The Norway national football team (Norwegian: Norges herrelandslag i fotball, or informally Landslaget) represents Norway in men's international football and is controlled by the Norwegian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Norway. Norway's home ground is Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo and their head coach is Ståle Solbakken. In February 2019, they were ranked by FIFA at No. 48.,[4] Norway has participated three times in the FIFA World Cup (1938, 1994, 1998), and once in the UEFA European Championship (2000).
Norway is, along with Senegal, the only national team that remains unbeaten in all matches against Brazil. In four matches, Norway has a play record against Brazil of 2 wins and 2 draws,[5] in three friendly matches (in 1988, 1997 and 2006) and a 1998 World Cup group stage match.
Norway's performances in international football have usually been weaker than those of their Scandinavian neighbours Sweden and Denmark, but they did have a golden age in the late 1930s. An Olympic team achieved third place in the 1936 Olympics, after beating the host Germany earlier in the tournament. Norway also qualified for the 1938 FIFA World Cup, where they lost 2–1 after extra time against eventual champions Italy. This was Norway's last World Cup finals appearance in 56 years.
In the post-war years, up to and including the 1980s, Norway was usually considered one of the weaker teams in Europe. They never qualified for a World Cup or European Championship in this period, and usually finished near the bottom of their qualifying group. Nevertheless, Norway had a reputation for producing the occasional shock result, such as the 3–0 win against Yugoslavia in 1965, the 1–0 away win against France in 1968, and the 2–1 victory against England in 1981 that prompted radio commentator Bjørge Lillelien's famous "Your boys took a hell of a beating" rant.[6]
Norway had their most successful period from 1990 to 1998 under the legendary coach Egil "Drillo" Olsen. At its height in the mid-90s the team was ranked No. 2. Olsen started his training career with Norway with a 6–1 home victory against Cameroon on 31 October 1990 and ended it on 27 June 1998 after a 0–1 defeat against Italy in the second stage of the 1998 World Cup.
In the 1994 World Cup in the United States, Norway was knocked out at the group stage after a win against Mexico, a defeat against Italy and a draw against the Republic of Ireland. Norway failed to qualify for second round qualification on goal difference as all 4 teams in the group finished with 4 points. In the 1998 World Cup in France, Norway was once again eliminated by Italy in the first round of the knock out stage after finishing second in their group, having drawn against Morocco and Scotland and won 2–1 against Brazil.
Former under-21 coach Nils Johan Semb replaced Olsen after the planned retirement of the latter. Under Semb's guidance, Norway qualified for Euro 2000, which remains their last finals appearance to date. Semb resigned at the end of an unsuccessful qualifying campaign in 2003, and was replaced by Åge Hareide. Under Hareide, Norway came close to reaching both the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2008, but ultimately fell short on both occasions. Then, in 2008, it all fell apart as Norway failed to win a single game the entire calendar year. Hareide resigned at the end of 2008. His replacement, initially on a temporary basis, was the returning Egil Olsen, who began his second spell in charge with an away win against Germany, and subsequently signed a three-year contract. Olsen resigned in September 2013[7] after Norway lost at home to Switzerland and had limited chances to qualify for the 2014 World Cup with one game to spare. He was replaced with Per-Mathias Høgmo. Olsen later claimed he was sacked.[8]
Team image[]
Crest[]
National football team of Norway, before the match with Bulgaria, 3-09-2015
Norway used the national flag on a white circle as their badge from the 1920s onwards. In May 2008 the NFF unveiled a new crest, a Viking-style Dragon wrapped around the NFF logo. After massive public pressure the crest was dropped.[9] Between the 1980s and the 1990s, Norway used the NFF logo in the opposite breast of the shirt together with the national flag on a white circle. On 12 December 2014, a new crest was presented. The crest primarily features the national flag, in addition, there are two lions taken from the Coat of arms of Norway on the top. The lions are facing each other while holding a blue miniature of the NFF logo, and between the lions and above the NFF logo, it says "NORGE" (Norway) in blue letters.[10]
Kit suppliers[]
Kit provider
Period
Le Coq Sportif
1976–1980
Hummel
1981–1991
Adidas
1992–1996
Umbro
1996–2014
Nike
2015–present
Between 1996 and 2014, Norway's kits were supplied by Umbro. They took over from Adidas who supplied Norway's kit between 1992 and 1996.
On 10 September 2014, the NFF and Nike announced a new partnership that made the sportswear provider the official Norwegian team kit supplier from 1 January 2015.[11] The new partnership will run until at least 2021.
INJ Withdrew due to injury PRE Preliminary squad / standby RET Retired from the national team SUS Serving suspension QUA Placed in mandatory quarantine WD Withdrew due to non-injury issue.
Player records[]
Main article: List of Norway international footballers
The following is a list of all managers of the national team. Prior to 1953, the team was selected by a selection committee, which also continued to select the team until 1969. The table lists the manager, his nationality, the period he was manager, games played (P), games won (W), games drawn (D), games lost (L), goals for (F) and goals against (A). It also lists any finals reached and how far the team progressed. The list is up to date as of 7 September 2021.[21][22]
^The Romania v Norway match was cancelled and awarded as a 3–0 win to Romania after the Norway national team were prohibited from travelling to Romania by the Norwegian government due to a positive SARS-CoV-2 test in the squad.[15][16]
^"Drillo: – Jeg fikk sparken i NFF" [Drillo: - I was sacked by the NFF]. www.nrk.no (in Norwegian). NRK Østfold. 27 May 2015. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
^The friendly match was canceled due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
^Madsen, Christer (14 November 2020). "Reisenekt fra regjeringen – A-herrer reiser ikke til Romania" [Travel refusal from the government – A men's team do not travel to Romania]. Norwegian Football Federation (in Norwegian). Retrieved 15 November 2020.
1 (12 August 2021)[1]
Sweden 11–3 Norway 
Denmark 12–0 Norway 
Le Coq Sportif
Adidas
Umbro
Nike
Austria 
66
Romania 
Netherlands, 
Latvia and 
Gibraltar
Salernitana
Gent
Real Sociedad
Luxembourg, 2 June 2021 WD
Greece, 6 June 2021
Apollon Limassol
Sparta Prague
Serbia, 8 October 2020 RET
Ferencváros
Montréal
1930
1934
1938
1950
1954
1962
1970
1978
2002
2010
2014
2018
2022
1964
1976
2004
2012
2020
2022–23
1908
1936
1956
1964
1980
1988
Poland
