major competitions

Regional

Friendly

Summary

More information Competition, Total ...

See also

Notes

  1. Led the team that was dubbed "koronalandslaget", due to the entire national squad was put in quarantine

References

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