After 25 years in purgatory and 12 major tournaments missed, Norway appear to have found a mythical Norse football god who may herald the end of their Ragnarok and the start of a new paradigm unspoilt by past battles against sporting irrelevance.
With the physique of a Viking conqueror, a left foot like Thor’s hammer and a scoring rate which should have record international goalscorer Cristiano Ronaldo secretly fretting, Erling Haaland looks primed to drag his nation to the 2026 World Cup Finals.
Five wins from as many matches in qualifying, with 24 goals scored in the process and Haaland leading the overall scoring charts on nine goals, have set the scene for Norway to return to the world stage for the first time since 1998.
A win over Israel in Oslo on Oct 11, coupled with a slip-up by chief group rivals Italy – whom they outclassed 3-0 in June – could see Landslaget book their berth with two games to spare.
“It’s 25 years since we’ve been in a major tournament, so it’s about time… We are sick and tired of talking about that now, so we need to get to another tournament,” national coach Stale Solbakken, who was in the Norway team who last played at the World Cup and European Championship in 1998 and 2000 respectively, told Fifa’s website in September.
The only other European team with a similar record after five qualifiers are England, and they have done it in a far more prosaic fashion than the Norwegians.
Norse mythology
Norway, who are 31st in the Fifa rankings, have nothing like the Three Lions’ pedigree, but curiously are the only team who have never lost to both record five-time world champions Brazil and current holders and three-time World Cup winners Argentina.
Their combined record against the storied South American giants reads: played six, won four, drawn two.
In the heady 1990s, Norway twice reached No. 2 in the Fifa rankings, but unlike their Nordic neighbours Denmark and Sweden, they have neither real history of producing top-class talent, in the men’s game at least, nor pedigree at major tournaments.
In fact, Norway have qualified for just four major tournaments and have never progressed beyond the last 16 of a World Cup or Euro.
So how is it that Landslaget are now not only on course to end their major tournament drought, but also looking like they should not be sniffed at if they get there?
X factor
Said Solbakken: “Offensively, we have players with some X factor now. We feel we can always score a goal. As a team, we have become much more solid defensively as well. We have a better mix.”
The 57-year-old has an enviable pool of strikers to choose from. Atletico Madrid’s Alexander Sorloth has a respectable 24 goals in 64 international appearances, while netting 50 times at club level over the past two seasons.
Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Jorgen Strand Larsen does not have as impressive of an international scoring resume, but has netted 27 times in the last two campaigns despite playing for relatively smaller clubs.
And then there is Haaland.
His manager at Manchester City, Pep Guardiola, has called him the “best striker in the world”, former Liverpool and England midfielder Jamie Redknapp claims he “brought strikers back into fashion” while ex-Liverpool and England striker Daniel Sturridge says he is “obsessed with scoring goals”.
The litany of scoring landmarks Haaland has laid claim to seems unending. In September, the 25-year-old became the fastest player to reach 50 Champions League goals, needing just 49 matches. “What can I say? The numbers speak for themselves. In that rhythm, yeah (he could be the Champions League record goalscorer),” said Guardiola.
Haaland holds that mark for the English Premier League as well, reaching the half-century in 50 games, before going on to become the only player in the competition’s history to rack up 100 combined goals and assists in fewer than 100 fixtures. He needed just 94 matches.
With 12 goals from nine club matches this season, the Norwegian is on track to surpass Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s best scoring campaigns.
He credits “not thinking about football at all” after the birth of his first child in December for the hot streak, saying on Oct 5: “I have never felt better than I do now… You can be physically ready, but you need to be mentally ready. With a kid, it makes me even better because I disconnect more than ever.”
But how does banging in the goals for a behemoth compare to the burden of carrying a relative footballing backwater on your back?
Major tournament travails
As Jan Aage Fjortoft, who won 71 caps for Norway and played at the 1994 World Cup, told The Athletic: “To have the Norwegian passport is one of the greatest assets you can have, but not when it comes to big football tournaments, then it’s not good.”
That seemed the case when they missed out on Euro 2024, finishing third in their group behind Spain and Scotland, registering wins only against Cyprus (twice) and Georgia.
While they fared better in the Nations League, earning promotion to League A, Norway were hammered 5-1 by Austria in October 2024, leading Haaland to admit “this was far too bad on my part”.
A month earlier they drew 0-0 with Kazakhstan, leading Egil Olsen, who led Norway to two World Cups, to describe the performance as “one of the worst things I’ve seen from Haaland”.
Things have since picked up for both Landslaget and their star striker.
Haaland became his nation’s all-time leading scorer last October at just 24 with his 34th international goal on his 36th appearance, eclipsing 1936 Olympic bronze medallist Jorgen Juve.
While he was “happy to have broken this amazing record”, he also repeats the mantra that “there is no point in concentrating on what has already happened, you need to focus on what’s ahead”.
Hot streak
The City striker has now netted in his last eight internationals dating back last November, including all five of Norway’s World Cup qualifiers.
In 14 matches since last June, Haaland has failed to score just twice, registering 21 goals and three assists to take his overall tally to 48 goals in 45 games, a ratio of 1.07 goals per game.
The bulk of his goals have come against minnows, with five against Moldova in September, and hat-tricks against Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Gibraltar and Romania.
However, Norway’s long absence from major tournaments means Haaland has not had many encounters with football’s elite. The only top-10 nation he has failed to score against is European champions and world No. 1 Spain, having breached the goals of Italy (10th ranked), Netherlands (seventh), Denmark (20th), Austria (22nd) and Sweden (32nd).
Portugal’s Ronaldo holds the record for most international goals with 141 from 223 games, with Argentina’s Messi second on 114 from 194 matches, but their ratios of 0.63 and 0.59 per game respectively for far more illustrious football nations are much lower than Haaland’s.
Said Solbakken: “The other players know that Erling is our biggest match-winner and that we have to make sure that we put him in the right areas, so he can score goals and be dangerous.
“Erling is easy to coach. He’s very down to earth in terms that he wants to do his work defensively as well. He thinks about the team before he thinks about himself. You can see that when other players score, he’s as happy as he is when he scores himself.”
Norway captain Martin Odegaard added: “A good friend of mine and a great player. He’s a beast. He is strong, he is fast and I think he has everything.”
But Norway are not a one-man team.
Partner in crime
If Haaland is Thor, then Odegaard resembles Loki – the bringer of mischief, trickery and deception to Norway’s play.
Such is Odegaard’s ability that his Arsenal manager Mikel Areta has said: “I think that creativity is his nature… It is his best ability to generate things that not a lot of players can do.
“He has my total freedom… to explore and take risks. Not only with the passes; the way he was taking the ball and carrying the ball and making runs and arriving in dangerous areas.”
For a national team traditionally built on the back of brute force and industry, the 26-year-old Arsenal schemer offers guile and the unexpected. Said Solbakken: “His understanding of the game is second to none.”
However, Norway will have to do without that for the October internationals after he withdrew from the squad due to a knee ligament injury.
Former Norway midfielder and current coach of club side Asane, Eirik Bakke, said in 2023: “We have Martin Odegaard and Erling Haaland – you have to pick a team around them who can make them good, then you will qualify again.”
However, ex-Norway Under-21 coach Leif Gunnar Smerud warned: “If Erling and Martin are going to do all the work, we can’t make it. It’s too easy to stop two guys. We need more.”
And now Landslaget have just that.
Fulham’s Sander Berge has developed into a consummate Premier League performer and a muscular foil to Odegaard in midfield, where Genoa’s Morten Thorsby and Kristian Thorstvedt of Sassuolo are also options. There is also uncapped 18-year-old Sverre Nypan, who signed for City in the summer and is viewed as one of Europe’s best young midfield prospects.
Then there are the flying wingers. RB Leipzig’s Antonio Nusa, Oscar Bobb of City and Benfica’s Andreas Schjelderup, all of whom are below 23, offer Solbakken enviable options.
Backline dilemma
But defensively he has problems.
Amid their unexpected attacking riches, Norway are pining for stars of yesteryear, when they produced reliable defenders like Ronny Johnsen, Henning Berg or Brede Hangeland. Or at least a solid goalkeeper who is playing consistently at a decent level.
Only fullback Julian Ryerson, who himself has a more attacking remit as a wing-back for Borussia Dortmund, is at a similar level to his teammates further afield.
“I would think that there is no team in the whole world who have a wider space between the best players in the team and the worst players in the team,” said Fjortoft.
“You have Erling Haaland, who is scoring goals for fun, and he will keep on scoring goals. Martin will end up breaking the record international (appearances) for Norway – 100 per cent. Erling will break all kinds of goalscoring records in Norway.
“But then you have – and I say this in no disrespect, I just try to state the fact – no defenders… I think that is a big, big headache for Stale Solbakken… We have some defenders who I would love to play against.”
