Norway national football team

Norway
Nickname(s) Løvene (The Lions)
Association Norges Fotballforbund (NFF)
Confederation UEFA (Europe)
Head coach Lars Lagerbäck
Captain Stefan Johansen
Most caps John Arne Riise (110)
Top scorer Jørgen Juve (33)
Home stadium Ullevaal Stadion
FIFA code NOR
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current 52 Increase 1 (20 September 2018)
Highest 2 (October 1993, July–August 1995)
Lowest 88 (July 2017)
Elo ranking
Current 51 Increase 1 (13 October 2018)
Highest 6 (June 2000)
Lowest 91 (May–June 1976)
First international
 Sweden 11–3 Norway 
(Gothenburg, Sweden; 12 July 1908)
Biggest win
 Norway 12–0 Finland 
(Bergen, Norway; 28 June 1946)[1]
Biggest defeat
 Denmark 12–0 Norway 
(Copenhagen, Denmark; 7 October 1917)
World Cup
Appearances 3 (first in 1938)
Best result Round of 16, 1998
European Championship
Appearances 1 (first in 2000)
Best result Group stage, 2000
Olympic medal record
Men's Football
1936 Berlin Team

The Norway men's national football team (Norwegian: Norges herrelandslag i fotball, or informally Landslaget) represents Norway in international association football and is controlled by the Football Association of Norway, the governing body for football in Norway. Norway's home ground is Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo and their head coach is Lars Lagerbäck. It is, as of August 2018, ranked by FIFA as the 53rd best football team in the world.[2]

Norway has participated three times in the FIFA World Cup (1938, 1994, 1998), and once in the UEFA European Championship (2000).

Norway is also notable as the only national team that has never lost any of the matches it has played against Brazil. In four matches played, Norway has a 2–2–0 (2 wins and 2 draws) record against Brazil, with one of those victories coming in a friendly in 1997 and the other in a 1998 World Cup group stage match.

History

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 hosts 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 turned out to be 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 as one of the weaker nations 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.

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 even ranked second on the FIFA World Rankings. 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. The Norwegians lost out on second round qualification on goal difference as all 4 teams finished with 4 points in the group. 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 after Norway lost at home to Switzerland and failed to qualify for the 2014 World Cup. He was replaced with Per-Mathias Høgmo.

Norway's best single result is arguably the 2–1 win against Brazil on 23 June 1998 in the World Cup group stage (a match before Brazil had clinched first-place in the group). Norway is in fact the only team in the world that has played against Brazil and never lost. In its four matches all-time against Brazil, Norway have won twice, and drawn on the other two occasions.

Crest

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. 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.[3]

Championship records

FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup record FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA
Uruguay 1930 Did not enter  –  –  –  –  –  –
Italy 1934  –  –  –  –  –  –
France 1938 Round 1 12 1 0 0 1 1 2 2 1 1 0 6 5
Brazil 1950 Did not enter  –  –  –  –  –  –
Switzerland 1954 Did not qualify 4 0 2 2 4 9
Sweden 1958 4 1 0 3 3 15
Chile 1962 4 0 0 4 3 11
England 1966 6 3 1 2 10 5
Mexico 1970 4 1 0 3 4 19
West Germany 1974 6 2 0 4 9 16
Argentina 1978 4 2 0 2 3 4
Spain 1982 8 2 2 4 8 15
Mexico 1986 8 1 3 4 4 10
Italy 1990 8 2 2 4 10 9
United States 1994 Group stage 17 3 1 1 1 1 1 10 7 2 1 25 5
France 1998 Round of 16 15 4 1 2 1 5 5 8 6 2 0 21 2
South Korea Japan 2002 Did not qualify 10 2 4 4 12 14
Germany 2006 12 5 3 4 12 9
South Africa 2010 8 2 4 2 9 7
Brazil 2014 10 3 3 4 10 13
Russia 2018 10 4 1 5 17 16
Qatar 2022 To be determined
Canada Mexico United States 2026 To be determined
Total Round of 16 3/21 8 2 3 3 7 8 126 44 30 52 170 184

UEFA European Championship

UEFA European Championship record UEFA European Championship qualifying record
Year Round Pld W D L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA
France 1960 Did not qualify 2 0 0 2 2 6
Spain 1964 2 0 1 1 1 3
Italy 1968 6 1 1 4 9 14
Belgium 1972 6 0 1 5 5 18
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 1976 6 1 0 5 5 15
Italy 1980 8 0 1 7 5 20
France 1984 6 1 2 3 7 8
West Germany 1988 8 1 2 5 5 12
Sweden 1992 8 3 3 2 9 5
England 1996 10 6 2 2 17 7
Belgium Netherlands 2000 Group stage 3 1 1 1 1 1 10 8 1 1 21 9
Portugal 2004 Did not qualify 10 4 2 4 10 10
Austria Switzerland 2008 12 7 2 3 27 11
Poland Ukraine 2012 8 5 1 2 10 7
France 2016 12 6 1 5 14 13
Europe 2020 To be determined
Total Group stage 3 1 1 1 1 1 114 43 20 51 147 158

FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifying

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Germany 10 10 0 0 43 4 +39 30 Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup — 2–0 3–0 6–0 5–1 7–0
2  Northern Ireland 10 6 1 3 17 6 +11 19 Advance to second round 1–3 — 2–0 2–0 4–0 4–0
3  Czech Republic 10 4 3 3 17 10 +7 15 1–2 0–0 — 2–1 0–0 5–0
4  Norway 10 4 1 5 17 16 +1 13 0–3 1–0 1–1 — 2–0 4–1
5  Azerbaijan 10 3 1 6 10 19 −9 10 1–4 0–1 1–2 1–0 — 5–1
6  San Marino 10 0 0 10 2 51 −49 0 0–8 0–3 0–6 0–8 0–1 —
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Norway failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia

Players

Current squad

  • The following 23 players were called up for the two Nations League matches:[4]
  • Match date: 13 and 16 October 2018
  • Opposition:  Slovenia and  Bulgaria
  • Caps and goals correct as of: 13 October 2018, after the match against  Slovenia.[5]
No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 1GK Rune Jarstein (1984-09-29) 29 September 1984 55 0 Germany Hertha BSC
12 1GK Ørjan Nyland (1990-09-10) 10 September 1990 27 0 England Aston Villa
22 1GK Eirik Johansen (1992-07-12) 12 July 1992 0 0 Norway Sandefjord
2 2DF Haitam Aleesami (1991-07-31) 31 July 1991 17 0 Italy Palermo
3 2DF Even Hovland (1989-02-14) 14 February 1989 25 0 Norway Rosenborg
4 2DF Vegard Forren (1988-02-16) 16 February 1988 33 1 Norway Molde
5 2DF Sigurd Rosted (1994-07-22) 22 July 1994 2 1 Belgium Gent
6 2DF Håvard Nordtveit (1990-06-21) 21 June 1990 42 2 Germany 1899 Hoffenheim
14 2DF Omar Elabdellaoui (1991-12-05) 5 December 1991 31 0 Greece Olympiacos
16 2DF Jonas Svensson (1993-03-06) 6 March 1993 16 0 Netherlands AZ
17 2DF Martin Linnes (1991-09-20) 20 September 1991 23 1 Turkey Galatasaray
8 3MF Stefan Johansen (Captain) (1991-01-08) 8 January 1991 44 5 England Fulham
11 3MF Mohamed Elyounoussi (1994-03-02) 2 March 1994 19 4 England Southampton
13 3MF Fredrik Midtsjø (1993-08-11) 11 August 1993 3 0 Netherlands AZ
18 3MF Ole Selnæs (1994-07-07) 7 July 1994 20 2 France Saint-Étienne
19 3MF Markus Henriksen (1992-07-25) 25 July 1992 42 3 England Hull City
20 3MF Mats Møller Dæhli (1995-03-02) 2 March 1995 21 1 Germany St. Pauli
23 3MF Iver Fossum (1996-07-15) 15 July 1996 10 0 Germany Hannover 96
3MF Martin Ødegaard (1998-12-17) 17 December 1998 12 0 Netherlands Vitesse
7 4FW Joshua King (1992-01-15) 15 January 1992 36 12 England Bournemouth
9 4FW Alexander Sørloth (1995-12-05) 5 December 1995 15 2 England Crystal Palace
10 4FW Tarik Elyounoussi (1988-02-23) 23 February 1988 50 9 Sweden AIK
21 4FW Bjørn Maars Johnsen (1991-11-06) 6 November 1991 9 1 Netherlands AZ

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up for the Norway squad within the last 12 months.

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
GK Sten GrytebustINJ (1989-10-25) 25 October 1989 4 0 Denmark OB v.  Slovenia, 13 October 2018
DF Tore ReginiussenWIT (1986-04-10) 10 April 1986 26 3 Norway Rosenborg v.  Slovenia, 13 October 2018
DF Birger MelingINJ (1994-12-17) 17 December 1994 9 0 Norway Rosenborg v.  Bulgaria, 9 September 2018
DF Kristoffer AjerINJ (1998-04-17) 17 April 1998 6 0 Scotland Celtic v.  Bulgaria, 9 September 2018
DF Jørgen Skjelvik (1991-07-05) 5 July 1991 7 0 United States LA Galaxy v.  Slovakia, 14 November 2017
DF Gustav Valsvik (1993-05-26) 26 May 1993 6 0 Germany Eintracht Braunschweig v.  Slovakia, 14 November 2017

Template:Nat fs 4 player

MF Jo Inge Berget (1990-09-11) 11 September 1990 20 2 United States New York City v.  Iceland, 2 June 2018
MF Anders Trondsen (1995-03-30) 30 March 1995 4 0 Norway Rosenborg v.  Slovakia, 14 November 2017
MF Morten Thorsby (1996-05-05) 5 May 1996 1 0 Netherlands Heerenveen v.  Macedonia, 11 November 2017
FW Ola Kamara (1989-10-15) 15 October 1989 11 4 United States LA Galaxy v.  Albania, 26 March 2018
FW Fredrik Gulbrandsen (1992-09-10) 10 September 1992 3 0 Austria Red Bull Salzburg v.  Albania, 26 March 2018
FW Alexander Søderlund (1987-08-03) 3 August 1987 32 2 Norway Rosenborg v.  Slovakia, 14 November 2017
FW Pål Alexander Kirkevold (1990-11-10) 10 November 1990 1 0 Denmark Hobro v.  Slovakia, 14 November 2017
Notes
  • WIT Withdrew from squad.
  • INJ Injured, ill or recovering from surgery.
  • RET Retired from international football.

Individual all-time records

John Arne Riise is the most capped male player in the history of Norway with 110 caps.
  Still active players are highlighted

Top appearances

# Player Career Matches
1 John Arne Riise 2000–2013 110
2 Thorbjørn Svenssen 1947–1962 104
3 Henning Berg 1992–2004 100
4 Erik Thorstvedt 1982–1996 97
5 John Carew 1998–2011 91
Brede Hangeland 2002–2014 91
7 Øyvind Leonhardsen 1990–2003 86
8 Kjetil Rekdal 1987–2000 83
Morten Gamst Pedersen 2004–2014 83
10 Steffen Iversen 1998–2011 79

Last updated: 9 September 2014
Source: RSSSF.no

Top goalscorers

Jørgen Juve is the top male goalscorer in the history of Norway with 33 goals.
# Player Career Goals Matches Average
1 Jørgen Juve 1928–1937 33 45 0.73
2 Einar Gundersen 1917–1928 26 33 0.79
3 Harald Hennum 1949–1960 25 43 0.58
4 John Carew 1998–2011 24 91 0.26
5 Ole Gunnar Solskjær 1995–2007 23 67 0.34
Tore André Flo 1995–2004 23 76 0.30
7 Gunnar Thoresen 1946–1959 22 64 0.34
8 Steffen Iversen 1998–2011 21 79 0.27
9 Jan Åge Fjørtoft 1986–1996 20 71 0.28
10 Odd Iversen 1967–1979 19 45 0.42
Olav Nilsen 1962–1971 19 62 0.31
Øyvind Leonhardsen 1990–2003 19 86 0.22

Last updated: 9 September 2014
Source: RSSSF.no

Managers

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 13 October 2018.[6][7]

Manager Nationality Tenure P W D L F A Finals
Willibald HahnAustria Austria1 August 1953 – 31 December 19552677122842
Ron LewinEngland England1 January 1956 – 31 December 1957175482538
Edmund MajowskiPoland Poland1 January 1958 – 15 September 19585311108
Ragnar LarsenNorway Norway16 September 1958 – 31 December 1958100114
Kristian HenriksenNorway Norway1 January 1959 – 31 December 1959103071529
Wilhelm KmentAustria Austria1 January 1960 – 15 August 19622062123245
Ragnar LarsenNorway Norway16 August 1962 – 31 December 196633117154774
Wilhelm KmentAustria Austria1 January 1967 – 31 December 19692593133961
Øivind JohannessenNorway Norway1 January 1970 – 31 December 19711742111843
George CurtisEngland England1 January 1972 – August 19741742111843
Kjell Schou-Andreassen and
Nils Arne Eggen		Norway NorwayAugust 1974 – 31 December 19772764172652
Tor Røste FossenNorway Norway1 January 1978 – 30 June 19879428283896119
Tord GripSweden Sweden1 July 1987 – 30 June 1988704337
Ingvar StadheimNorway Norway1 July 1988 – 10 October 19902458113237
Egil OlsenNorway Norway11 October 1990 – 30 June 199888462616168631994 World Cup – Group stage
1998 World Cup – Round of 16
Nils Johan SembNorway Norway1 July 1998 – 31 December 2003682921188961Euro 2000 – Group stage
Åge HareideNorway Norway1 January 2004 – 8 December 2008582418168865
Egil OlsenNorway Norway14 January 2009 – 27 September 201348258166150
Per-Mathias HøgmoNorway Norway27 September 2013 – 16 November 201635107183349
Lars LagerbäckSweden Sweden1 February 2017 –169252517

All-time team record

The following table shows Norway's all-time international record, correct as of 26 March 2018.[8]

Results and fixtures

2017

2018

Kit suppliers

Kit provider Period
France Le Coq Sportif 1976–1980
Denmark Hummel 1981–1991
Germany Adidas 1992–1996
United Kingdom Umbro 1996–2014
United States 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.[9] The new partnership will run until at least until 2021.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Norwegian national team 1946". www.rsssf.no.
  2. ↑ "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking Table − Men's Ranking". FIFA.com. FIFA. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  3. ↑ "Dette emblemet skal pryde den norske landslagsdrakta (This crest shall adorn the national kit of Norway)". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 12 December 2014
  4. ↑ , fotball.no (28 August 2018) (in Norwegian)
  5. ↑ Norway national team statistics, eu-football-info. Accessed 31 October 2017.
  6. ↑ "National team coaches (1953–2011)". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 26 March 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
  7. ↑ "Norwegian National Football Team Matches". NFF. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  8. ↑ "Norway national football team". eu-football.info.
  9. ↑ "Norge skifter fra Umbro til Nike (In Norwegian)". Aftenposten.

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