Norway – World Cup Profile: Erling Haaland Leads Scandinavian Return | OneFootball

The 2026 World Cup is coming, and Norway is ready for the tournament, which will be played in the United States, Mexico, and Canada and will feature 48 participants for the first time. The Scandinavians will try to make a strong return to the World Cup after 28 years away.

Below, we review everything you need to know about Norway before the World Cup, including how they qualified, their star players, their World Cup history, and more. Let’s get into it.

How Norway Qualified

The big home win against Italy on the third matchday was crucial for Norway to take an early advantage in a group where, alongside the four-time world champions, they had a significant quality gap over the rest of the teams.

The final blow came with their relentless dominance over weaker opponents, establishing goal difference as an extra point that proved insurmountable for the Italians, amid an overall context of parity. They crowned it with a historic match at San Siro, where they proved they were the best in their group.

Norway’s Key Player

Erling Haaland is undoubtedly the player to watch. Many consider him the best center forward in the world, and his goal average speaks for itself, close to one per game throughout his career, and with the national team, he is even above that mark.

He arrived at Manchester City in 2022 from Borussia Dortmund, a team of stars that has him as one of its main references. At 25 years old, he will fulfill one of his great pending tasks: playing in a World Cup.

Breakout Potential

The young player to watch will be Antonio Nusa. The 20-year-old RB Leipzig winger can move comfortably on both flanks. Thanks to his qualities, he was nicknamed ‘the Scandinavian Neymar’.

When he played for Brugge, he became the second-youngest goalscorer in Champions League history, behind only Ansu Fati. He has been firmly established in the senior national team call-ups for two years now and is very likely to be a starter in the World Cup.

Norway’s World Cup History

At its debut in 1938, it almost caused a major upset to Italy, the defending champion, which would repeat the title in that same edition, going to extra time before ultimately falling 2-1.

It returned to the World Cup in 1994 and, despite a 1-0 victory over Mexico, could not advance past the group stage. It did reach the round of 16 in its last appearance, in 1998, and once again, Italy – which it faced in all three World Cups it played – put an end to its adventure by beating it 1-0.

Despite being a low-profile national team, Norway has some favorable results against major powers. Against Argentina, for example, it won both friendly matches they played, one of them shortly before Mexico 1986.

Against Brazil, it played four matches and never lost: two victories, one of them at the 1998 World Cup, and two draws. In the qualifiers for USA 1994, it eliminated none other than England, beating them in Oslo and drawing with them at Wembley. And against Italy, despite losing all three matches it played in World Cups, it sent them to the playoffs to seek their ticket for 2026.

Coach Profile: Stale Solbakken

Stale Solbakken was a player in Norway’s last World Cup appearance, France 1998, and now, as a coach, he has managed to bring them back to the big event. In 2001, he suffered a heart attack that almost cost him his life, and he had to leave football.

Much of his career as a coach was built at FC Copenhagen in Denmark, where he was voted the best coach in the history of the local championship after winning three titles in seven years.

He took over as Norway’s coach in 2020 and was one of the voices that protested against the Qatari authorities over the exploitation of workers in the construction of stadiums for the World Cup. He did not achieve qualification for that World Cup, but this year he got his revenge.

The physical characteristics of Norway’s players, many of whom are tall and have great aerobic capacity, have always led the national team to play a vertical style of soccer, with little ball possession.

Solbakken, who can opt for either a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3 formation to start matches, has worked hard to give this system fluidity, which has Haaland as an irresistible magnet for aerial play. Added to that is high pressing with great synchronization to suffocate opponents.

Norway’s Group Stage Fixtures

Norway vs. Iraq

Norway vs. Senegal

France vs. Norway