2026 World Cup | Who are France’s opponents, Norway? | OneFootball

France’s third and final opponents in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Group Stage are Norway. We look at the players that make up their squad.

Ørjan Håskjold Nyland

Club Sevilla

DOB 10 September 1990

Position Goalkeeper

He may not be the most famous member of the Norwegian national team, but Nyland is one of the longest-serving and is calm and reliable. He made his debut against Scotland back in November 2013 and has been the first choice for the past five years. Before that, Nyland was a multi-talented athlete who could have excelled in other sports. In addition to being among the country’s biggest goalkeeping talents in both football and handball, he was on the national alpine skiing team at the age of 13. “There was a tug-of-war and fierce competition for Ørjan, especially between the football and handball teams. Everyone wanted him, and everyone had to have him,” his father Jostein has said. Nyland has had to contend with being a back-up goalkeeper at several of his clubs and in the past year he has started more matches for Norway than Sevilla. 

Egil Selvik

Club Watford

DOB 30 July 1997

Position Goalkeeper

Selvik’s story is a bit unusual. By the time he signed for FK Haugesund in 2021, he was 23 years old and had played only one top division match in Norway. But very quickly he  established himself as one of the very best goalkeepers in the country. Now 28, he is living the professional dream in England playing for Watford, where he is the club’s No 1. At international level he has been back-up to Ørjan Håskjold Nyland for several years but because the No 1’s limited playing time at Sevilla there have been suggestions that Selvik may start at the World Cup. Spent part of his childhood in Aberdeen as his father worked in Scotland in the oil industry, learning English while attending primary school. When he joined Watford he admitted that it had taken some time to get used to his new car. “I find it very different. If I go on auto-pilot I usually go in on the left-side, and then I remember the steering wheel is on the right-side! I’m sure I will get used to it,” he told the Watford website. 

Sander Tangvik

Club Hamburg

DOB 29 November 2002

Position Goalkeeper

Tangvik has been seen as Norway’s future first-choice goalkeeper for some years now. Still only 23, he made 85 appearances for Rosenborg before joining Hamburg in January. He has tremendous reflexes and is a very good shot-stopper, which goes some way to explain his excellent record with penalties: at the time of writing he has saved every third spot kick he has faced. As befits a modern goalkeeper he is also very good at his feet, having grown up with José “Pepe” Reina as his role model. He is unlikely to get any playing time at the World Cup but just being part of the squad will be a valuable experience. In 2025, he got a knock on his nose and bled profusely but the team doctor stitched the wound together and he carried on. “This is the Eliteserien, there should be some knocks during a game, especially against Bryne.”

Julian Ryerson

DOB 17 November 1997

Club Borussia Dortmund

Position Defender

Ryerson is the closest we have to a loose cannon in the Norway squad. “I would rather not comment on his brain, but I think it will be examined after his death. The things that go on in there are not normal,” the Norway coach Ståle Solbakken once said with a smile, before adding: “but that is good.” He was referring to the special qualities that have taken Ryerson to the very top: fearlessness, focus and a love for the old-fashioned tackle. Having left Viking for Union Berlin in 2018 he stayed in the capital for five years before joining Borussia Dortmund, where one of his finest performances came against PSG in the 2023-24 Champions League semi-finals. They kept Kylian Mbappé, Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembélé quiet, not conceding in either leg. “We had no special plan to stop Mbappé,” Ryerson said afterwards. “They also had Dembélé and the other guy, I don’t know his name [Barcola]. We had to be best 1v1, and we were.” That mindset will come in handy when Ryerson once again face the French superstars at the World Cup.

Torbjørn Heggem

Club Bologna

DOB 12 January 1999

Position Defender

“I used to tell myself that it takes 10,000 hours to become good at something,” Heggem once told TV 2 and that he lived by this idea growing up. However, if you train for “only” one hour a day it takes more than 27 years to reach that – and you are unlikely to have started from day one. Heggem didn’t have 27 years to get to what he wanted so he trained as much as he could and in as many disciplines as possible, all with the aim of becoming a professional footballer. He did cross-country skiing, long jump and javelin, and always had a football nearby. His father, Trond, has said that he often thought: “If Torbjørn doesn’t become an athlete, then I won’t understand anything.” The result of this targeted training is a 1.92m centre-back who rarely loses a foot race on the pitch and is almost unbeatable in the air. 

Fredrik André Bjørkan

Club Bodø/Glimt

DOB 21 August 1998

Position Defender

Bjørkan knows what the word ‘pressure’ means. The very attacking left-back grew up in Bodø, a place that has now been put on the map by Bodø/Glimt. About 50.000 people live there and Fredrik grew up as the son of one of the most famous of them. His father Aasmund Bjørkan is a legend at Bodø/Glimt and, when Fredrik was good enough and old enough to become a part of the first team, his father was the club’s coach. In an interview with the newspaper VG, he said that when his son had a poor game he could hear the murmurs about Fredrik only playing because his father was the coach. “I found it a very difficult situation,” Aasmund said. “Especially in 2016. There were several times that I didn’t pick him, because I couldn’t stand all the talking. But he was definitely good enough even then.” Arrives at the World Cup having been part of Bodø/Glimt’s incredible Champions League journey in 2025-26.

Kristoffer Ajer

Club Brentford

DOB17 April 1998

Position Defender

If you follow the Premier League, you have probably noticed that long throw-ins have become popular. Brentford uses this weapon to good effect and quite often the ball is launched on to the head of a tall Norwegian bloke who flicks it on towards the opponents’ goal. At 1.98m Ajer is the tallest outfield player for his club and the national team – and a threat on set-pieces. As a youngster, Ajer was as good at school as he was at football and often got the highest grades – a big contrast to how the papers judged his performance in Ståle Solbakken’s first game in charge for Norway, a 3-0 defeat to Turkey. Ajer was given a 2 out 10 by most people. “The player rating was deserved. I played really bad,” he admitted after the match. Things have looked up for the 29-year-old since then and last year he established himself as the leader of the Norwegian defense – a role he will have at the World Cup.

Leo Østigård

Club Genoa

DOB 28 November 1999

Position Defender

Østigård is among the shortest players on the team, yet he is perhaps the best header of the ball. “My father and I have practiced heading a lot. I’ve been heading a ball since I was three years old, so by now I should be good at it,” Østigård told NRK Sport. There were signs early on that the boy from the small town of Åndalsnes on the west coast was destined to become a top defender. He watched his first World Cup in 2006 and one player in particular made an impression on him. “Fabio Cannavaro isn’t the tallest, but he was ‘crazy’ in the head and won every duel. He inspired me.” Remarkably, Østigård went on to join one of Cannavaro’s clubs, Napoli, in 2022 and won the Scudetto the following year. With Norway, Østigård lost his starting place in 2025 after some costly mistakes but he is a fighter and he will do anything he can to reclaim his place in the team. 

David Møller Wolfe

DOB 23 April 2002

Club Wolverhampton

Position Defender

David Møller Wolfe is living proof that you don’t have to join an academy early to reach the Premier League. While most of the best talents from the Bergen area joined the city’s main club, Brann, early, Møller Wolfe, chose to stay with his childhood club Bergen Nord for as long as he could. He was still playing in the fifth tier in Norway when he was being picked for the Under-17 national team. The lightning-fast and attacking left-back grew up in Spain but moved back home to Bergen when he was 11 years old. It was in Spain he fell in love with football. Eventually, he developed so much that he joined Brann, where he won the Cup, before being sold to AZ. Last summer, Wolfe became part of the Wolverhampton Wolf Pack.

Marcus Holmgren Pedersen

DOB 16 July 2000

Club Torino

Position Defender

Marcus Holmgren Pedersen has followed in the footsteps of former national team and Premier League-players Morten Gamst Pedersen and Stefan Johansen in that they are all role models for children growing up in Norway’s northernmost region. It is not unusual for Pedersen’s hometown, Hammerfest, to be snow-covered for more than half the year. Hammerfest is located at a latitude of 70.6634° and claims to be the world’s northernmost city. Here the summers are short, and the winters very long. From midnight sun in the summer to freezing, snowy, windy and pitch-black winters. Norwegian climate at its best and worst. Holmgren Pedersen, it would be fair to say, is shaped by the conditions he grew up in. The right-back is tough on the pitch and leaves everything out there. His journey has taken him from Tromsø in the north to Molde and Feyenoord and a loan at Torino before a permanent switch to the Serie A club in 2025. 

Sondre Langås

Club Derby County

DOB 2 February 2001

Position Defender

Three years ago Langås was playing in the second tier in Norway for Ranheim. He was 22 years old and had not represented any of the Norwegian youth teams. It is fair to say that he was relatively unknown. However, in the summer of 2023 top-flight club Viking signed him and 18 months later he made his Norway debut and moved to Derby for £4.5m. He was captaining the side when he suffered a hamstring injury in January. In an interview with the TV channel Viaplay, Norway’s head coach, Ståle Solbakken, said: “He has to get on the pitch and have a very good month in April if he is to get on that plane to the World Cup”. In the end he managed just that. A very talented handball player he combined it with football until the age of 18. 

Henrik Falchener

Club: Viking

Date of birth: 8 May 2003

Position: Centre-back

Falchener admitted he shed a few tears after his shock inclusion by Ståle Solbakken. “I never thought it would happen so quickly. I really have no words,” he told TV2. The 23-year-old only has one cap to his name and it came in March, after Norway had qualified for the World Cup. The road to the top has been long for Falchener, although it has gone very quickly in recent years. After being rejected from an academy at the age of 16, he went on to Sandefjord but struggled for playing time, which made him drop into the third tier. He eventually landed a move to Viking and immediately became one of the best defenders in the top flight, perhaps the very best. The 23-year-old has contributed up the other end too, scoring six times as Viking won the 2025 Eliteserien in his first season at the club.

Martin Ødegaard

DOB 17 December 1998

Club Arsenal

Position Midfielder

When he was six years old, Ødegaard kicked a football at 60 km/h. He played his first senior match at the age of 13. Two years later, he had dominated Norway’s top division to such an extent he became the world’s most sought-after wonderkid. When he made his debut for the national team at the age of 15, Ødegaard’s technique, ability to read the game and dictate the tempo made him look like a seasoned pro. “I needed five minutes to see that he has what it takes,” said the then-Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola. Having joined Real Madrid in 2015, he made his debut as a substitute, replacing Cristiano Ronaldo. His rise to the top was not linear though and there were set-backs with the national team and loan spells at Heerenveen, Vitesse and Real Sociedad before a transformative move to Arsenal. Now, though, he is the captain for club and country and will lead Norway in their first World Cup since the year he was born. It is safe to say that “the boy” has become a man.

Sander Berge

Club Fulham

DOB 14 February 1998

Position Midfielder

You will struggle to find anyone who has a bad word to say about Sander Berge. The midfielder always seems to have a smile on his face and goes about things, seemingly, without a worry in the world. Life on the pitch, however, has not always been easy for the 28-year-old as he has had to shoulder a lot of responsibility at the heart of the Norwegian midfield while also being relegated with Sheffield United and Burnley. However, there have been several highs as well and since 2025 he has been an established Premier League player and was often among the best players on the pitch as Norway qualified for the World Cup. He also became a father for the first time. Berge’s height, which makes him a towering figure on the field, comes from his family: his mother, father, and older brother have all played basketball at an international level.

Antonio Nusa

DOB 17 April 2005

Club RB Leipzig

Position Winger

Among all the stars in the Norwegian national team, no one is more appreciated by the fans at Ullevaal Stadium than Antonio Nusa. Every time he gets the ball, the crowd’s anticipation can be heard – and he almost always responds by dribbling past his opponent. The highlight so far was his dream goal in the 3-0 home victory over Italy, which he followed up with another beauty into the top corner in the return match at San Siro. Two years ago, when asked how he became so good, he said: “I watched clips of Neymar on YouTube and went out to try to copy him.” The unusual thing with Nusa is that, so far, he has been better for the national team than for his club sides. He has been with Leipzig since 2024 but as more people are likely to make note of Norway’s No 1 fan favorite at the World Cup a move to one of Europe’s biggest clubs could be on the cards.

Fredrik Aursnes

DOB 10 December 1995

Club Benfica

Position Midfielder

Profile: Portugal is the largest market for Norwegian clipfish (dried and salted cod), with an approximate annual export of €350m. The main ingredient in Cristiano Ronaldo’s favourite dish, Bacalhau, comes from the Sunnmøre region. This is also where Norway’s second most famous export to Portugal, Fredrik Aursnes, grew up. He has been influential for Benfica since joining in 2022 but suddenly, two years later, he quit the national team. “It got too hectic,” he said. “It was a rush the whole time, and it felt like I couldn’t breathe. I was mentally tired.” So it was somewhat controversial when he reported back for duty four months before a World Cup he had played no part in reaching. But most Norwegians are happy Aursnes is back. He doesn’t have an x-factor but is functional and versatile – a proper all-round midfielder who always makes his team a little bit better.

Andreas Schjelderup

Club Benfica

DOB 1 June 2004

Position Winger

At the age of 13, Andreas Schjelderup already had a plan mapped out for how the next few years of his life would look. He was going to leave Norway as soon as he turned 16 and the message to his parents was blunt: “you are not coming with me”. Schjelderup wanted to do it his own way. “I thought that they wouldn’t have to sacrifice anything by joining me, or that they would have to give up the life they lived in Bodø.” It did not take long before Europe’s top clubs were aware of Schjelderup’s talent. He had trials at Ajax and PSV four times, he visited big clubs such as Barcelona, Liverpool and Bayern Munich. In the end he left Bodø/Glimt for the Danish talent factory FC Nordsjælland at the age of … you’ve got it: 16. All his sacrifice, determination and hard work paid off. Since joining Benfica in 2024 he has become a star and scored twice against Real Madrid in the remarkable 4-2 win that took Benfica to the play-offs. The World Cup could be the creative and technical winger’s proper breakthrough.

Oscar Bobb

Club Fulham

DOB 12 July 2003

Position Midfielder/winger

Most footballers become known to the general public when they are approaching their 20s. Some have to endure attention as teenagers. In Norway, Oscar Bobb hit the headlines when he was 12. When Norway Cup, the world’s biggest tournament, was broadcast on TV, it was impossible not to notice the quick, left-footed midfielder from Lyn Oslo. “He is like a little Messi,” the commentators said. When Bobb returned to the TV screens 10 years later, it was for Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. Having begun the 2025-26 season in the starting XI, he quickly found himself out of favour and was sold to Fulham in January for £27m. He has had hard times for the national team too, Ståle Solbakken laying in to him after a friendly against New Zealand. “He [Bobb] lacked everything today; spent a long time with the ball, positioned himself strangely and didn’t hit the pressing game. If you ask Oscar, I think he’ll say that the first half was his weakest performance for the national team. The second half was the next weakest.” Off the pitch, Bobb is a polite and modest person who, with tens of thousands of hours on the PlayStation, will be the man to beat in the FIFA/FC26 matches at the players’ hotel in North Carolina.

Patrick Berg

Club Bodø/Glimt

DOB 24 November 1997

Position Midfielder

Eight years ago Berg’s contract at Bodø/Glimt was expiring. His form had been poor and he was uncertain about his future. “I was actually thinking about quitting football completely and find something else to do,” he has said. A few months later he ended up signing a new contract with Glimt and has not looked back. He is a powerful midfielder who covers large areas of the pitch. Only eight players ran more than him in the league phase of the Champions League. The name Berg is part of the furniture at Bodø/Glimt. His grandfather Harald “Dutte” is considered one of Norway’s best players of all time. His father Ørjan won 19 caps for Norway and his uncles Runar and Arild were also professional footballers. Having decided to stay Patrick Berg became captain and has now won the Norwegian league four times, reached the semi-finals of the Europa League and stunned Manchester City and Inter in the Champions League. 

Morten Thorsby

Club Cremonese

DOB 5 May 1996

Position Midfielder

Thorsby is a midfield warrior and opponents should not be fooled by his gentle appearance. 

In football, the No 2 shirt is traditionally worn by the right-back but Norway’s No 2 is by no means traditional. Thorsby has dedicated most of his adult life to the fight against climate change and global warming. His shirt number refers to the international goal of limiting the increase in global average temperature to below 2 degrees celsius. In 2022 Thorsby was appointed European Climate Pact Ambassador. He normally takes his bike to training and, if possible, travels by train rather than airplane. When at Heerenveen Thorsby convinced the club to invest in solar panels on the stadium roof. When asked about his thoughts of Norway’s tough World Cup group (they scheduled to play in Boston and New York) he responded: “I’m happy because we don’t have to fly so much.” If you see Norway arriving at the World Cup stadium by electric bus, you now know why. 

Kristian Thorstvedt

Club Sassuolo

DOB 13 March 1999

Position Midfielder

Thorstvedt is a household name in Norway. Kristian’s father Erik won the FA Cup with Tottenham and played at the 1994 World Cup. Kristian may not have been the most precocious talent of his generation but he was a fighter with a nose for goal. Thorstvedt developed late physically so, when his best friends signed professional contracts, he decided to study and play college football in the US. It was only when his father made one last call to his old club Viking to see if Kristian could train with them that his career took off. Two years later he had been promoted to Eliteserien, scored 24 goals, won the Norwegian Cup, sold to Genk and made his Norway debut. “I never thought that Kristian would play for the national team. Never!” Erik has said. This summer the dynamic and intelligent midfielder goes to the US again – but this time to represent his country rather than as a student. 

Thelo Aasgaard

Club Rangers

DOB 2 May 2002

Position Midfielder

Aasgaard arrived as a surprise to most Norwegians during the World Cup qualifiers. He was born and raised in Liverpool and has never lived in Norway. He understands some Norwegian but prefers to converse in English. At the age of nine he joined the Liverpool academy, where he played with Curtis Jones, among others. Through his Norwegian father, he was eligible for Norway. Aasgaard comes from a music family. His father is a world-renowned cellist. His mother is also a cellist, and his two siblings are jazz musicians. Thelo, meanwhile, makes music in his spare time to switch off from football. “I look up to my parents a lot. We have related jobs, because both are judged on performance. When I’m at a concert with my dad I know the pressure he’s under in front of a large audience.”

Jens Petter Hauge

DOB 12 October 1999

Club Bodø/Glimt

Position Winger

“He is their best player,” the Atlético Madrid manager, Diego Simeone, said of Hauge before his side took on Bodø/Glimt in January. And Simeone is often right. When the stats from the 2025-26 Champions League league phase dropped Hauge was up there with the very best, including most goals scored with only three players getting more: Kylian Mbappé, Harry Kane and Erling Haaland. Hauge has bounced back from a tough spell at Milan, whom he joined in 2020. It did not work out for him at Eintracht Frankfurt either but he has been playing the best football of his career since returning to Bodø/Glimt last year. While at Milan he was impressed by the 39-year-old Zlatan Ibrahimovic – on and off the pitch. He told CBS: “I remember I came to the dressing room with a new cap on and Zlatan said: ‘Are you making pizzas or are you a footballer?’ I like when people are joking.”

Erling Haaland

Club Manchester City

DOB 21 July 2000

Position Striker

It feels almost surreal to think that one of the world’s best footballers grew up in Bryne, a small and unremarkable town in the southwest of Norway. Could it be because people from there work extra hard to get ahead? Is it all the hours spent in the indoor hall that was built because it’s difficult to play football outdoors all year round? Maybe it’s the fresh milk from the local cows. Perhaps it is because Haaland was so obsessed about football he watched every game he could on TV and even studied Jamie Vardy’s ability to avoid being offside? Or is it because his mother was a prominent heptathlete and his father Alfie played in the Premier League? Probably it is a mix of everything. What is certain is that with every goal he scores, every hat-trick and every record he sets, it becomes more and more obvious that we will never see anyone quite like him.

Alexander Sørloth

Club Atlético Madrid

DOB 5 December 1995

Position: Striker

For a long time Alexander Sørloth was the journeyman who struggled to settle down. Before turning 25, he had played professional football in Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, England, Belgium, Turkey and Germany. Few would have thought that it was in Spain and La Liga that the big, strong striker, who earned the nickname “King Of The North” from Trabzonspor supporters, Sørloth would find his place. But it was at Real Sociedad, surrounded by players such as David Silva, Mikel Merino, and Alexander Isak, that he truly made the breakthrough at the highest level. His father, Gøran, who was part of Norway’s squad at the 1994 World Cup, was known in his home country as “the world’s best striker with his back to the goal.” Alexander is also tough, but is most dangerous facing the goal at full speed. He is coming off a very good season at Atlético and rarely has a bad game for Norway. He may well soon become second to you-know-who in the all time Norway scoring charts, having already surpassed players such as Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Tore André Flo and John Carew.

Jørgen Strand Larsen

Club Crystal Palace

DOB 6 February 2000

Position Striker

In 2017 a tall boy from Halden packed his bags and left for Milano. The 17-year-old Jørgen Strand Larsen was invited to play for Milan’s Primavera team on loan. Their coach at the time: Gennaro Gattuso. The striker made a good impression but Milan decided against making the transfer permanent. Fast forward eight years and at San Siro, of all places, the Italian home crowd is leaving the stadium as Strand Larsen, now a Premier League star, bursts through on goal, dribbles past Gianluca Mancini with ease and shoots past Gianluigi Donnarumma. The 4-1 goal is as iconic for Norway as it is embarrassing for Italy and their coach is … Gennaro Gattuso. Strand Larsen would be first-choice for many countries but not Norway – and he is happy with his back-up role. “Erling [Haaland] is one of my best friends and he is ridiculously good”, says Norway’s super sub.

This is a piece from Simen Stamsø-Møller and Vegard Bjelland for TV 2 Norway as part of the Guardian Sports Network

GFFN | Luke Entwistle