Norway National Football Team

The Norway national football team ( no, 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).

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.

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 2023.

History

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.

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.

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 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.

Team image

Crest

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. 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.

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.

Results and fixtures

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

2023

2024

Coaching staff

Coaching history

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.

Players

Current squad

*The following players were called up for the friendly matches against Kosovo and Denmark, on 5 and 8 June 2024 respectively.
*''Caps and goals correct as of 8 June 2024, after the match against Denmark.

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up for the Norway squad within the last 12 months.

^INJ Withdrew due to injury

^PRE Preliminary squad / standby

^RET Retired from the national team

^SUS Serving suspension

^QUA Placed in mandatory quarantine

^WD Withdrew due to non-injury issue.

^EX Player expelled from the squad due to non-injury issue.

Player records

:''Players in bold are still active with Norway.''

Most appearances

Top goalscorers

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

UEFA European Championship

UEFA Nations League

Olympic Games

All-time team record

The following table shows Norway's all-time international record, correct as of 8 June 2024.

Honours

Official

*Olympic Games
** Bronze Medal (1): 1936
Exhibition
* Nordic Football Championship
** Winners (1): 1929–32
** Runners-up (2) 1952–55, 1956–59

See also

*Football in Norway
* Norway women's national football team
* Norway national under-21 football team
*Norway national under-20 football team
*Norway national under-19 football team
*Norway national under-17 football team
* Sápmi football team

Notes

References

External links

Official website of The Norwegian Football Association (NFF)

Norway
at FIFA

Norway
at UEFA

RSSSF archive of results 1908–

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norway National Football Team

European national association football teams

1908 establishments in Norway
Association football clubs established in 1908