Norway’s World Cup return, 28 years on, fuels fervour despite boycott calls | OneFootball

Norway’s first World Cup in 28 years has ignited nationwide excitement, though tempered by clear reservations at home.

According to L'Équipe, a new TV landmark is likely during the United States tournament, with an NRK employee expecting the audience record to fall when Norway face France at 21:00 on 26 June. The current high is 2.1 million for Norway’s 1-0 win over Mexico at the 1994 group stage, in a country of 5.6 million.

Stale Solbakken’s side open against Iraq at 00:00 in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. Even the June friendlies, a 3-1 win over Sweden on 1 June and a 1-1 draw with Morocco on 7 June, drew strong audiences, Eirik Horneland observed.

Agent Stig Lillejord says Norway approach this finals with real ambition, thanks to world-class talents such as Erling Haaland and Martin Ödegaard. He adds that even many non-fans are daring to dream.

The buzz shows up in record sales of flat screens, and in a temporary law allowing bars to serve beer and wine until 6am, normally banned after 3am.

But enthusiasm sits alongside concern about the tournament’s environmental cost and the shadow of Donald Trump. The Norwegian FA has recently asked FIFA’s ethics committee to clarify the circumstances in which Gianni Infantino awarded a Peace Prize to the US president.

Media scholar Knut Helland notes boycott calls, yet says the tournament’s pull is hard to resist, even at state level. In late 2025, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store and King Harald V wished Norway well in their annual addresses, the Prime Minister later revealing Solbakken’s 26-man squad in a late May video, and the King will attend the match in Foxborough, near Boston.

Source: L'Équipe