World Cup 2026: Norway - Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard spearhead a nation full of optimism

More than 30,000 Norwegians braved freezing temperatures to welcome their superstars back to Oslo when World Cup qualification was confirmed, now they believe they can thrive in the heat of North America.

"The optimism in Norway is big," said former national team and Premier League striker Jan Åge Fjørtoft. "We are just discussing who we are going to meet in the final! That is the boiling point in Norway right now. I find myself being the one to hold back a bit."

The optimism is not necessarily misplaced. When you have superstar striker Erling Haaland and Premier League winning captain Martin Odegaard in your team, then you have a chance of going all the way.

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Norway blitzed qualifying, comfortably topping a group containing Italy and breezing past the Azzurri twice. So expectation levels are rising in a football-mad nation. Huge crowds are expected to take in games on big screens up and down the country, while thousands will travel to the States to watch them in action in a World Cup for the first time since 1998, where they reached the last-16 before being beaten by Italy.

They take on France, Senegal and Iraq in the group stages, with their games split across Boston and New York state.

"It is the first time in a while and many people might see it as their only opportunity to watch Norway in a World Cup," says journalist Steffen Stenersen of VG Sporten.

"It was kind of expected but it was also expected that we would qualify for the last Euros but we didn't, that has been our history in the last 25 years. We are super happy to be there and as we are approaching the World Cup people are coming to terms that we are going to be there and not just watch the others having all the fun!"

Norway certainly had fun in qualifying, plundering 37 goals across eight matches with Haaland hitting 16 of them. The Manchester City striker is the superstar of this side but there is more to Norway than Haaland.

"It certainly helps having him!" Stenersen added. "Erling and Martin Odegaard are world class players. But we have four or five players below those that who are on a level that would have made them the big stars in Norway 10 years ago, like Antonio Nusa, Sander Berge (of Fulham ) .. . . so it is not only about those two. We have four, five, six exciting players behind them to make a good XI. We are a more well-balanced team, not perfect, but one that if we not could beat anyone on a good day, could beat most of them."

Fjørtoft agrees, affectionately labelling Haaland 'cartoonish' for his mannerisms and body language but knowing full well how destructive and dominant a player he is. "Erling is world class, he is the greatest football we have ever had," he said. "Martin is a captain who has lifted the Premier League.

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"If Erling scores five or six goals in a World Cup then we know we can go far. We didn't concede a lot of goals in qualification but in Norway we have a tradition of not playing as well in the tournament as we do in qualification.

"But we have a pragmatic national coach in Stale Solbakken and the first thing he did was build the leadership around Martin and Erling and that has made them own the national team."

Norway have plenty of English-based players in their squad with Fulham's Oscar Bobb joining club team-mate Berge while Kristoff Ajer (Brentford), David Wolfe ( Wolves ), Jorgen Strand Larsen ( Crystal Palace ), Egil Selvik ( Watford ) and Sondre Langas (Derby) included. The likes of Alexander Sorloth and Thelo Aasgaard will also be familiar names to a British audience. as Norway head back to the World Cup for the first time in 28 years.

Fjørtoft , who played in the 1994 World Cup for Norway in America, is well placed to talk about what it means to represent the country in a major tournament.

"When we qualified in '94 it was the first time since 1938 so we haven't been in a lot of World Cups. It was a surprise to us all to qualify," he recalled. "For this generation they maybe didn't expect to come there because of our history, but they just had to prove to themselves that they could get the next step.

"For a Norwegian it has always been difficult to win big trophies abroad. So after their careers this generation, whether they win the Champions League as Erling has there will still be that feeling of representing your country in a World Cup

"When football players get buried there is nothing in their obituary about how much money you have made, it is how much you have won, the number of caps and playing in a World Cup. It is a great honour.

"If I had a tattoo I would put 1994 on it because that was my highlight of my career."

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